A MURDER PLOT INTERNATIONAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00134R000400130028-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 4, 2009
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: January 7, 1979
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

(-~ T A T
Approved For Release 2009/02/04 :CIA-RDP91 B00134R000400130028-6
.~.:.,r2Z St.eL'1 ~
. Rzci=ic `ie~xs Service r
'~':ichael ~Ioifitt, 27, .h. colleague of Lete
i ~~ pesecution is expected to present
;0: ?~aLCses who will unravel the back-
grot~~d and planning for the?mu:der plot,
~~hica s said to have originated within
the .;~:,er circles of the Chiieaa military
ga?.e::i.,.ent headed by Gen:::Augusto
ne. lead~if witness isexpected to be
r.d~cr Orlando Leteiier.
ASHINGTON, D.C..-
Threats to the judge and
-prosecutor and reports
- of terrified ? prosecution
wi*.nesses -all leading
` , to z?::at ~3I agents call unprecedented se-
csci~y precau*.ions -are marking preps-
ia; is v ?or a L :al openirg here Tuesday of
?~ ia~: men ?for the murder of Chilean exile
Instead, the Cubans reportedly fa~
. to pick up Letelier's car from tl+.eir st .
-out point, the parking lot of a Roy Rogers
- sandwich shop in Bethesda that morning.
The nett day, however, they caught up to
::Leteiier ?.as 'he and.: the bloffitts drove
.: through the fashionable .Embassy Row
section.of Washington. The bomb was set
off by remote control radio. - ~ ~'- ?-
' :: `.`I heard. the- sound of water. dripping
r on a hot wire," I4Ioffitt recalled, "and then
saw a flash." The powerful ~-explosion
..ripped' up from under Letelier's seat, in-
=. stantly killing him. A sliver of metal pi--
erced. Ronni ?4loffitt's throat,. fatally
wounding her. ..: ... - -
___:.Tiventv.months later, after an exhaus-
rive investigation. ranging across four
continents and involving the cooperation
of at least five ag~ncies'of the US gove.~r.-
ment, eight persons were indicted in the
de
-
mur
rs.
li2~s at u.e Institute for Policy Studies, ~ - Chief among them was b1a::uel Con-
v:::o ?~ rding in?Leteliat's car-on Sept : treras, head of .Chiles secret police
2I,.3r5, when a bomb attached to its un- {DINA) at' Lhe #ime of the murders, and
t'erc=image exploded, taking the life .o.f , two other senior secret police officers. So
"?~i:it~s' wiib Ronnie as well as Lete? ~ far, Chilean authorities have refused to '
Tier's. -- '-=`' "~?" ~- ' -'' ~ hand them over to stand trial here. ?-'
.~Io~^^~ will?tell the jury of 12 men and Three of the Cubans indicted in the al-
uamen . gym. she- District :.of' Columbia.:_ leged p-.ot, members. of the militantly
how he and his wife,-married only, four-- anticommunist, New Jersey-based Cuban
r_~cnths, borrowed Letelier's carthe night: Nationalist iYlovement, have been arrest-;
before the assassination because theirs ~ and will stand trial. Two more Cubans .
' o?srn was not working_ They picked up: ? have been indicted but remain at large..._._.
Leteiier on the morning of Sept 21 at his:. ' ,;'_,-Government testimony ih the first
Lowe in suburban Bethesda, Md., and bed' `stages of the trial svill~attempt to map out-
gap the ?~ir_inute drive to tragedy ia, the' the argins of the murder plot in, Santiago
IJJport Ci.-cle ai-ea.of.the city.; ~:;,,.;:. ',_ in the summer of:1976;ahe assignment of ,
Accor-',~.iag to FBL~agents-ivestigatiag the mission to Townley~the_recruitmeni-
file case, 'tee powerful pIasiique charge. of the. Cubans; and.:the.surveillance of~i
- lad beenactacl:ed to the.Letelier.car twos "" Letelier's movements around Washington
~aps earlier by an agent of ?the Chilean- by additional agents of the Chilean secret
.secret pclic~ as American expatriate by: - ;~,; -
:police. , -
the name of 3lichael Vernon Townle}+=~;' __ .. - _, . '-:: - .. ?- "
ownIey was arrestedand turned over ~ ;= 14iuch of the government's case will de-
to liS authorities in Chile last April after ~~pend on.l4Iichaei Townley, the.son of a,
photos of him appeared:. in-' a .Santiago- ~ Ford PQotor Company :executive; who
newspaper In Washington,: he~:quic$ly lived. in Chile for most of his 35 years..
confessed to carrying: out.the plot :with a' 'During the tenure of the socialist Allende [
tza.~n of right-wittgCuban exile .tercoCists: ? government from ~;1970 to '?3,:.Townley l
he had- recruited, and .entered' a- guiltq participated in underground terrorist ac=?I
plea ~:n exchange far a: reduced senteQce.-; tivities'.with an extreme right,wino anti i
lavestigative.sources say that Town: ALende organizat-on c:11ed "Fa~herlandtt
ley has told theta he had directed the Cu-~ and Liberty" '? -'- - ? -. - _, :.. _!
file circles in Zlizmi dunno a suw. ~-.-, j
there in 19?3, he was selected io. the t
Leteiier murder eiis;ioa. The Cubans k
were recruited, according to Townley and
ether potential witaessES,.wi~h offers of
an exchange! for Chilean aid for_ their
campaign against cidel Castro. ~ i
. Althou~ most Cuban exile groups:
have entered iniA a new era of frie:~dli
ness with Castro over the recent release
of political prisoners, some groups. have;
maintained a hostile stance: Iu icIiamii
recently, the "airwaves have been. fiIIed'
with appeals for defense funds for the Cu-~
bans indicted in theLetalier case: -
ror the past few months, the Cubans
defense team haYSOUght to pry loose ar~y t
evidence of CIA comp'icity in theLeteiser t
case, apps.*ently hoofing to force the gov
ernment to retreat from its charges on na- .~
'tional security grounds. ... ?--~ ~ !
So far, CIA affedavits have revealed
only that the CIA had contact with To?,urt-~:~
]ey on at !east three occasions. and at on
point, expressed an interest ia.reeruitia j
him as as agent. - . ~ 1
._On 1Vov. 2a, 1970, Townley called u
the CL's fiiattti field office"to of?er
,services to the agency;' one aifida t
. states.. ~: -~; -. -. :._
The following February: ?prelimin .
security approval" -was granted."to a
~Ivlr. ~ownIey in?an operational capaci . ?:
:but according to another.afiidavit, "su _`
Sequent effor~s to reestablish contacts: ?.
in 1971 were unsuccessful, and on Dec. I.
1971, the Office of Security. was inform
there was no longerany'operatlonalnt :=}
est in ;,fir. Townley." .=
,In June 1973, Townley again called t e E
'bIiami CL~.office"to notify agency of '
presence in the US is the event it desir ,
to debris him. $e claimed while in~ C e
.'he had tried unsuccessfully to con cE
? CIA,"'the affidavit states. :'.-. ?,
``On 18 June 1973, bir_ Tnwn~ey ag st.
telephonedahe overt agency represen -
five in :Miami. He was told that tl:e ag n-
cyhadnoquestiong_forhim.but would -
. Sept 20 just over .. .. ~ - .
_,r,~.___ - _ __ Approved For Release 2009/02/04 :CIA-RDP91 B00134R000400130028-6