http://smh.com.au/news/0002/15/world/world10.html Missing link: CIA's role in deaths of Allende followers By DUNCAN CAMPBELL in Los Angeles The CIA may have given General Augusto Pinochet's government the go-ahead to murder the young American writer on whom the film Missing was based, according to newly declassified documents. Two US citizens, Mr Charles Horman, 31, and Mr Frank Teruggi, 24, were killed in Chile in 1973 after the military coup that overthrew president Salvador Allende. Both men had worked for a newsletter sympathetic to Mr Allende in the capital, Santiago. Mr Horman had spotted US warships off the Chilean coast at Valparaiso shortly after the coup and had believed this showed signs of US connivance. Mr Horman was given a lift back to Santiago by a US military captain two days before he disappeared. His story was told in Costa-Gavras's 1982 film Missing, which starred Jack Lemmon. Mr Teruggi, a friend of Horman, was arrested by the secret police, held at the National Stadium in Santiago and had his throat slashed. The US Government released papers about the deaths in 1980, apparently exonerating the US of any involvement. But some documents remained classified. Now President Bill Clinton has ordered the declassification of "all documents that shed light on human rights abuses ... during and prior to the Pinochet era in Chile". One declassified document states: "US intelligence may have played a part in Horman's death. At best, it was limited to providing or confirming information that helped motivate his murder by the government of Chile. At worst, US intelligence was aware the government saw Horman in a rather serious light and US officials did nothing to discourage the logical outcome of government of Chile paranoia." The declassified material giving details of a later inquiry carried out by the US states that the CIA "may have played an unfortunate part in Horman's death". The implication is that the CIA indicated to the Chilean military that Mr Horman was a danger who could be eliminated without too much risk of a fuss from the US. Dr Henry Kissinger, who was US secretary of state during the period, told The New York Times, which published the declassified material on Sunday, that if he had been made aware of the matter, he "would have done something". Mr Horman's widow, Joyce, is pressing the Government for a fuller investigation. The Guardian
