McPherson: Michael Townley was expelled to the United States and spilled the beans. All five Cuban-Americans involved served some jail time, but three of them were soon freed on technicalities.
In Chile, after the FBI and the Department of Justice fingered the regime, DINA was disbanded and Manuel Contreras retired. Later, when more heat descended, Pinochet freed some prisoners, lifted the curfew, and let some exiles back into the country.
In the 1980s, the assassination led to Democrats in Congress forcing the Reagan administration to pressure the regime to democratize, which helped persuade Pinochet to leave power in 1990.
When he did, the courts convicted Contreras and Espinoza, the first time that Cold War human-rights violators when to prison in all Latin America. The former died in prison and the second is still incarcerated. Pinochet [who died in 2006] was never tried for the Letelier assassination.
Most important, perhaps, is that the quest for justice that followed the assassination inspired many in Chile to pursue other violators of human rights, and today about 1,000 cases have been adjudicated.
The Letelier assassination helped bring about a revolution in human rights.