in the car with him were two colleagues from isp, ronni moffitt and her husband michael moffitt. they turned the corner over here and unbeknownst to them, following them was a gray sedan. in that gray sedan were two cuban americans who had helped put a bomb underneath the driver's seat in the chevelle that orlando letelier was driving. the order to put the bomb in there was given by d.i.n.a., which was the secret police of chile, and chile was ruled at that time by a dictator who didn't like the political activities that orlando letelier, a former ambassador to the united states from chile, was taking on in washington. and so we know now that it was the dictator who ordered the secret police to assassinate him. and so they did this partly through an american chilean called michael tanly who came to washington, built the bomb with these cuban americans and they put it under the car of letelier. they thought he would be alone. and ended up having two american citizens with him. so the car came down massachusetts, turned over here, and exploded right here. this is where the two cuba

and then came the tragic story of ronni moffitt. she was not targeted, but she happened to be in the car with him. she stumbled out of the car. and her husband was in the backseat, so he suffered minor cuts. he looked at her, and she was stumbling away, so he figured ok, so i going to go help orlando," who was in the driver seat and clearly is dying. he went around the front, tried to get orlando out and could not do it. there was, you know, jagged metal pieces everywhere, broken glass. the car had essentially imploded onto itself. he could not get the body out. eventually, he went to see his wife, and he realized at that point that a piece of shrapnel had exploded from the driver's seat and had cut her carotid artery, and she was essentially drowning in her own blood. even though that was her only injury. and so both were -- both victims were immediately brought -- you know within a few minutes, , there were police vehicles and ambulances all over this circle. we are just a few blocks away from dupont circle, and so a lot of people

michael and ronni moffitt, both 25, and recently married. whileffitts waited letelier showered and dressed and rushed out the door. isabel barely had time to kiss him goodbye. orlando took the wheel of his 1975 chevelle malibu classic. michael opened the front passenger door for ronni and plopped himself in the backseat. it was a drizzly morning in the nation's capital. in less than an hour, orlando and ronni would be dead. michael would be traumatized for life. this is the actual car after the bombing. on sheridan circle. "i never learned what the surprise was," isabel recalled when i interviewed her over 40 years after the event. to this day, the killing of orlando letelier and ronni moffitt remains the only assassination of a foreign diplomat on u.s. soil. it is also the only state sponsored assassination in washington, and the most important in u.s. history. the letelier-moffitt assassinations constituted the most brazen act of international terrorism ever committed in the capital of the united states. . the only state-sponsored such act

out of gallantry, micheal moffitt opened the front door for ronni. in less than an hour orlando and ronni would be dead. michael would be traumatized for life. this is the actual car after the bombing on sheridan circle. i never learned what the surprise was, isabel recalled, when i interviewed her over 40 years after this event. to this day, the killing of orlando letelier and ronni moffitt remains the only assassination of a foreign diplomat on u.s. soil. it's also the only state-sponsored assassination in washington and the most important in history. still osama bin laden assessed one historian, they constituted the most brazen act of international terrorism ever committed in the capital of the united states. it is still the only state sponsored such act and the only car bomb. the two decade long resolution of this case would hold implications for chile, the united states, terrorism, human rights, and the fate of democracy everywhere. my book notably argues that it was crucial in taking down the entire pinochet government. but today i want to expl

at the same time, ronni moffitt,