Chilean political figure Orlando Letelier was assassinated in a car bomb explosion in Washington, D.C. by agents of dictator Augusto Pinochet.
The car bombing on Massachusetts Avenue was the most infamous act of international terrorism to take place in the nation’s capital to that point.
Letelier, his assistant Ronni Moffitt, 25, and her new husband, Michael, were driving to work on Sheridan Circle in Embassy Row, around 9:35 a.m. when an explosion erupted under the car. Letelier and Ronni Moffitt were killed.
Today, a small memorial to Letelier and Moffitt sits across from Sheridan Circle.
Several people were convicted for the murders. Among them were Michael Townley, a Chilean secret police agent and U.S. expatriate who had once worked for the CIA.
Letelier moved to D.C., after spending 12 months in political prison following Pinochet’s coup. Letelier worked for the Institute for Policy Studies and taught at American University. He became the leading voice of the Chilean resistance, preventing several loans from being awarded to the military government.
