U.S. Probe May Link Pinochet to Murder

by Gustavo Gonzalez

Juan Bustos, a Chilean attorney and socialist legislator, said today that renewed inquiries into the murder of Orlando Letelier, who had also served as Chile's defense minister, and his secretary, Ronni Karpen Moffitt, may mean further legal troubles ahead for his country's former dictator.

A Washington DC court is studying the case of the September 21, 1976 car-bomb assassination, which occurred in the U.S. capital just one kilometer from the White House.

The court has sent a petition to Chilean justice authorities to request the questioning of 46 former officials and collaborators under the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990).

Among those listed on the request are former directors and agents of the military regime's secret police, as well as former ministers -- many of who also appear on Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon's roster of Chile's "extraditables."

The U.S. petition, sent through diplomatic channels to the Chilean Supreme Court, was released yesterday and caused some surprise among political and legal circles as well as the individuals named on the list.

Retired army general Manuel Contreras, a former chief of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), was condemned to seven years in prison, and the DINA's former second-in-command, retired brigadier Pedro Espinoza, was sentenced to six.

The fact that the attack committed by DINA agents and anti-Castro Cubans resulted in the death of Letelier's secretary, Ronni Moffitt, a U.S. citizen, means it is still an open case in that country, explained Bustos, who also serves as legal counsel for Letelier's widow and children.

In 1978, the Chilean Supreme Court refused the extradition of Contreras, Espinoza and captain Aramando Fernandez -- also a DINA agent -- to the United States, though Fernandez later collaborated with U.S. justice authorities under a witness protection program.

Michael Townley, a U.S. citizen, also sought witness protection. He was a DINA agent, turned over to U.S. authorities in 1978 by the dictatorship, said to have manufactured the bomb that killed Letelier and Moffitt.

The declassification of previously confidential documents belonging to the CIA, the FBI, the State Department and other U.S. government agencies contributed to the re-opening of the Letelier case in Washington.

Investigators also had access to documents provided by judge Garzon, who since 1996 has been investigating crimes against humanity committed by the former dictatorships in Chile and Argentina (1976-1983).

The Spanish judge began by working on the charges against Argentina's former dictators, but then expanded his work to include Pinochet and his collaborators under Operation Condor, which coordinated the repressive forces of several South American dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s.

Garzon convinced the British authorities to arrest Pinochet in London Oct 16, 1998, and later got Spain to request the former Chilean dictator's extradition. But the 84-year-old retired general was released two weeks ago for humanitarian reasons due to his allegedly failing health.

Bustos indicated that the U.S. justice authorities requested the testimonies in order to clarify whether or not the former officials and agents of the dictatorship had previous knowledge of the preparations to assassinate Letelier and Moffitt, or of the crime's subsequent cover-up.

Through their interrogations, the authorities may be able to establish the roles of some of the individuals petitioned, as well as that of Pinochet, who holds political immunity in Chile due to his seat as senator-for-life.

The former dictator, however, could be stripped of this privilege if the Santiago Court of Appeals admits a request for Pinochet's removal from the Senate -- submitted by Chilean judge Juan Guzman, who is investigating 74 criminal charges presented against Pinochet in Chile.

Soledad Alvear, current Foreign minister under the new Ricardo Lagos government -- which took office March 11 -- and former justice minister under the previous Eduardo Frei administration, said authorities would guarantee the independence of the Chilean judicial branch in responding to the U.S. petition.

Joaquin Billard, head of the First Criminal Court of Santiago, is now entrusted with processing the requests so that each of the individuals identified by U.S. justice authorities prepares a declaration to be made from Chile.

Among the 46 people the Washington DC court wishes to question, four are no longer living: former air-force commander Gustavo Leigh, former government minister and general Raul Bejares, former general of the military police Rigoberto Gonzalez and former senator Jaime Guzman, who was assassinated in 1991 by leftist extremists.

Among those petitioned are the jailed Contreras and Espinoza, as well as other chiefs at DINA and its successor organization, the National Center of Information (CNI), former high army officials and several of the former dictatorship's ministers, like Sergio Rillon, Pinochet's principal adviser.

Also on the list is retired general Raul Iturriaga, currently under arrest and awaiting extradition to Italy, where he has been charged with defaulting on an 18-year prison sentence for the 1975 murders in Rome of former Chilean vice-president Bernardo Leighton and his wife, Anita Fresno.

Among the Pinochet ministers listed is Monica Madariaga, former minister of Justice and Education. She also faces arrest, under Spanish judge Garzon's order, if she travels outside of Chile.

Earlier this month, Madariaga filed charges in Chilean court against Cuba's president Fidel Castro for his supposed complicity in the 1982 assassination of general Carol Urzua in Santiago.

Human rights organizations interpreted her action as a response by the Chilean political right to Pinochet's 503-day arrest in London.