Former Pinochet agents convicted over 1976 Washington DC carbomb murder

A court in Santiago has convicted three former agents of the Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia (Dina) over the 1976 car bomb that killed Ronni Karpen Moffitt, 25. Judge Paola Plaza sentenced Pedro Espinoza, José Zara and Raúl Iturriaga to 15 years in prison. Espinoza and Iturriaga were being held at an exclusive facility outside Santiago; Zara had been released last August after completing a previous 15-year term and was arrested again.

The bomb that exploded on Massachusetts Avenue Northwest on 21 September 1976 also killed Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean minister and ambassador to the US. The court ruled that agents, led by Dina chief Manuel Contreras, devised a plan to carry out extrajudicial killings on foreign soil and conducted surveillance on Letelier, whose murder was initially investigated separately.

Chile, Santiago; Washington DC

pinochet, dina, ronni moffitt, orlando letelier, car bomb, washington dc, santiago, manuel contreras, raul iturriaga, jose zara