Orlando Letelier
 Orlando Letelier    | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sergio Orlando Letelier del Solar 1932-04-13 Temuco, Chile |
| Died | 1976-09-21 (Age 44) Sheridan Circle, Washington, DC |
| Nationality | Chilean |
| Parents | Orlando Letelier Ruiz Inés del Solar |
| Children | • Cristián Letelier • José Letelier • Francisco Letelier • Juan Pablo Letelier |
| Spouse | Isabel Margarita Morel |
| Victim of | assassination |
| Subpage | •Orlando Letelier/Assassination |
Assassination
The CIA knew of and/or ordered his murder, by car bomb, but the official narrative remains that "the assassination was perpetrated by agents of the Chilean secret police (the DINA), and was one among many carried out as part of Operation Condor."
An FBI investgation lead to the extradition of Michael Townley, a US expatriate who confessed that he had hired five anti-Castro Cuban exiles to booby-trap Letelier's car. According to Jean-Guy Allard, after consultations with the Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU) leadership, including Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, those chosen to carry out the murder were Cuban-Americans José Dionisio Suárez, Virgilio Paz Romero, Alvin Ross Díaz, and brothers Guillermo and Ignacio Novo Sampoll. Suárez and Romero were not extradited.
Virgilio Paz Romero was later captured and pleaded guilty to the murder in 1991.
