NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that newly released, declassified documents show that a former Chilean official convicted in a fatal 1976 car bombing in Washington, DC was an informer for the CIA. According to the documents, released by the CIA in a declassified report to Congress, the CIA maintained its relationship with General Manuel Contreras, director of Chile's secret police, until 1977. It's unclear whether the CIA knew of his involvement in the bombing, which killed former Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier and his American associate Ronni Moffitt. In 1993, Contreras was sentenced to seven years in prison for the assassination.
Copyright 2000 NPR
