154. Telegram From the Station in Chile to the Central Intelligence Agency1
1. Embassy in general and Consulate in particular are being charged with inefficiency and negligence in handling of Frank R. Teruggi and Charles E. Horman cases. Following paragraphs contain background on more important aspects of involvement of [consular officers John Hall and James Anderson] [1 line not declassified]. Headquarters may wish to refer to Embassy telegrams Santiago 5132, 5135, and 5143 for chronological listing of events in these two cases.
2. The fact that Horman had been detained was first reported to the Consulate morning of 18 Sept by telephone. Caller had no specific info to provide, but based on call Consul Purdy contacted DEA and MilGroup to get search underway. Since Horman had never registered [Page 413] at Consulate, basic bio data was not immediately available. On 19 Sept at approx 1100 hours Mrs. Joyce Horman (wife of Charles) appeared at Consulate to report fact her husband missing. [3 lines not declassified]
3. Officer A [John Hall] told Mrs. Horman that Consulate had received reports that her husband missing and that search was underway. She was asked to provide needed bio data on both her husband and herself, which she did. Naturally, she was distraught, nervous and frightened. Officer A told her to keep in frequent touch with the consulate. She asked for transportation and Embassy escort to take her to her home and was told that consulate not able to provide that service. She asked what further steps she could take and was instructed to report the disappearance to the uniformed national police (Carabineros). Details of the conversation and the additional bio data was passed by Officer A to Consul Purdy. Officer A had no further contact with Mrs. Horman nor did he speak with Edmund C. Horman, father of Charles. As part of efforts by all Consulate officers to track down leads in the Horman case, Officer A interviewed a friend of the Hormans, Mario Carvajal, on 6 October. Carvajal provided information which indicated the army probably had Horman in custody as of 0800 hours, 18 Sept. At that time Carvajal’s wife was called by a person identifying himself as a member of the sim. The caller asked if the Carvajal’s “gringo” friend was an extremist; they answered that they did not know his (Horman’s) political leanings. At Officer A’s request, Carvajal dictated and signed a sworn statement of his recollection of the telephone call.
4. Officer B was introduced to Mrs. Horman on 6 October but had no conversations with her. However, Officer B had two conversations with Mr. Edmund Horman. Circumstances behind these two conversations are as follows:
A. On 8 October Timothy Ross, British journalist, contacted the Consulate to advise that he had info possibly bearing on the Horman case. Officer B talked with Mr. Ross on that date. The lead provided by Mr. Ross, after investigations, turned out not to refer to Horman, however, Mr. Ross indicated that because of three years experience in Brazil he had good leftist contacts and would check with them to see if they knew anything about Horman’s disappearance. On 11 Oct Mr. Ross said he had received word from his contacts that there was a system in existence for getting wanted people out of Chile secretly and that this escape pipeline had three Americans in process for clandestine departure. The contact said one of the persons was Horman. Ross was asked to get proof relative to this, such as a letter from Horman or some other definite indications. Ross said he would try. On 12 Oct Ross [illegible] advised that his contacts confirmed that Horman was in the escape pipeline. (Please see Embassy telegram Santiago 5129.) [Page 414] At the request of Ambassador Davis, arrangements were made by Officer B for Mr. Horman to meet with Mr. Ross the evening of 16 Oct to detail the above story to Mr. Horman. At the specific request of the Ambassador, after the meeting was concluded, Officer B called Mr. Horman aside and, following instructions of Ambassador, said: “If you put any credence in the information from Mr. Ross, you may wish to consider that any continuing Embassy pressure in this case may be double-edged.” It was obvious from Mr. Horman’s reaction that he did not like this statement. He replied, “I trust your judgement more than mine, but I realize any decision would have to be made by me.”
