Editing Orlando Letelier (section)

==Early Life and Education==
Orlando Letelier del Solar was born on April 13, 1932, in Temuco, Chile, to Orlando Letelier Ruiz and Inés del Solar Rosenberg. Raised in a middle-class family with a progressive intellectual tradition, Letelier grew up in Santiago, where his father worked as a civil servant. He attended the prestigious Instituto Nacional and showed early promise in economics and politics. At age 16, he enrolled at the University of Chile’s Law School, studying economics and public administration, and graduated in 1954 with a degree in law and social sciences. His academic excellence and fluency in English, honed during a brief stay in the United States, positioned him for a career in public service. Letelier’s early exposure to nationalist ideas, influenced by Chile’s vibrant political scene, shaped his lifelong commitment to a free and democratic Chile.