On 6 October 1975, an assassination attempt in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, was carried out against

Bernardo Leighton Bernardo Leighton Guzmán (August 16, 1909, Negrete, Bío Bío Province – January 26, 1995, Santiago) was a Chilean Christian Democrat Party of Chile, Christian Democratic Party politician and lawyer. He served as Ministries of Chile, mini ...

, a former

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Christian Democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

vice-president, then in

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

. The assassination attempt seriously injured Bernardo Leighton, and his wife, Anita Fresno, leaving her permanently

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

. Leighton was one of the founding members of the Chilean

Christian Democrat Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

. In 1966, he entered the government of

Eduardo Frei Montalva Eduardo Nicanor Frei Montalva (; 16 January 1911 – 22 January 1982) was a Chileans, Chilean political leader. In his long political career, he was Minister of Public Works, president of his Christian Democratic Party (Chile), Christia ...

, becoming a vice-president. Leighton left Chile in December 1973, after the coup d'état. In exile, he opposed the new regime of

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader of the military junta, which i ...

, he had already been nominally open to

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...

. In 1974, a year before the Leighton assassination attempt, General Prats, another Chilean exile, was murdered in the capital of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. Chilean General

Manuel Contreras Juan Manuel "Mamo" Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda (4 May 1929 – 7 August 2015) was a Chilean Army officer and the former head of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), Chile's secret police during the dictatorship of General Augusto ...

, head of

DINA DINA may refer to: * Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), the Chilean secret police under the Pinochet regime * DINA S.A., a Mexican truck and bus manufacturer See also * Dina (disambiguation) * * DINO * DIN (disambiguation) DIN or Din or ...

, has been indicted in Italy in 1995 for ordering the Leighton murder. Part of the indictment was based on testimony from

Michael Townley Michael Vernon Townley (born December 5, 1942, in Waterloo, Iowa) is an American-born former agent of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), the secret police of Chile during the regime of Augusto Pinochet. In 1978, Townley pleaded gui ...

. However, the Italian government was unable to get Contreras extradited from Chile, where he had already been incarcerated for ordering the assassination on

Orlando Letelier Marcos Orlando Letelier del Solar (13 April 1932 – 21 September 1976) was a Chilean economist, politician, and diplomat during the presidency of Salvador Allende. A refugee from the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, Letelier ...

. The deputy director of DINA,

Raúl Iturriaga Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann (born 23 January 1938) is a Chilean Army general and a former member Foreign Affairs Department of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, DINA, (the Chilean secret police under the Augusto Pinochet military dic ...

, was also sentenced. In March 1993, Townley, who confessed to commissioning the murder attempt on behalf of DINA by National Vanguard members, was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison, with two years remission. Nevertheless, Townley still remained a member of the U.S. witness protection program member. Vanguard member

Vincenzo Vinciguerra Vincenzo Vinciguerra (born 3 January 1949) is an Italian neofascism, neo-fascist activist, a former member of the National Vanguard (Italy), ''Avanguardia Nazionale'' ("National Vanguard") and ''Ordine Nuovo'' ("New Order"). He is currently servin ...

, who was already imprisoned, claimed Vanguard leader

Stefano Delle Chiaie Stefano Delle Chiaie (13 September 1936 – 10 September 2019) was an Italian neo-fascist terrorist. He was the founder of ''Avanguardia Nazionale'', a member of ''Ordine Nuovo'', and founder of Lega nazionalpopolare. He went on to become a wan ...

told him that Chilean ruler Augusto Pinochet directed ordered the attempted assassination. However, Townley, who was acknowledged to have had "direct participation," claimed that he was given orders to carry it out from Manuel Contreras; Townley also previously stated in 1978 that "Most of the orders for assassination operations abroad were given by General Manuel Contreras." Three Vanguard members, including Chiaie, would be acquitted for their alleged roles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leighton Case 1975 crimes in Chile 1975 crimes in Italy Failed assassination attempts in Europe Failed terrorist attempts in Italy 1970s in Rome Crime in Rome October 1975 in Europe 1975 in Italy Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1975 Terrorist incidents in Italy in the 1970s Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional