Nation : FBI Arrests Suspect in 1976 Bomb Death of Ex-Chile Envoy
A man wanted in connection with the 1976 bombing death of former Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier was arrested early today in St. Petersburg, Fla., the FBI announced.
Jose Dionisio Suarez, 51, was charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official.
The FBI said Suarez provided the explosives, detonating devices and purchased parts of the bomb that killed Letelier as he and business colleague Ronni Moffitt drove to work in Washington on Sept. 21, 1976.
Letelier served as Chilean ambassador to the United States in 1971-1973. He and Moffitt were employed at the Institute of Policy Studies in Washington. Letelier had been publicly critical of the Chilean government of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and had begun to emerge as a leader in the international Chilean community.
Michael V. Townley, a U.S. citizen who was also an employee of the Chilean intelligence agency, was arrested in 1978. Extradited to the United States, he confessed to planting the bomb on the order of superiors and was sentenced to prison.
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