Letelier-Moffitt Memorial Service, September 18, 2005

IPS Director, John Cavanagh; Emcee, Daniela Ponce (IPS); Robin Weiss-Castro (IPS) and Ronni Moffitt’s cousin Sherry Weiss (front) get ready to begin the ceremony.

Guests listen to the speeches by Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, Ambassador Andrés Bianchi, journalist John Dinges, author Cathy Schneider, Veronica DeNegri, poet Ethelbert Miller, and Orlando’s son; Cristián Letelier.

Scholar and activist Dr. Cathy Schneider hugs her good friend Veronica DeNegri after introducing her as a speaker. Veronica is a torture survivor and a human rights activist.

Cristián Letelier thanks the audience for their commitment to peace and justice. You can read his full speech below.

Chilean Ambassador Andrés Bianchi deposits flowers on Orlando’s and Ronni’s memorial. The Ambassador represents a new era of openness in Chile.

Program:

Invocation: Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, Muslim Chaplain, Howard University (Ret.)

Andrés Bianchi, Ambassador of Chile to the United States

John Dinges, author The Condor Years: How Pincohet and his Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents

Music: Pam Parker and Steve Jones

Cathy Schneider, author, Shantytown Protest in Pinochet's Chile

Veronica DeNegri, Human rights activist and torture survivor

Ethelbert Miller, Poet, IPS board chair

Sherry Weiss, Ronni Karpen Moffitt's first cousin

Christian Letelier, Orlando Letelier's son

Emcee, Daniela Ponce, Institute for Policy Studies

 

Thanks to all of you who came to support this beautiful memorial on Sunday morning. The event celebrated the legacy of our colleagues Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen Moffitt. For 28 years, people have gathered at Sheridan Circle to ensure that the memory of Orlando and Ronni and the values they stood for are not forgotten. Every year, students, human rights activists, artists and public scholars come to consolidate and expand a community of determined individuals who refuse to forget atrocity, and refuse to watch from the sidelines as new crimes unfold.

Dictatorship silences. And that’s exactly what Pinochet and his allies, with the support of the United States’ government, tried to do at Sheridan Circle in 1976. The murders tried to silence a Chilean diplomat who spoke out on behalf of democracy and human dignity. And it also ended the life of a young woman who was his colleague and who like Orlando, worked tirelessly to build a better world.

But dictatorship didn’t silence the voices of Orlando and Ronni. We gathered at Sheridan Circle to speak about justice, dignity and the human spirit for the 28th year last Sunday. That’s the testimony.

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Cristián Letelier’s Speech:

Good morning friends of Orlando and Ronni, friends of IPS. It is a pleasure, an honor and a privilege to be with you here today commemorating 29 years since the tragic deaths of my father and Ronni. I thank you all for being here and never forgetting the principles for which these two courageous souls paid the ultimate price, freedom from tyranny and human rights. Your valiant and diligent pilgrimage each year to this spot for this memorial, is a inspiration to the human spirit. It reminds us that the deeds performed in this life do have meaning. That heroes are alive in our hearts, that we embrace and are uplifted by human sacrifice in the name of good and right and that we remember and are positively impacted by their example. .

Each year I come to this circle, I’m flooded with memories from the past. Memories of the Chilean Embassy, of my father, of the Chilean struggle for freedom , of the countless people who worked so hard and the many that paid with their lives.

September is a crazy month. So many things seem to always happen in September . Facist overthrows, assassinations, state sponsored terrorism, ideological terrorism, natural catastrophes; those poor people in New Orleans, what a month.

Just prior to my fathers death he had come to visit me in Bethany Beach where I worked as a lifeguard. I sat on my stand and watched the water, and we talked. I explained how our lifesaving procedures worked and he talked about surviving Dawson Island, we both talked about surviving relationships. Funny thing about life, unexpected things happen when you least expect them. You guard things and people, and ideals , and suddenly the very ground shifts and there’s nothing you can do except deal with the changes life deals you. We humans as so resilient and adaptable. We’ve been forced to live in a world without Orlando and Ronni for 29 years now. We make the best of it , we seek retribution for their deaths. We try incessantly to bring the perpetrators to justice. Thanks to Judge Juan Guzman Tapia, at least on some level, there is hope that Pinochet will have to face judicial accountability. If nothing else his saintly image in Chile has experienced some serious tarnishing lately.Yet when all is said and done, and trust me I never dreamed we would ever have gotten this far in resolving this tragedy; on a personal note, I truly miss Ronni and my father. I may have to accept the impermanence of the human experience but I’ll never be happy that my father can’t go to the beach with me today and swim butterfly , and body surf . Two of his favorite things. See, the Orlando that I remember wasn’t just an Ambassador, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Defense, he has a happy go lucky fun loving dad, who was my pal and whom I expected support and guidance from. He loved playing games, singing, dancing, eating. Since we were 4 boys eating was important. He used to always say,” El que termina primero le ayuda a su companero,” who ever finishes first gets to help his companions. In other words, don’t play around with your food on the plate, eat up before your bigger companions help themselves.

On behalf of my family and that of Ronni Karpen Moffitt, I would like to thank you once again for your presence here today. Thank you.

Cristian Letelier 9/21/05

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Until September 11, the most infamous act of international terrorism ever to take place in our nation's capital was the 1976 car bombing that killed Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and 25-year-old American Ronni Moffitt. Letelier and Moffitt were colleagues at the Institute for Policy Studies, where Letelier, former ambassador to the United States and Defense Minister under Salvador Allende, had become one of the most outspoken critics of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. A massive FBI investigation traced the crime to the highest levels of Pinochet's regime.

Since that time, IPS has been involved in ensuring that the memory of Letelier and Moffitt and other victims of Pinochet would not be forgotten. Every year IPS holds a memorial service at Sheridan Circle and a human rights awards program in the names of Letelier and Moffitt.

Go to Letelier-Moffitt main page.

For more information, on the Letelier-Moffitt event, please call Institute for Policy Studies, (202) 234-9382.