Seven former Army personnel were prosecuted as perpetrators of the crime of qualified homicide against two students, one 14 years old and the other 22 years old, who were executed by firing squad in Angol on October 5, 1973.

The individuals are former Army officials: Armando Juan Emilio Staeding Schäffer, Germán Eduardo Ojeda Bennett, Carlos Patricio Bunster Medina, Alejo César Tisi Gómez, Enrique Gómez Ibáñez, and Jorge Alberto Lagos Robles, prosecuted as perpetrators, and Gabriel Enrique Fuentes Campusano as an accessory to the crime of qualified homicide of Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez, a 14-year-old student, and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya, also a student, 22 years of age.

The prosecution was ordered by the minister for extraordinary causes for human rights violations of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Alvaro Mesa. According to the evidence gathered in the investigation, it was determined that on October 4, 1973, around midnight, unknown persons allegedly fired shots at the Húsares Regiment of Angol, specifically at a guard post located at the intersection of Calle Los Confines and Agricultura, currently Calle José Luis Osorio.

A reaction patrol from the Regiment, consisting of about 30 soldiers, cooperated in the initial search for the perpetrators of the alleged shots. The two identified students were detained, and after being brutally beaten, they were executed by firing squad. Their riddled bodies were placed in sacks and thrown into a nearby river; their remains have not been located to this day.

Source: biobiochile.cl, October 28, 2014

Minister Álvaro Mesa sentenced 13 retired military personnel for the qualified homicide of students in Angol

