f0 3 Cumdlm prrAgmgr - DIRECTORATE 0F INTELLIGENCE 1 May 1987 Pinochet's Role in the Letelier Assassination and Subsequent Coverup Summary A review of our files on the Letelier assassination has provided what We regard as convincing evidence that President Pinochet personally ordered his intelligence Chief to carry out the murder These files also make clear that when the subsequent investigation by US authorities established that senior Chilean military and intelligence officers were responsible Pinochet decided to stonewall on the case to hide his involvement and ultimately to protect his hold on the presidency As the result of the recently revived US interest in the case Pinochet is now seeking new ways to contain the potential threat to his political survival in the face of armed forces pressure to clear up the Letelier affair In our view however none of the several options he apparently has considered- ordering a Chilean court trial for the culprits in the murder blaming another Army officer for the coverup or even the elimination of_his former intelligence chief - is likely to protect Pinochet from any further embarrassing revelations that ensure Moreover they will be unable to satisfy the military's concern that Pinochet-take effective steps to repair the damn alread done to the armed forces' reputation This 'typescript was prepared by South American Division Office of African and Latin merican ina y51s It was coordinated with the Directorate of Operations This typescript was requested by Mr Robert Gelbard Deputy Assistant Secretary Department of State Comments and queries are welcome and may be directed to the Chief South America Division ALA on ALA 87-20024X COPY of CL BY 195040 DECL OADR h w Lk Ea tata e Q ggasgg FM COL 4-82 OADR Recent revelations by Army Major Armando Fernandez Larios that senior Chilean military officers planned the assassination of former Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier in Washington in September 1976 have caused an uproar in Chile and revived speculation that President Pinochet himself ordered the killing In his formal statement to a US c0urt in February 1987 Fernandez Larios claimed that Pinochet tried to cover up the extent of Chilean government involvement in the assassination during an investigation conducted by the Chilean military in the mid-19705 and personally forbade him to leave the country Fernandez Larios admitted however that he did not know if Pinochet was involved in planning the killing To our knowledge no credible reporting concerning Pinochet's role in the Letelier affair became available before mid-1978 when the US investigation was nearing completion and Chilean officials realized that Washington would indict three active duty officers and request their extradition to the US In June 1978 the senior US intelligence officer in Santiago submitted a special appraisal of the Chilean government's strategy on the Letelier case He reported that Pinochet moved quickly to limit the damage from the confession by Michael Townley--a dual citizen whom Santiago expelled to the US in response to charges by the Justice Department that he was one of the assassins--that put the onus for the crime directly on former Chilean intelligence DINA chief retired Army General Manuel Contreras According to the senior intelligence officer Pinochet was determined to protect Contreras from prosecution for Letelier's murder because he knew that his own political survival depended on Contrerasl fate Therefore the President decided to stonewall on all further US requests that might have helped solidify the case against Contreras and others implicated in Letelier's murder He also made plans to ensure that the Chilean Supreme Court would reject requests for the extradition of Chileans in resionse to anticipated indictments in a US court -uvn uL -- In April 1978 Contreras told a close confidant that DINA was responsible for the assassination of Letelier that he had authorized the killing on direct orders from Pinochet and that he had admitted as much to Orozco -- During the same month Orozco stated that Pinochet had learned that Contreras had given a close friend a briefcase with very sensitive documents placing responsibility for the assassination on the President with instructions to make them public if anything happened Ito Contreras -- In August 1978 Pinochet met with the President of the Chilean Supreme Court--whom he had appointed in May in order to lessen chances that the Court might find legal cause for the extradition of officers implicated in the killing--to urge him not to extradite Contreras Pinochet stated that he had promised the Army's generals that Contreras would not be extradited because of the negative impact on the Army's reputation The Court President promised Pinochet that he would do everything possible to see that the Court complied with his request -- Over time Contreras became increasingly anxious about whether Pinochet in the end might bow to US pressure and either_extradite him or have him tried in Chile He consequently renewed his threats to expose Pinochet if the President_Went back on their agreement i o -- In late 1979 a draft of the Washington's request for the extradition of Contreras Fernandez Larios was shown to Pinochet it be toughened to exclude any possibilit could be revived order hilean Supreme Court decision denying Espinoza and The President insisted that that the extradition case The language was changed to comply with Pinochetjs Recent Developments in the Case Following the denial of the US extradition request quickly slipped into the background in Chile and most military officers were pleased with the way it was hand and that military's reputation emerged relatively intact from the affair Even Contreras seemed to relax as his fears dissipated that Pinochet might turn against him and according to generally reliable sources over the years he and the President resumed their formerly close relationship the Letelier case Attitudes again changed follo wing the revival of the Letelier case resulting from Fernandez Larios' revelations in the US in early 1987 senior rmy as the Pinochet to clear up the military officers--concerned about result of Fernandez Larios' Letelier case damage to the reputation of revelations- are pressin- most military officers at first believed that the President had no prior knowledge of the Letelier killing soon after Fernandez Larios made his statements before a US court the armed forces were subjected to a vigorous presidentially inspired campaign to denigrate the Major--branding him a deserter--and-portray the whole affair as an effort by Washington to destabilize the Pinochet government officers in all of the services have close ran 3 in their commanders and Pinochet and have become very guarded about commenting on the case Nevertheless the government's campaign has not overcome the conviction of at least some officers that the Letelier assassination probably was planned and approved by the highest levels of the Chilean military Moreover an untested source reports that as of late April Army field grade officers thought that Fernandez Larios' revelations could affect Pinochet's support among middle grade officers and that many officers have become privately skeptical about Pinochet's role in the assassination of Letelier- which we believe means they now suspect he ordered the murder In addition we believe that deSpite the government campaign to blacken Fernandez Larios' reputation many military officers are still seriously concerned about his revelations and their negative implications for the armed forces' reputation We also believe that reporting to date provides only glimpses of how seriousl the view this matter and of what they are prepared to do about Consequently we judge that Pinoche --1s worrie that his standing with the Army might be damaged if he merely stonewalls on the case while continuing to criticize Fernandez Larios and the US Government At the same time we believe that he is in a quandary over what steps would satisfy the military's concern because above all he fears that former DINA operations chief Colonel Espinoza General Orozco and especially General Contreras would reveal his role in the murder if he moved against them Although we have no reports that Contreras has made new threats to expose Pinochet's role in the murder we believe that Pinochet may be seekin to protect himself at all costs possibly even by eliminating Contreras Outlook Interest in the Letelier case in Chile is unlikely to dissipate soon and Pinochet clearly knows this He is probably very concerned about possible new damaging revelations on the case or actions by Washington that would cause further embarrassment for_him with the Chilean military Nevertheless in our View Pinochet has little recOurse but to continue stonewalling in order to avoid having his role in the Letelier killing exposed and at most he probably hopes thereby-to be able to avoid a serious erosion of his support with the military On the other hand he is almost certainly realistic enough to know that he might eventually be forced to take concrete actions on the case--such as permitting a real court trial in Chile of one or more'of the ulprits which tinues to he would mount