Remembering Ronni
In 1976, Ronni Karpen Moffitt was killed on her way to work as the car she was riding in succumbed to a car bomb planted by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Sheridan Circle Memorial Service
Until September 11, 2001, the car bombing on Massachusetts Avenue was the most infamous act of international terrorism ever to take place in our nation’s capital. On September 21, 1976 agents of the Augusto Pinochet regime planted a car bomb at this location which brutally took the lives but not the memory of two IPS colleagues, who fought for equality and justice through reason, not violence.
Annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards Ceremony
Join IPS as we honor the National Day Laborer Organization Network (NDLON) and the Honduras Human Rights Platform. There will also be a special recongition award for the Guatemalan Police Archives and our special musical guests will be Sweet Honey In The Rock.
The Annual Sheridan Circle Memorial Service
Until September 11, 2001, the car bombing on Massachusetts Avenue was the most infamous act of international terrorism ever to take place in our nation’s capital. On September 21, 1976 agents of the Augusto Pinochet regime planted a car bomb at this location which brutally took the lives but not the memory of two IPS colleagues, who fought for equality and justice through reason, not violence.
Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen Moffitt were colleagues at the Institute for Policy Studies, where Letelier had become one of the most outspoken critics of Pinochet. Moffitt was a 25-year-old development associate. For more than three decades, the pursuit of justice for their murders has been a symbol of hope for victims of tyranny everywhere. Every year the human rights community, friends, family, colleagues, and supporters gather in remembrance of these tragic assassinations.This program will take place outdoors at the site of the assassination and end with a laying of flowers on the Letelier-Moffitt memorial across the street from Sheridan Circle. Please bring flowers.
Speakers: Michael Karpen (brother of Ronni Karpen Moffitt); Peter Kornbluh (National Security Archive); Francisco Machado Leiva (Executive President of the Association of Nongovernmental Organizations of Honduras); and a representative of the Chilean Embassy. Emcee: Joy Zarembka (Institute for Policy Studies) Music: Patricio Zamorano, Chilean songwriter, and Mauricio Betanzo, Chilean musician and master in cello.
For directions and more information, see: https://ips-dc.org/events/565 or call Sena Tsikata at IPS: (202) 234-9382×277.
IN CASE OF RAIN: The Chilean Embassy has generously offered to open up the Ambassador’s residence for us if it should be raining on Sunday morning. The Ambassador’s residence is just across the street from Sheridan Circle on the Northwest side, at 2305 Massachusetts Avenue NW.
The 33rd Annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards
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 that killed former Chilean diplomat and director of the Institute’s Transnational Institute, Orlando Letelier, and IPS development associate Ronni Karpen Moffitt in Washington, D.C.
Following these assassinations, IPS established the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards to honor their fallen colleagues and recognize individuals and groups in the United States and elsewhere in the Americas most dedicated to the struggle for human rights.
We are delighted to hold the event again for the 33rd consecutive year, and applaud Domestic Workers United and La Mesa Nacional Frente a la Minería en El Salvador as they continue the struggle for basic human needs and demonstrate the courage and dedication which the awards were established to honor. More information on the awardees can be found on our Letelier-Moffitt awards page.
The celebration starts at 5:30PM, with a reception and light fare. The human rights program begins at 7PM. You can purchase tickets here.
Arts Event: Where Rivers Meet
This special event will feature poetry and art by Francisco Letelier and music by Jacqueline Fuentes. Join us on October 14 at the Letelier Theater (named in honor of Orlando Letelier) as these artists create a vision of possibility through images, words and music.
Francisco Letelier is well-known for his moving visual art, as well as for his powerful spoken word poetry, which examines and celebrates struggles for human rights. He is the son of Orlando Letelier, the Chilean diplomat who was assassinated by agents of Pinochet in Washington, DC in 1976, on his way to work at the Institute for Policy Studies. Francisco has carried on the legacy of Chilean culture, creating opportunities which bridge continents and disciplines.
Jacqueline Fuentes is an intense experience, a fusion of love, awareness and revolution. Audiences are mesmerized by the power of her voice and the beauty of her lyrics. The volatile political injustices of her native Chile, culminating with the 1973 coup d’etat, gave a voice to folk music and the plight of the people it represented. Jacqueline was heavily influenced by this movement and by such great artists as Mercedes Sosa and Violeta Parra, not only for the beauty of their music but how it had the power to move so many people. Crossing the boundaries of language, religion, and geography their music formed a collective of inspiration and solidarity.
This event is free but seating is limited. Entrance to the building is in the courtyard. See their website for more information.
Please RSVP to emilyh@ips-dc.org.
This performance is in honor of this year’s Letelier-Moffit Human Rights awardees, the Indian Workers Congress and Francisco Soberón and Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) of Peru for their courageous advocacy of human rights. The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights awards program will take place Wednesday, October 15, at the National Press Club — visit the event page for more details or to purchase tickets.
Sheridan Circle Annual Memorial Service
Until September 11, 2001, the car bombing on Massachusetts Avenue was the most infamous act of international terrorism ever to take place in our nation’s capital. Letelier and Moffitt were colleagues at the Institute for Policy Studies, where Letelier had become one of the most outspoken critics of Pinochet. Moffitt was a 25-year-old development associate. For three decades, the pursuit of justice for their murders has been a symbol of hope for victims of tyranny everywhere.
This program will take place outdoors at the site of the assassination and end with a laying of flowers on the Letelier-Moffitt memorial across the street from Sheridan Circle.
Please bring flowers.
Speakers: Chilean Ambassador Mariano Fernandez, Rodrigo Leiva (nephew of Orlando Letelier); Sherry Weiss (cousin of Ronni Karpen Moffitt); Gabriel Kornbluh, Emira Woods (IPS Foreign Policy In Focus Co-Director) and others.
Music: Ayanna Gregory (daughter of comedian and human rights activist Dick Gregory)
Poetry: Saul Landau (IPS Fellow)
For more information, call Sena Tsikata at IPS at (202) 787-5277.