B. On 19 Oct (the day after the body of Charles had been found), Mr. Horman came to Consulate looking for Consul Purdy at about 1310 hours. Officer B was the only officer present in the Consulate at that time. Mr. Horman went to lunch with Officer B where they joined a secretary and another Vice Consul. Conversation was normal during lunch and subject of son was not touched upon. Upon return to Consulate, since Mr. Purdy was still not present, Mr. Horman sat down in Officer B’s office to wait. Mr. Horman said he blamed the Embassy in part for not saving his son’s life but said he realized that not everyone was to blame. He said his son had been anti-establishment, but that was no reason to kill him. Officer B made no effort to counter any of his statements or to argue with him, instead just listened. During his discourse, Mr. Horman indicated that he was going to do his best to get the Inter-American Police Academy closed, because “the U.S. helped train the people who shot my son.” The only definitive statement made by Officer B to Horman during this time was: “Mr. Horman, I can only say that both our official and unofficial contacts with the Chilean military have indicated that your son was never officially listed as being in the National Stadium.” Horman replied: “Oh, I don’t believe he was officially listed. To find out what happened, you would have to talk to military intelligence and not regular army officers.” At no time did Mr. Horman indicate any antagonism toward Officer B. Altho he did criticize some Embassy officers without naming them, it was obvious, however, that he was referring to Captain Ray Davis, Consul Purdy, PAO James Halsema, and Ambassador Davis.
5. Throughout the period Officer B was actively involved in carrying out investigations, such as neighborhood checks to locate witnesses to the detention, visiting the National Stadium, and visiting the morgue as part of the Horman case. However, primary activity in this case as well as the Teruggi case was undertaken by Consul Purdy.
6. In the Teruggi case, Officer B interviewed friends of Teruggi, including Steven Volk, Irena Munoz (fiancée of David Hathaway, Teruggi’s roommate), and others. Officer B accompanied Volk to the morgue, along with an Embassy officer temporarily detailed to the [Page 415] consulate, to identify the body of Teruggi. Altho we have not seen Volk’s sworn statement made in the U.S., he apparently criticized Consul Purdy for not allowing him to try to identify the body of Teruggi earlier. This criticism is justified because Volk asked Officer B if he could see the body because Hathaway had not been positive that the body was not that of Teruggi. (Hathaway had been unable to identify the body when he was taken to the morgue by Consul Purdy.) Consul Purdy refused, and Volk overheard the refusal later in the day. Officer B was able to convince Purdy that Volk should be allowed to view the body. In a letter to the Wall Street Journal, Volk mentioned having gone to the morgue with Officer B.
7. [less than 1 line not declassified] both Officer A and Officer B did everything in their power to assist in the attempt to locate the two missing Americans, as well as assisting other U.S. citizens who may have been in trouble or believed that they might be. Neither believe that they undertook any action or made any statement which would discredit the Consulate [less than 1 line not declassified].
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Summary: Following allegations that U.S. officials had mishandled the cases of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, the Station provided an account of actions by two consular officers assigned to the cases.
Source: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of General Counsel, Job 12–01548R: Legal Subject Records Files (OGC), Box 1, Chile Special Search Project, CIA Documents Denied in Full Pertaining to Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi—Gonzales/Privacy Issues—[text not declassified]. Secret. Printed from a copy that the CIA Review Staff forwarded to the House Select Committee on Intelligence on January 19, 1976. To prepare the copy for the Committee, the telegram number and time, and the names of the two consular officers were deleted from the copy. The officers are identified here, however, by bracketed insertions. The identifiers “Officer A” and “Officer B” were handwritten on the copy prepared for the Committee. No original copy of the telegram has been found. In telegrams 5132 (October 20), 5135 (October 20), and 5143 (October 23) from Santiago, the Embassy forwarded a detailed three-part chronology of its efforts to account for Horman’s welfare and whereabouts. (All telegrams are in the National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, [no film number]) In telegram 5129 from Santiago, October 19, the Embassy provided additional information on the role played by Timothy Ross, a British journalist, in the Horman case. (Ibid.)
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