How a Washington Assassination Brought Pinochet's Terror State to Justice

SPEAKER: Alan McPherson, Temple University

ACTIVITY: TNI & CEDLA Event

DATE: 6 March, 2020

On September 21, 1976, a car bomb killed Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean ambassador to the United States, along with his colleague Ronni Moffitt. The murder shocked the world, especially because of its setting – in the heart of Washington DC. Based on interviews from three continents, never-before-used documents, and recently declassified sources that conclude that Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet himself ordered the hit and then covered it up, Alan McPherson offers the full story of one of the Cold War’s most consequential assassinations. The Letelier car bomb forever changed counterterrorism and democracy. It also pointed to the underlying, century-long struggle between fascism and human rights in Latin America. In his lecture, Alan McPherson presents key findings of his latest book: Ghosts of Sheridan Circle (2019).