Virgilio Pablo Paz Romero (born November 20, 1951) is a

Cuban exile A Cuban exile is a person who has been exiled from Cuba. Many Cuban exiles have various differing experiences as emigrants depending on when they emigrated from Cuba, and why they emigrated. The exile of Cubans has been a dominating factor in C ...

and

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...

who was involved in the 1976 assassination of former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Paz Romero was one of two people accused of detonating a remote-controlled

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roug ...

that killed Letelier and a colleague in Washington's Sheridan Circle.

Early life

Paz's family left Santa Clara, Cuba in the mid-1960s when he was 14. In 1966 while his family was in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

awaiting papers to emigrate to the United States, Paz's father died. He settled in a Cuban community in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

with his mother. When he was 16, Paz was the youngest member of the Cuban Nationalist Movement.

Assassination of Orlando Letelier

On September 21, 1976, Orlando Letelier drove colleagues Michael and Ronni Moffitt to work at the

Institute for Policy Studies The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is an American Progressivism in the United States, progressive think tank, formed in 1963 and based in Washington, D.C. It was directed by John Cavanagh (economist), John Cavanagh from 1998 to 2021. In 202 ...

in his

Chevrolet Chevelle The Chevrolet Chevelle is a Mid-size car, mid-sized automobile that was produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors (GM) in three generations for the 1964 to 1977 model years. Part of the GM GM A platform, A-body platform, the Chevelle ...

. Paz and Jose Dionisio Suarez Esquivel followed in sedan. Paz detonated a bomb placed under Letelier's car as it reached Sheridan Circle on Washington's

Embassy Row Embassy Row is the informal name for a section of Northwest Washington, D.C., with a high concentration of embassies, diplomatic missions, and diplomatic residences. It spans Massachusetts Avenue N.W. between 18th and 35th street, bounded ...

. The blast killed Letelier and Ronni Moffit.

Capture

Paz Romero, his wife, a son and a daughter lived under assumed names in the area of

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

since 1980. Taking the name "Francisco Luis (Frank) Baez", Paz Romero was active in the community and owned a landscaping business in

Boynton Beach, Florida Boynton Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is situated about north of Miami. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded a population of 80,380. Boynton Beach is located in the Mi ...

since 1985. On April 24, 1991, he was captured without incident while driving to work a few days after he was profiled on an episode of ''

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Entertainment#Fox Alternative Entertainment, Fox Alternative Entertain ...

''. The segment featured an age progressed portrait of Paz Romero drawn by forensic artist Karen T. Taylor.

Sentencing and imprisonment

In July 1991, Paz Romero pleaded guilty in the conspiracy to assassinate Letelier, and on September 13, 1991, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was paroled after serving half of his sentence, and an immigration judge ordered him deported. Given that the United States did not have a deportation agreement with Cuba, he was placed into indefinite custody of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was a United States federal government agency under the United States Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and under the United States Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Refe ...

. In July 2001 after the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

ruled that indefinite detentions were unconstitutional, Paul Huck of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (in case citations, S.D. Fla. or S.D. Fl.) is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida. Appeals ...

ordered Paz Romero released.

Alleged involvement in murder of Carmelo Soria

In May 2016, the Supreme Court of Chile voted unanimously to request that the United States extradite Paz, Chilean Armando Fernandez Larios, and American Michael Townley who were wanted for the July 1976 detention, torture, and murder of Carmelo Soria, a Spanish-Chilean citizen and

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

. The three men were former agents of

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

's secret police

Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA; ) was the secret police of Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The DINA has been referred to as "Pinochet's Gestapo". Established in November 1973 as a Chilean Army intelligence unit ...

. By August 2023, however, it was reported that a recent conviction which was given to six former DINA agents and two former army officers would be the "final conviction" issued by the Supreme Court of Chile for Soria's murder.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paz Romero, Virgilio 1952 births Living people Opposition to Fidel Castro Operatives of Operation Condor People of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional Cuban anti-communists Cuban assassins Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in Mexico Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government People convicted on terrorism charges