Such a Safe City

Abstract

This introduction recounts the day’s events of the car bomb assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington, DC on September 21, 1976. It focuses on the experiences of the surviving family members, especially Michael Moffitt, who was in the car with his wife Ronni Moffitt but lived, and Orlando’s wife Isabel, who rushed to the hospital to find out that Orlando had already died. The story exposes the immediate suspicion that the families had that the Pinochet government was responsible. It also posits the book’s major question: will the families ever enjoy a full measure of justice?