Decades Later, Justice Looms for Letelier’s Assassin

A statue stands outside the Chilean ambassador’s residence in Washington, commemorating Orlando Letelier. He was a former Chilean ambassador to the United States, tragically assassinated in 1976. The horrific act was a car-bombing on Embassy Row, which also took the life of his colleague Ronni Moffitt.

On that fateful day, fifty years ago, an explosive device detonated beneath the driver’s seat of a car. The vehicle, navigating Sheridan Circle, was carrying three passengers. The explosion, allegedly activated by Virgilio Paz Romero, a militant who fled communist Cuba, resulted in the deaths of Letelier and Moffitt.

As years have passed, the shadows of this violent past still linger. Now, one of the accomplices in the assassination could soon be facing deportation. This possibility brings renewed attention to a case that remains a poignant reminder of political violence.