Michael Townley

Early Life and Background

Michael Vernon Townley was born on December 5, 1942, in Waterloo, Iowa, to John Vernon Townley, a U.S. businessman, and an unnamed mother. His father, who later became general manager of the Ford Motor Company in Chile, had ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from his work in the Philippines, which influenced Michael’s eventual path. The CIA used Ford Motor Company, with their knowledge, as a front for intelligence gathering efforts in foreign countries as did many other multi-national US corporations.

In 1957, at age 14, Townley moved with his family to Santiago, Chile, where his father’s role immersed him in the American expatriate community. He briefly attended Saint George’s College in Santiago but struggled with Spanish and left the school. Active in the Methodist Church’s youth group, Townley’s early years in Chile were marked by privilege but also isolation due to language barriers.

In the early 1960s, Townley married Mariana Inés Callejas, a Chilean woman who infiltrated the Socialist Party of Chile while secretly informing for Chilean military intelligence. The couple moved to Miami in 1967, where Townley worked as a mutual fund salesman and later as a mechanic among CIA funded and support Cuban exile population.

According to Death in Washington by Donald Freed, Townley received training in electronics and explosives from former CIA operatives in Fort Lauderdale, associating with CIA sponsored anti-Castro groups like the Chicago Junta, including Frank Sturgis, Orlando Bosch, and Antonio Veciana. He also worked for Investors Overseas Services, a CIA front company linked to financial scandals involving Bernard Cornfeld and Robert Vesco.

Involvement with the CIA and Move to Chile

Townley’s formed a relationship with the CIA. He testified that in 1970, before returning to Chile, he contacted the CIA to offer his services. However, a 1978 declaration by former CIA Security Director Robert Gambino, cited in Spartacus Educational, states Townley was a CIA informant from November 25, 1970, to December 21, 1971, though the agency’s interest ceased thereafter. Contradictory claims by DINA agent Jorge Patricio Villalobos Bolt and others assert Townley was a CIA agent during his later crimes.

In 1970, Townley and Callejas returned to Chile, where he became involved in anti-government activities against President Salvador Allende. He ran a clandestine radio station broadcasting anti-Allende propaganda and worked with violent opposition groups like Patria y Libertad. Fleeing Chile before the September 11, 1973, coup that overthrew Allende, Townley returned post-coup and was recruited by the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), Chile’s secret police under Augusto Pinochet. It is speculated that he did so on behalf of the CIA.

DINA Operative and Assassinations

As a DINA agent, Townley became a key operative in Operation Condor, a U.S.-backed campaign by Southern Cone dictatorships to eliminate leftists. His expertise in explosives and electronics made him a lethal asset, responsible for high-profile assassinations:

Carlos Prats Assassination (1974): General Carlos Prats, a former Chilean Army commander and Allende minister, went into exile in Buenos Aires after the 1973 coup. DINA chief Manuel Contreras tasked Townley with his assassination. Townley spent three weeks in Argentina monitoring Prats and his wife, Sofía Cuthbert. On September 30, 1974, he detonated a radio-controlled car bomb outside their apartment, killing both. Townley’s wife, Mariana Callejas, was implicated but not prosecuted due to ongoing Chilean trials, per a 2005 ruling by Judge Nibaldo Segura.

Bernardo Leighton Attempted Assassination (1975): In Rome, Townley, acting as an intermediary between DINA and Italian neo-fascist group Avanguardia Nazionale, orchestrated an attempt on Bernardo Leighton, a Chilean Christian Democrat leader, and his wife, Anita Fresno. On October 6, 1975, gunmen shot the couple, who survived but were severely injured. In 1993, an Italian court convicted Townley in absentia, sentencing him to 18 years (with two years remission), though he remained in U.S. witness protection arranged via the CIA.

Orlando Letelier Assassination (1976): Townley’s most infamous act was the assassination of Orlando Letelier, Chile’s former ambassador to the U.S., and his American colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt, a US citizen. On September 21, 1976, in Washington, D.C., Townley detonated a car bomb under Letelier’s vehicle, killing both. He confessed to hiring five anti-Castro Cuban exiles—José Dionisio Suárez, Virgilio Paz Romero, Alvin Ross Díaz, and brothers Guillermo and Ignacio Novo Sampoll—linked to the Cuban Nationalist Movement (CNM) and CORU all with ties to the CIA. Townley used a false passport under the name Kenneth Enyart, allegedly CIA-provided, per Contreras’s 2005 testimony to Chilean courts. The operation was planned at Townley’s home, where he built the bomb in the basement.

