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The assassination of Orlando Letelier refers to the September 21, 1976 car bombing, in Washington, D.C., of Orlando Letelier, a leading opponent of Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Letelier, who was living in exile in the United States, was killed along with Ronni Karpen Moffitt, who was in the car along with her husband Michael, who worked for Letelier.〔John Dinges and Saul Landau, Assassination on Embassy Row〕 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. Declassified U.S. intelligence documents confirm that Pinochet directly ordered the killing.〔(Pinochet directly ordered killing on US soil of Chilean diplomat, papers reveal ). ''The Guardian.'' October 8, 2015.〕 ==Background== In 1971, Letelier was appointed ambassador to the United States by Salvador Allende, the socialist president of Chile.〔.〕 Letelier had lived in Washington, D.C. during the 1960s and had supported Allende's campaign for the presidency. Allende believed Letelier's experience and connections in international banking would be highly beneficial to developing US–Chile diplomatic relations.〔.〕 During 1973, Letelier served successively as Minister of Foreign Affairs, then Interior Minister, and, finally, Defense Minister. After the Chilean coup of 1973 that brought Augusto Pinochet to power, Letelier was one of the first members of the Allende administration to be arrested by the Chilean government and sent to a political prison in Tierra del Fuego. He was held for 12 months in different concentration camps suffering severe torture: first at the Tacna Regiment, then at the Military Academy. Later he was sent to a political prison for eight months at Dawson Island. From there he was transferred to the basement of the Air Force War Academy, and finally was sent to the concentration camp of Ritoque. Eventually, international diplomatic pressure especially from Diego Arria, then Governor of the city of Caracas, Venezuela, and United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger resulted in the sudden release of Letelier on the condition that he immediately leave Chile. He was told by the officer in charge of his release that "the arm of DINA is long, General Pinochet will not and does not tolerate activities against his government." This was a clear warning to Letelier that living outside of Chile wouldn't guarantee his safety.〔.〕 After his release in 1974, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he became a senior fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, an independent international policy studies think tank.〔.〕 He plunged into writing, speaking, and lobbying the US Congress and European governments against Augusto Pinochet's regime, and soon he became the leading voice of the Chilean resistance, in the process preventing several loans (especially from Europe) from being awarded to the military government. He was described by his colleagues as being "the most respected and effective spokesman in the international campaign to condemn and isolate" Pinochet's dictatorship.〔.〕 Letelier was assisted at the Institute for Policy Studies by Ronni Moffitt, a 25-year-old fundraiser who ran a "Music Carryout" program that produced musical instruments for the poor, and also campaigned for democracy in Chile.〔.〕 Letelier soon became a person of interest for Operation Condor, a campaign initiated by right-wing dictatorships in South America to gather intelligence on opposition movements and to assassinate the leaders of these movements. Former General and political figure Carlos Prats, who had become a vocal opponent of the Pinochet government,〔.〕 was killed by a radio-controlled car bomb on September 30, 1974, in an assassination planned and executed by members of DINA.〔.〕 Letelier's pro-democracy campaign and his vehement criticisms of Pinochet had been under watch by the Chilean government. Letelier became a target in DINA director Manuel Contreras' efforts to eliminate resistance to the Pinochet government.〔.〕 In October 1975, Letelier became the Director of Planning and Development for the International Political Economy Programme of the Transnational Institute, an international think tank for progressive politics affiliated with the Institute for Policy Studies. Through the institute's operations in the Netherlands, Letelier convinced the Dutch government not to invest US$63 million in the Chilean mining industry.〔.〕 On September 10, 1976, the Chilean government revoked Letelier's Chilean citizenship. Pinochet signed a decree declaring that the former ambassador's citizenship be canceled for his interference "with normal financial support to Chile"〔 and his efforts "to hinder or prevent the investment of Dutch capital in Chile".〔 Later that day, in a speech he delivered at the Felt Forum in Madison Square Garden, Letelier proclaimed: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Assassination of Orlando Letelier」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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