A Lingering Mystery: The Sheridan Circle Bombing

CHILE'S AILING former dictator Augusto Pinochet was put under house arrest on Monday by a judge who accuses him of killing two of former Chilean President Salvador Allende's bodyguards in 1973. According to Reuters, Pinochet, at right, celebrated his 91st birthday over the weekend and issued a statement that "he accepted 'political responsibility' for acts committed under his rule." So with the wheels of justice moving again in Chile, will that shed any new light on one of Washington's most brazen assassinations?

In 1976, a car bombing in Sheridan Circle killed Allende's foreign minister, Orlando Letelier, and Ronni Moffitt, his American assistant at the Institute for Policy Studies. Moffitt's husband, Michael, survived the explosion. A small monument on the southeast side of the circle marks the spot where the two were killed. From the Transnational Institute's Letelier archive on the car bombing:

As the car passes the Chilean embassy, there is a buzzing sound inside. Then a flash. A tremendous explosion. Michael finds himself, dazed, outside the car as it crashes to a halt, colliding with a VW illegally parked in front of the Irish embassy. He assists his wife, Ronni, her face blackened. She walks a few steps. He assumes she is safe. Orlando is pinned under the car. Michael tries to pull the wreckage from him. The Executive Protection Service direct traffic. Michael sees that Orlando's legs have been severed. He appears barely conscious and in great pain. More police and ambulances arrive. Much confusion ensues. A nurse is assisting Ronni. At the hospital Orlando dies quickly. Ronni's carotid artery has been severed and she drowns in her own blood 20 minutes after Orlando dies.

Over the years, documents have been released filling in details of the U.S.-backed coup in Chile that brought Pinochet to power. Chilean agents working for Pinochet have been fingered in the Sheridan Circle bombing.

But there are still some questions to be answered. Mainly, what was Pinochet's role in the assassination of one of his most vocal critics? And what does the White House know?

An article by The New York Times' Larry Rohter from September says that Chilean investigators "are drawing closer to implicating" Pinochet in the Letelier matter, but the Bush administration has blocked requests for more information that might bring the investigation closer to Pinochet.

Says Peter Kornbluh, a Chile specialist at the National Security Archive, as quoted by the Times:

It's been six years, three times longer than the original investigation that fingered the hit team, and nothing has happened. I've filed Freedom of Information Act requests, but the documents that come closest to Pinochet are still being withheld, ostensibly as evidence.

Last month, Pinochet lost his immunity in the case of Eugenio Berrios, a chemist in the secret police who was kidnapped and brought to Uruguay so he wouldn't be questioned about Letelier's assassination. Berrios was later killed.

The lack of U.S. cooperation has led to complaints from Chilean investigators, among others, that the probe is languishing.

Photos by David Lillo/AFP/Getty Images and Linda Wheeler/The Washington Post

» "Pinochet Again Put Under House Arrest" [Reuters]
» "Letelier Archive" [TNI]
» "Pinochet Immunity Lifted in Another Human Rights Case" [Jurist]
» "Chile Seeks U.S. Files on 1976 Assassination" [NYT]

Posted By Michael Grass at 2:08 PM on November 28, 2006 Tagged in News

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