Ghosts of Sheridan Circle: How a Washington Assassination Brought Pinochet's Terror State to Justice

by Alan L. McPherson

On September 21, 1976, a car bomb killed Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean ambassador to the United States, along with his colleague Ronni Moffitt. The murder shocked the world, especially because of its setting--Sheridan Circle, in the heart of Washington, D.C. Letelier's widow and her allies immediately suspected the secret police of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who eliminated opponents around the world. Because U.S. political leaders saw the tyrant as a Cold War ally, they failed to warn him against assassinating Letelier and hesitated to blame him afterward. Government investigators and diplomats, however, pledged to find the killers, defying a monstrous, secretive regime. Was justice attainable? Finding out would take nearly two decades.

With interviews from three continents, never-before-used documents, and recently declassified sources that conclude that Pinochet himself ordered the hit and then covered it up, Alan McPherson has produced the definitive history of one of the Cold War's most consequential assassinations. The Letelier car bomb forever changed counterterrorism, human rights, and democracy. This page-turning real-life political thriller combines a police investigation, diplomatic intrigue, courtroom drama, and survivors' tales of sorrow and tenacity.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

392 pages, Hardcover

Published September 21, 2019

Reviews

[Steven Volk · Rating 4 out of 5]

On September 21, 1976, Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen Moffitt were blown up as their car rounded Sheridan Circle in Washington DC. Letelier had served in many ministerial posts for President Salvador Allende, Chile's president who was deposed in a bloody coup on September 11, 1973. He had also been Chile's ambassador to the United States. Ronni Moffitt was a young researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies, where Letelier was working in exile from his homeland. Also in the car was Michael Moffitt, who survived the blast. Their murder remains the only assassination of a foreign diplomat on U.S. soil, the only state-sponsored assassination ever in Washington. McPherson's book details the 40+ year-long process needed to bring the guilty parties -- high ranking officers in the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, anti-Castro Cubans, and a U.S. citizen, to justice. It is a painstakingly researched book and complements and completes earlier books on the same subject. As someone who knew Letelier and was convinced from the first moment I heard of his murder that the trail would lead back to Pinochet, I am happy to see all the pieces put together in a compelling narrative.

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half up to the car bombing and initial investigation and arrest was really good..The background on the people, the situation leading up to and during Chile’s 9/11, profiles on the thugs, U.S. diplomatic maneuverings were all really good and interesting. think things bogged down as the pursuit of justice in the real life Letellier affair did, there was such a snails pace to DINA admitting to anything, such Chilean intransigence, but the author had to keep plodding through to recount it all. “One man’s communist, is another’s man freedom fighter.”

[Michelle Wyche · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy reading about true events. Prior to reading Ghosts of Sheridan Circle, I did not know that this event happened. I am glad justice was served after the terrible event that occured on Sheridan Circle. As I was reading this I found myself asking what if questions about a certain time in Orlando Letelier's life. What if he called the police? What if his wife handed in the letters and more. I liked this novel, it was well written and the pictures were an added bonus.

[Sonia Conly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghosts of Sheridan Circle

This is a detective story and also a history of US support of fascist regimes and abuse of human right in the name of anti-communism. Extensively foot-noted
, the book is non-the-less a fast read. If you are not concerned about the influence of radical right wing Cuban’s on US policy in Latin America you may be after reading this.