45th Annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards

October 13 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm, hosted online

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The Institute for Policy Studies invites you to join our special guests:
IPS Board Member, Danny Glover
IPS Executive Director, Tope Folarin
Long-time IPS Director, John Cavanagh
IPS Board Chair, Sarita Gupta
IPS Deputy Director, Kathleen Gaspard

as we celebrate and honor our 2021 award-winners.

HONORING:

Domestic Awardee:

Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC)
and its founder, Sr. Dianna Ortiz (1958-2021)

This award will be presented by Kerry Kennedy, President, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Martin Sheen, Actor and Activist.

The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) was founded by Sister Dianna Ortiz, who died on February 19th. She was a survivor of torture in Guatemala. She spent nearly three decades advocating against torture and in doing so helped to create the unique survivor-centered model of healing that TASSC represents.

and

International Awardee:

Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH)

Award presented by Opal Tometi, co-founder, Black Lives Matter

Since 1978, the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) has served as the representative organization and a leading voice in Honduras for the self-determination and dignity of the Garífuna people in Honduras, a matrilineal people who are both Indigenous and Afro-descendent. Their ancestral territory in Honduras is principally along the northern coast and under constant threat from African palm plantations, Canadian and U.S. tourist operations, mining, energy projects, and drug trafficking.

Stay tuned for upcoming announcements of this year’s special guest speakers and performances!

For more details, please contact Development Manager, Brittany Alexander at (202) 787-5242 or brittanya@ips-dc.org.

Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards

After 40 Years, the Fight for Justice Continues

Since 1976, IPS has hosted the Letelier-Moffitt Awards to honor our fallen colleagues, Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen Moffitt, and celebrate new champions of the human rights movement.

Forty years after the car bombing that took their lives, the pursuit of justice for Orlando, Ronni, and other victims of the Pinochet regime continues.

In May 2016, Chile requested the U.S extradite three former Pinochet agents for the murder of UN diplomat Carmelo Soria. All three were also involved in the Letelier-Moffitt assassination. Michael Tigar and Juan Garcés, recipients of the Letelier-Moffitt Award in 1992 and 1999, helped advance this case.

In June 2016, a Chilean court reopened its investigation into Ronni’s murder. Three former Pinochet agents were indicted.

Also in June 2016, a U.S. jury found a Florida resident liable for the torture and murder of iconic Chilean folk singer Víctor Jara during the Pinochet era. The Center for Justice and Accountability, recipient of the Letelier-Moffitt Award in 2015, played a critical role in this victory.

40th Annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards

History

In 1973, ten 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 that killed former Chilean diplomat and Director of IPS’s Transnational Institute, Orlando Letelier, and IPS Development Associate Ronni Karpen Moffitt in Washington, D.C. Until 9/11, it was the most infamous act of international terrorism on U.S. soil.

In addition to his work as director of IPS’s New International Economic Order Program, 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, and her fundraising work demonstrated 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.

Following these assassinations, IPS established the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards to honor our fallen colleagues and recognize individuals and groups in the United States and elsewhere in the Americas most dedicated to the struggle for human rights.

Excerpt from “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