Chemical Weapons and Colonia Dignidad

Townley was involved in DINA’s chemical weapons program, working with biochemist Eugenio Berrios and Colonel Gerardo Huber to produce toxins for assassinations. In a 2005 interrogation by Judge Alejandro Madrid regarding the death of former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva (1982), Townley acknowledged links between DINA, Colonia Dignidad (a German cult in Chile used as a torture center), and the Laboratorio de Guerra Bacteriológica del Ejército (Army Bacteriological Warfare Laboratory). He claimed the Colonia Dignidad laboratory, a continuation of his Via Naranja de Lo Curro facility, produced toxins, including the one suspected in Frei’s death. Townley also testified in 1992 that Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria, killed in 1976, was tortured at his home with sarin gas, redeveloped by Berríos, linking DINA’s chemical operations to Operation Condor.

Legal Consequences and Witness Protection

In 1978, Chile extradited Townley to the U.S. to reduce tensions over Letelier’s murder. On April 17, 1978, he struck a plea deal, pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and receiving a 10-year sentence, serving only 62 months. The deal granted immunity from further U.S. prosecution, preventing extradition to Argentina for the Prats case. Townley provided evidence against his Cuban accomplices, leading to convictions of Guillermo Novo, Ignacio Novo, and Alvin Ross Díaz in 1979, though Pinochet refused to extradite DINA officers Pedro Espinoza Bravo and Contreras. Released in 1983, Townley entered the U.S. Federal Witness Protection Program, where he remains, living under an assumed identity.

In 1993, an Italian court convicted Townley in absentia for the Leighton attempt, but his witness protection status shielded him from extradition. In 2003, Argentine Judge María Servini de Cubría sought Callejas’s extradition for the Prats murder, but Chile’s refusal halted proceedings. Townley’s 2005 testimony implicated DINA and Colonia Dignidad in Frei’s death, but no convictions followed.

Alleged CIA Involvement and Controversies

Contreras claimed in 2005 that Townley was a CIA agent, supported by Vernon Walters (CIA deputy director, 1972–1976), who allegedly informed Pinochet of that Letelier’s was a "threat". Contreras’s document, cited in The Pinochet File by Peter Kornbluh, stated Pinochet directly ordered Townley’s actions. A 1981 interview with Townley, reported by Spartacus Educational, confirmed he used a CIA-provided passport, and former CIA agents Ibrahim Razin and Richard Brenneke alleged Townley’s presence in Stockholm before Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme’s 1986 assassination, with links to Iran-Contra. Italian magazine Panorama reported Italian President Francesco Cossiga’s 1986 letter urging investigation.

Townley’s plea deal limited his testimony to U.S. law violations, shielding him from DINA’s broader Condor activities. His wife, Mariana Callejas, and DINA associates like Francisco Oyarzún, Gustavo Etchepare, and Eugenio Berríos received payments from Chile’s National Information Center (CNI) (1978–1990), per Contreras, suggesting ongoing protection for Condor operatives.

Personal Life and Legacy

Townley and Mariana Callejas had children, though specific details are scarce due to his protected status. His marriage to Callejas, a DINA informant, facilitated his integration into Chile’s networks. Townley’s criminal career, spanning assassinations and chemical weapons, made him a notorious figure in Operation Condor, responsible for high-profile murders that destabilized any opposition to Pinochet’s regime. His plea deal and witness protection status shielded him from further accountability, drawing criticism from victims’ families and human rights groups.

Sources like The Washington Post and Wikipedia detail Townley’s crimes, relying on declassified CIA documents and court records, portraying him as a DINA operative with limited CIA ties, of course. The 1979 Senate report on Letelier’s murder and The Pinochet File confirm his role but downplayed any U.S. complicity, framing DINA as the primary actor.

X posts (@Aaron_Good_) and works like Death in Washington by Donald Freed allege deeper CIA involvement, citing Contreras’s claims and Townley’s passport. Townley was a skilled assassin whose DINA role in Condor, supported by U.S. acquiescence, caused significant harm. His CIA ties, likely as an informant, enabled operations like Letelier’s murder. Connections to Colonia Dignidad are substantiated by his 2005 testimony. Primary sources (National Security Archive, Chilean court records) confirm his crimes but are limited by redactions and his protected status.

Michael Vernon Townley’s life as a DINA operative and Condor assassin, marked by the murders of Carlos Prats, Orlando Letelier, and others, reflects the dark intersection of U.S. and Chilean covert operations. His Colonia Dignidad ties and chemical weapons work underscore his role in Pinochet’s repression. Protected by U.S. witness protection, Townley evaded full accountability, leaving a legacy of violence and unresolved justice.