Institute for Policy Studies
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Lelier-Moffitt Award Medallion

The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards

On September 21, 1976, agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet detonated a car bomb that killed IPS colleagues Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean diplomat and director of the Institute's Transnational Institute, and Ronni Karpen Moffitt, an IPS development associate, in Washington, DC. Each year in October, the Institute for Policy Studies hosts the annual human rights award in the names of Letelier and Moffitt to honor these fallen colleagues while celebrating new heroes of the human rights movement from the United States and the Americas.


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. Chilean diplomat Letelier and Moffitt were killed in a car bombing on September 21, 1976 on Embassy row in Washington, DC. Until 9/11, it 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 Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Moffitt was a 25-year-old fundraiser who ran a “Music Carryout” that made musical instruments accessible to all. A massive FBI investigation traced the crime to the highest levels of Pinochet’s regime.

Photos from the 2009 Awards Ceremony

Videos of Previous Ceremonies


2009 Awards

2008 Awards

2008 Sheridan Circle Memorial

2007 Awards

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