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Richard Helms and President Richard Nixon and Chile

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TWENTY YEARS AGO ON SEPTEMBER 21, 1976, THREE PEOPLE WERE DRIVING IN A CAR ALONG WASHINGTON DC’S EMBASSY ROW. THE CAR EXPLODED KILLING TWO OF THE THREE OCCUPANTS, FORMER CHILEAN AMBASSADOR ORLANDO LETELIER AND 25 YEAR OLD RONNI MOFFITT. RONNI’S HUSBAND MICHAEL WAS THROWN FROM THE CAR, RECEVING ONLY MINOR INJURIES. THE KILLINGS HAPPENED IN THE WAKE OF THE 1973 US SUPPORTED COUP IN CHILE, SUPPORTED BY THEN NATIONAL SECUIRTY ADVISOR HENRY KISSINGER, CIA DIRECTOR RICHARD HELMS AND PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON. WHICH BROUGHT GENERAL UGUSTO PICNICHET TO POWER. EVENTUALLY TWO TOP CHILEAN GENERALS, ONE THE NUMBER TWO MAN UNDER PINOCHT WERE FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER. AN AMERICAN WHO BUILT THE BOMB WAS THE STAR PROSECUTION WITNESS AND IS BELIEVED TO BE SOMEWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES. TODAY WE’RE JOINED BY SAUL LANDAU, FELLOW AT THE INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES WHERE BOTH LETELIER AND MOFFITT WORKED.

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