BAD DEAL FOR BERRELLEZ

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030090-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 90
• Publication Date: April 2, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030090-3
PHOENIX REPUBLIC
2 April 1978
dad Deal For Berrellez
HE courts will decide whether
,Robert Berrellez committed
pe"ury and obstructed the inves-
tigation of a multinational corpo-
ration when he testified before a
Senate subcommittee.
But-it doesn't require a judicial
hearing to realize that someone is.
out to make an example of Ber-'
rellez as a big bad American busi-
nessman who meddled in the
internal affairs of a foreign gov-
ernment.
Berrellez works for the
International Telephone and Tele-
graph. -Co. - He. - was Latin
America for years and now is the
company's public relations direc-
tor in the Southwest.
Born in Nogales, he was edu-
cated in Arizona. He decided to
become a- newspaperman and
went to work for the Associated
Press. in Phoenix. Bilingual,
knowledgeable, able, he. became a
roving correspondent for the AP
with headquarters in Mexico City.
He was in Cuba when Fidel Castro
came to power, and spent six
months in jail for the crime of
being'an American newsman.
If Berrellez is found guilty in his
trial.in Washington, he may go to
jail for having been an American
businessman who helped the Cen-
tral :Intelligence Agency while he
was'living abroad. .
It is generally admitted that the
CIA helped remove Salvador Al
Te`nde as head of a Marxist govern-
ment in Chile. Congressmen have
been- kicking the matter around
for years; and liberals have done
their -best to persuade the world
that the CIA secretly sought to de-
pose communism in every govern-
ment in the world before it was
tripped up, along with the FBI, at
Watergate.
Back in 1973 several ITT offi-
cials, including Berrellez, were
questioned about the alleged col-
laboration between the company
and the CIA with the intention of.
influencing the outcome of an {
election in Chile...
The material unearthed by the
Senate committee was submitted-
by the Justice Department to a
federal grand jury in Washington.
No indictments were returned.
But on March 20 of this year, one
day before the statute of limita-
tions would have made it impossi-
ble to charge Berrellez with his
alleged crimes, the department
filed an information against him.
The trial has started, and 'prob-
ably will drag on for week after
dreary week.
Without predicting the outcome,
we do think it was unconscionable j
of the prosecutorial arm. of. the.
U.S. government to have waited so
long to file charges if . it had any
kind of a case at. all.. . ' _ .
And we think ' it would be dan-
gerous to the security of the
JTytgd.Statea.-.if American busi-
nessmen living abroad reached 1
the conclusion that they could not
talk to American intelligence offi-
cers without ending up in federal I
.court.
STAT
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030090-3