THE UNRESOLVED QUEST LETELIER CASE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680052-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: June 29, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000403680052-5
ARTICLE APPR
ON PAG1
THE WASHINGTON POST
29 June 1980
olivi TDinges.and Sau>i 1Lirrtda:x
$y
T
COOPERATION :.with "friendly" intelligence
agencies-was the established practice of U.S.-
embassies and the:CLX. abroad 'and that included
granting visas-to known agents.td conduct intelli-,
Bence-missions iri the United States. But some-;
thing.about the'-request Ambassador. George NW,
.Landau, received'in Late July 1976 from: a Para
guayan?government;offcial=kin Asuncion; aroused:
ons
ws suspici
. r to -
' The official, a topYaide ?to Paraguayan Presiden
Alfredo Stroessner -assured Landau that. Chilean
.'resident ?Augusto.Pinochet himsel? was asking::.
fora favor..The official said lie needed visas im
mediatelyfor. two; Chilean Army': officers using _-
Paraguayan passports to travel from Asuncion.to
Washington-on an-intelligence mission. The mis
sion;.he said,hadbeen cleared with the CIA sta
tion' in ' Santiago ? aiad the- twos- men would be-iii'
touch with- CIA Deputy Director . Vernon Walters
Ambassador :Landau, :according to' his ;later
testimony;'?issued:the visas .fot :the two :men the
nextmorning _Buthis suspicions led-him to take.
two. ' precautions:-. He "had:;the agents` false, Para-
guayan passports photographed, and he-sent the
photographs :tcV CIA headquarters wrth-. a full ac
countt of the.. affair; just in case the Chilean
agents were lying .aboutWhy theeXwere going to
Washington.: '.`,,Y:`err Y
==Landau's action was the firstbrush by a I7 S. of-
ficial with Chile's secret- opeiations.ileading up to=
the assassination of ,Orlando ?Letelier six Meeks'
,later. .J n the=weeks=preceding the ; assassination..of_
the leftist former ambassador -andforeign moos- .
ter, a flurry of cables and , official` communication .
went back andforth between theJJ.S ,Embassy in
Asuncion, the State Department,;the CIA'and the
Immigration and Naturalization?Service concern--
inn the two Chilean agents,.whosereal identities-
- not learned until almost two years,later.-were
Michael Townley and Armando.-Fernandez 'the
Chilean secret police agents who led the operation-
to kill Letelier, . nom, . " :.
CIA Director George Bush and 1iis deputy, G e
ceived and' act as ar _ g...m ne am-
bassador's cable, sent via a top:. 'secret State-. Do-
partment "back_channel," went first-to the office
of: Secretary of State Henry Kissinger -: t
All; that raises a series of disturbing questions.
U.S. officials-at the highestlevels knew in. advance
about;Chile's undercover. m ission in.:Washingtor4
and possessed. photos and passport information.:
:Vas-that information sufficient foreknowledge to
haveprevented'_the murders? Once the assassina-
tion occurred, ,vas the information. turned; over.
immediatelyto.the FBI. by the person*and agen-
cies possessing it?.
The pictures, and the advance information oh-
."tanned by .-Landau and'others ultimately provided
theke*ys-to solving the, case. But, unlike fictional,
spy, mysteries, all the pieces of.the puzzle did not
fall.into place with the identification of the guilty.
Instead, the U.S: agencies involved in the case im,
posed an extraordinary mantle of secrecy over the
actions of-U.S.. officials before and after the ass's-
sination=and over. the records. and files relatingto -those actions.-Given' the secrecy, about the extent
of ',.S: ~ govenment,foreknowledge,; the: questions
weraise can onlybe partially answered: ,
ntecording to our reconstruction o
set iii ?motion