THE UNRESOLVED QUEST [ ] LETELIER CASE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060092-7
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 16, 2016
Document Release Date: 
June 17, 2005
Sequence Number: 
92
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
June 29, 1980
Content Type: 
NSPR
File: 
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PDF icon CIA-RDP91-00901R000700060092-7.pdf180.67 KB
Body: 
ARTICLE AP P~E~A1i ON FAG I C..L. =~ waiters, tiveret, i ce ved an acts 4.O?PEI ATION with "friendly" intelligence; bassador's cable, sent a top' secret- StateDe 11 ,.embassies and .saa.CI& abroad, ana:znaG included . of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger .; *_ < t. anti;ia `visas.-to known agents to conduct intelli: ~" g' b All that; raises a series of disturbing questions:. gence missions in. the United Mates 'But some" y US. officials at'the highest levels knew i.-advance.: thing aboutthe; equest`Ambassador George _W about Chile's -undercover mission ~n;n Landau received'iri late July ;Washingto x976 from; a Para and. possessed .`photos and passport information. _ gizayan government officialtm Asuncion'arousedfi ;.Was that:information: sufficient.forekriowledge:to lvs suspicions , W, have prevented'the,murders? Once the assassina- The official, a topYaide to Paraguayan President? Lion occurred, was the-information ;turned; over Alfreclo.Stroessner, assured Landau that Chilean- immediatelyto.the FBI by the persons and agen- 'resident Augusto Pinochet himself was asking ciespossessingit?, n ~ x ?ar,a favor.-The official said he needed visas ini The pictures: and the advance information oh- xaediately. for two Chilean Army officers using tamed byLandau and others ultimately provided Paraguayan passports to travel from .Asuncion to the keys to solving the, case. But, unlikefrictional Washington-on, ari intelligence mission Tlie xnis spy mysteries, all the pieces of-the puzzle.did not d pion, lie salcl, ha been cleared with the CIA- sta = fall into place with the identification of the : guilty, Instead,' the U S .-agencies. involved in the cas& im lion' iri $artiago"and the:.twoi men would be irt: `ouch with CIA Deputy Director_:Vernon Walter Posed. an extraordinary mantle of secrecy over the- in W h gton F r y~ actions of U S officials before and after the assay-= Ambassador*cLandau_ -hcrnr~lin t~,'`his pater sination and:overthe.recordsrand files relating to --,,.-- ~. o'nsW16`Zed him o 4 him. to tak ke of U y S -goverment foreknowledge,:lhe questions next riarning tut his sus pici two precautions: He had.he agents':fa Ise- Para we raise~cari. only be partially answered: ,; guayan passports'photographed, and. he_ sent the ri cardinn to our reconstruction photographs t&CIA headquarters with.a.full ac-: y ts, the Letelier assassinat,on. count of'the affair Just in case the Chilean set motion in late June_]97 agents were--'lying about why tl eyxwexe going to oche t.3 intelligence service had Washington: , x; t , . rocOived reports of..Letaher'a recen Landau s action 4vas the;first brush by a US o?~ =.vis o olland. to: lobby aga tlst a ficial with .Chile's secret peratio ns;leading up tir ;, k p ulIion, investment by a_ butch the assassination of Orlando Le:teher six weeks, r pany.in Chile and of confiden l I er `I e ` at . n th ings ui Newv York between: eeks preceding the assassrnation of'. ries the leftist former ambassador and foreign miinis hQr and a prominent, leader ter; a fl urry of cables and official camiiiunicatioxis `r, de's centres, Christian Demo. went back and forth between the U S :Embassy in. ~, Ckc P tY (congress; lead just' cut Asuncion; the State: Departinent,;the' Cecand the: ff;Chilea military aid, because' f Iirimigration.and Naturalization'Serviconcern 3 ; an rights violations,. mg the two.Chileau agents, whos 'real:iderttitzes: f i3ez'the next;thr~e 0 ntk8;_0L --bat learned i.mtil almost two years later, were.- uel Contreras chief- of;DINA,; Michael= Townley and Armando - Fernandez, the Chilean. secret police, dispatched; Chilean secret police agents who led the operateoii. v8 of tug agents on four separate kill L t l s ~* r o to etelier ee ' _ atsd:.riissions to yYash 4? -11.i x ,.~? #n CIA Director George Bush and leis deputy a i, g Qiik t4 carry oat the;ozder to ki1P.: ~....,.. X ,etelaQr. Llf the? our ===,that, a ~.up tie T telier assassiuatlon Approved For Release `2005/07/01 CIA-RD@'I THE WASHINGTON POST 29 June 1980 STAT