[Politics] President Boric closes tour to the US with tribute to Orlando Letelier

[FNX Magokiler]

In Washington, the President led a heartfelt ceremony in memory of former Defense Minister Orlando Letelier. With this act he closed the tour to the United States and also put an end to the official commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Coup d'état, as reported by Chancellor van Klaveren.

At Sheridan Circle in Washington, under heavy rain, President Boric participated in the tribute to former Minister of Defense of Salvador Allende's government, Orlando Letelier. In that place, on September 21, 1976, Letelier and his secretary Ronni Moffitt were murdered by a bomb placed in their car, by DINA agents.

The ceremony was attended by US congressmen, the children of Orlando Letelier, Foreign Minister Alberto Van Klaveren, the Chilean ambassador to the OAS, Sebastián Kraljevich, the Chilean ambassador to the United States, Juan Gabiel Valdés, and the Chilean ambassador to the UN, Paula Narváez. and Senator Ricardo Lagos Weber (PPD), among other personalities.

The tribute was opened by US Congressman Jaime Raskin, who mentioned to President Boric the recent resolution presented by Senator Bernie Sanders — signed by different United States senators — that details the importance of democracy in the country, in addition to the recognition of the intervention of the CIA and the United States government in the coup d'état in 1973.

 

 

He also highlighted a heartfelt speech by former socialist senator, Juan Pablo Letelier, who spoke on behalf of the Letelier family.

President Boric, who alternated phrases in English and Spanish, made reference to Dina's fist and the systematic state terrorism, as a policy of the dictatorship. He recalled the attacks against General Prats and his wife Sofía Cuthbert, murdered in September 1974 in Buenos Aires and against the former vice president, Bernardo Leighton and his wife Anita Fresno, in Rome in October 1975, who survived the attack, but were left with consequences. physical and psychological.

Likewise, he highlighted the work of former senator Tom Harkin, who attended the ceremony. “He was knocking on doors in Chile to find out what was really happening and he discovered Villa Grimaldi,” said the president.

After the speeches, floral offerings were delivered at the monolith located in the roundabout where the attack was perpetrated. This event closed the President's tour to the United States and also put an end to the official commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Coup d'état, as reported by Chancellor van Klaveren.

 

https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2023/09/23/presidente-boric-cierra-gira-a-eeuu-con-homenaje-a-orlando-letelier/