In September 1976 , Orlando Letelier , a Chilean opponent of the Pinochet regime , was assassinated in Washington , D.C. with a car bomb . Previously , Kissinger had helped secure his release from prison , and had chosen to cancel a letter to Chile warning them against carrying out any political assassinations . The U.S. ambassador to Chile , David H. Popper , said that Pinochet might take as an insult any inference that he was connected with assassination plots . It has been confirmed that Pinochet directly ordered the assassination . This murder was part of Operation '' Condor '' , a covert program of political repression and assassination carried out by Southern Cone nations that Kissinger has been accused of being involved in
was assassinated
Assassination of Orlando Letelier
Henry Kissinger