A Santiago court has convicted three former agents of Gen Augusto Pinochet's secret police for the 1976 car bomb murder of Ronni Karpen Moffitt, a 25-year-old American, in Washington DC. Judge Paola Plaza sentenced Pedro Espinoza, José Zara, and Raúl Iturriaga to 15 years in prison. All three were operatives of the Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia (Dina), Pinochet's feared secret police that targeted opponents domestically and abroad.
Details of the Attack and Sentences
On 21 September 1976, a bomb detonated as Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean minister and ambassador to the US, and his colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt drove to work on Massachusetts Avenue Northwest. The attack, orchestrated by notorious Dina chief Manuel Contreras, involved surveillance and a plan for extrajudicial killings on foreign soil. Espinoza and Iturriaga were held at an exclusive facility outside Santiago; Zara, who had completed a 15-year jail term in August last year, was rearrested. Pinochet directly ordered the killing, as revealed by declassified US documents.
Impact and Reactions
Juan Gabriel Valdés, former Chilean ambassador to Washington DC, noted on social media: "Justice took 49 years and 97 days to arrive," recalling Moffitt's cheerful greetings. Rebecca Karpen, Moffitt's niece, stated: "These sentences are not just a victory for our family, but are a reminder that the countless lives ruined by the Pinochet regime are still being fought for." The brazen killings strained US-Chile relations, leading to a US congressional investigation and an arms embargo against Chile. The Dina was disbanded but quietly replaced by the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) months later.
