Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards

More than 45 years later, the fight for justice continues

IPS established the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards in 1976 to honor our fallen colleagues, Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen Moffitt, who were assassinated by the Pinochet regime for their work to defend democracy and human rights in Chile. Today, these awards celebrate new champions of human rights and memorialize the victims of the Pinochet dictatorship.

Every year, IPS awards one group from the United States and one from Latin America and the Caribbean. We aim to recognize the often unsung heroes throughout the hemisphere who fight for economic, cultural, social, and civil rights. Our joyful ceremony each October celebrates the victories, struggles, and stories of those who fight for justice in the Americas.

The LM Awards boost visionary voices. Awardees have gone on to become progressive presidents in Brazil, Colombia, and Chile, overthrow Chile’s Pinochet-era constitution, win landmark unionization campaigns against corporate powers, and stand strong against multinational companies trying to displace Indigenous peoples from their lands. Together, all of our awardees help create the future we aspire to share.

History

In 1973, 10 years after the Institute for Policy Studies opened its doors with the belief that progressive thought, advocacy, and action can build a better society, Chile’s democratically elected government was overthrown by a military coup.

These two histories became inextricably linked on September 21, 1976, when agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet detonated a car bomb in Washington, D.C. that killed Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean diplomat and Director of IPS’s Transnational Institute, and Ronni Karpen Moffitt, an IPS Development Associate, in Washington, D.C.

In addition to his work at IPS, which stressed the relationship between economic rights and political freedom, Letelier had become one of the most outspoken critics of Pinochet. Moffitt ran a “Music Carryout” program to make musical instruments accessible to all. Her fundraising work at IPS stressed that we will not further democracy and equity in this country unless we stand with those seeking justice abroad.

A massive FBI investigation traced the crime to the highest levels of Pinochet’s regime and over the past decades there have been measures of justice, including the prosecution of numerous individuals involved in the bombing, a successful civil suit against the Republic of Chile on behalf of family members, and the indictment of Pinochet himself in his home country.

The Letelier-Moffitt Awards have played a vital role in the fight for justice for our fallen colleagues and in fueling struggles against injustice all over the world.

30 Years: Families Struggle for Justice

A short tribute to the families of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen Moffitt, detailing measures they took to ultimately bring Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to trial.

Past Awardees