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

Cuban exile A Cuban exile is a person who emigrated from Cuba in the Cuban exodus. Exiles have various differing experiences as emigrants depending on when they migrated during the exodus. Demographics Social class Cuban exiles would come from various ec ...

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 Latin " ...

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

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Paz Romero was one of two people accused of detonating a remote-controlled car bomb that killed Letelier and a colleague in Washington's

Sheridan Circle Sheridan Circle is a traffic circle in the Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Embassy Row. A number of embassies ring Sheridan Circle, including the former Turkish chancery, and the Romanian embassy on the southern side, and the Embassy of Pakis ...

Early life

Paz's family left

Santa Clara, Cuba Santa Clara is the capital city of the Cuban province of Villa Clara. It is centrally located in the province and Cuba. Santa Clara is the fifth-most populous Cuban city, with a population of nearly 250,000. History Santa Clara was founde ...

in the mid-1960s when he was 14. In 1966 while his family was in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...

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

Cuban community Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a pe ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

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

Cuban Nationalist Movement {{Commons category dissidents dissidents Dissidents Dissidents by nationality Dissidents Dissidents ...

Assassination of Orlando Letelier

On September 21, 1976,

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 ...

drove colleagues Michael and Ronni Moffitt to work at the

Institute for Policy Studies The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is an American progressive think tank started in 1963 that is based in Washington, D.C. It was directed by John Cavanagh from 1998 to 2021. In 2021 Tope Folarin was announced as new Executive Director. I ...

in his

Chevrolet Chevelle The Chevrolet Chevelle is a mid-sized automobile that was produced by Chevrolet in three generations for the 1964 through 1978 model years. Part of the General Motors (GM) A-body platform, the Chevelle was one of Chevrolet's most successfu ...

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

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, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populatio ...

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, United States. It is situated about 57 miles north of Miami. The population was 68,217 at the 2010 census. In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 78,679 according to the University ...

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 show, television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Entertainment#Fox Alternative Entertainment, Fox Alter ...

''. 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 Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

. 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. 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 U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

ruled that indefinite detentions were unconstitutional,

Paul Huck Paul C. Huck (born July 22, 1940) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Education and career Huck was born in 1940 in Covington, Kentucky. He received his Bachelor of ...

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.. Appeal ...

ordered Paz Romero released.

Alleged Involvement in Murder of Carmelo Soria

In May 2016, the

Supreme Court of Chile The Supreme Court of Chile is the highest court in Chile. It also administers the lower courts in the nation. It is located in the capital Santiago. In the Chilean system, the court lacks the broader power of judicial review—it cannot set bindin ...

voted unanimously to request that the United States

extradite Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

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 an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. The three men were former agents of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

's secret police

Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional ( en, National Intelligence Directorate) or 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 ...

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 assassins Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in Mexico Cuban expatriates in the United States Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government People convicted on terrorism charges