In the civil aspect, the magistrate ordered the State to pay, with costs, compensation for moral damages to the relatives of the victim Cotal Álvarez. The minister for extraordinary causes for human rights violations for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced 13 retired military personnel who were stationed at the Húsares Regiment of Angol at the time of the events for their responsibility in the crimes against humanity of qualified homicide of university student Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya and secondary student Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez. These crimes were perpetrated in the commune of Angol on October 4, 1973. In the ruling (case file 63.534), the visiting minister sentenced the then-lieutenant Germán Eduardo Ojeda Bennett; the second lieutenants Carlos Patricio Bunster Medina, Alejo César Tisi Gómez, Jorge Alberto Lagos Robles, Alessandro Ernesto Cartoni Pruzzo, Manuel Arturo Montero Souper, Eduardo Humberto Carrasco Hauenstein; and Corporal José Omar Correa Martínez to 19 years in prison as perpetrators of the crimes. Meanwhile, the former conscript soldier Luis Alejandro Toledo Osses must serve 15 years and one day in prison. Second Lieutenant Gabriel Enrique Fuentes Campusano and conscript soldier José Liborio Lavín Leiva must serve 13 years in prison as accomplices; and First Corporal Mario Hernán Tapia Sepúlveda and Lieutenant Carlos Alberto Campusano Osorio must serve 5 years of effective prison time for their responsibility as accessories. In the civil aspect, the magistrate ordered the State to pay, with costs, compensation of $300,000,000 for moral damages to the relatives of the victim Cotal Álvarez. Executed by firing squad In the sentence, Minister Mesa Latorre established the following facts as proven: “A.- That as a result of the events occurring since September 11, 1973, Carlos Horacio Guitart Olhagaray, a retired captain of the Chilean Army who until that date had been residing in Bolivia, was called to collaborate with the new regime, presenting himself at the ‘Húsares’ Regiment of the commune of Angol to support the work of the Military Prosecutor's Office operating within the unit, which was under the charge of the second commander León Rivera González (deceased, according to page 6.163, Volume XVII). B.- That on the night of October 4, 1973, two conscript soldiers were performing guard duty at the so-called south sentry box of the Húsares Regiment of Angol, located near the intersection of Calle Los Confines and General Bonilla. One of them, Luis Alejandro Toledo Osses, while gathering firewood to keep warm, heard a pistol shot outside the unit and others coming from inside it. A contingent immediately mobilized inside and outside the barracks, and at that moment, Corporal José Correa Martínez ordered them to head outside, specifically to a warehouse located in front of the military unit. Due to the situation, Second Lieutenant Eduardo Humberto Carrasco Hauenstein, who was sleeping in the bachelors' dormitory of the officers' mess, was even awakened. C.- That, as a consequence of the shots heard, a contingent from the Regiment left the unit, separately and through different access points, heading toward a warehouse located at Calle Los Confines No. 15, that is, in front of the aforementioned guard post, specifically a warehouse that currently corresponds to a well-known vehicle dealership. Said place was raided together with the adjacent dwelling, both owned by Duberli Rodríguez Silva, and the persons who allegedly fired the shots against the military unit were not found. The Regiment's Reaction Unit also arrived at that location, which was prepared 24 hours a day to repel possible attacks on the military barracks, composed of about 30 soldiers and which that night was under the charge of one of the active-duty captains of the Regiment, who according to the officer roster of the time would correspond to Armando Staeding Schaffer (deceased, according to page 7.590, Volume XIX) and Enrique Gómez Ibáñez (deceased, according to page 6.162, Volume XVII). Furthermore, as a result of the alleged shots heard that night, at least three second lieutenants gathered at the scene, among them Jorge Alberto Lagos Robles, Alejo Tisi Gómez, and Carlos Patricio Bunster Medina; Lieutenant German Ojeda Bennett; and captains Armando Juan Emilio Staeding Schaffer and Enrique Gómez Ibáñez, who cooperated in the initial search for the authors of the alleged shots and in their capture. D.- That following the line of letter B), upon arriving at the scene, conscript Luis Alejandro Toledo Osses was able to observe the presence of a Toyota military vehicle, other conscript soldiers, Major León Rivera González, second lieutenants Carlos Bunster Medina and Alessandro Cartoni Pruzzo; Corporal José Correa Martínez, who had given him the order to report to that warehouse; and Corporal Pedro Bitterlich Jaramillo (deceased, according to page 6.574, Volume XVIII), who was patrolling the town that night. Furthermore, in that property, owned by Duberli Rodríguez, he observed two young men standing, unbound, with their faces uncovered, with no weapons in sight, of young age, and one of them wearing a white shirt. E.- That immediately thereafter, Major León Rivera González gave the order to fire against the young men, who at that moment were standing next to a brick wall, obeying the superior's order and executing the boys, at which moment one of the young men shouted ‘cowards’ at them. Said execution order was carried out by, among others, conscript soldier Luis Alejandro Toledo Osses, who was performing surveillance duties at the south sentry box, and Corporal José Omar Correa Martínez, who ordered him to go to that location. Furthermore, several officers, among them Captain Armando Staeding Schaffer; second lieutenants Carlos Bunster Medina, Alessandro Cartoni Pruzzo, Manuel Montero Souper; Corporal Pedro Bitterlich Jaramillo, who was patrolling the town, and other conscripts who accompanied him in those duties that night, witnessed the execution of those boys at the scene. After the above, the conscript soldiers, among them José Liborio Lavín Leiva, placed the bodies in sacks inside a military vehicle, observing the bloodstained white shirt of one of the young men, and transported the corpses to the La Arcadia bridge, throwing them into the channel of the Malleco River, losing sight of them in the darkness of the night. F.- That subsequently the entire contingent returned to their previous posts, with Juan Abarca Briones, a non-commissioned officer who was on duty that night, observing the entry into the unit of military vehicles, with several officers on board who were performing active duties in the barracks that night. Furthermore, said vehicles were driven by two people, one of them the conscript Jorge Washington Aguilera Oñate (deceased, according to page 6.575, Volume XVIII), who worked as a driver in that unit and who, after entering the Regiment, proceeded to wash the vehicles that were bloodstained, asking them what had happened without receiving an answer. G.- That days later, notice was given to the Húsares Regiment of Angol that the bodies of the young men were seen in the river, so personnel from that unit proceeded to remove them from that place, transporting them to different points inside the regiment. Different people saw the corpses, among them Captain Carlos Horacio Guitart Olhagaray, who was cooperating in the work of the Military Prosecutor's Office, and Luis Fernando Montanares Morales, who at that time was working inside the barracks. This last person was a witness to how three members of the unit, among them First Corporal Mario Hernán Tapia Sepúlveda, who worked as a tractor operator, drove the corpses on a vehicle to a sector of the regiment, where they were buried, without having to this date certainty of the exact location of that burial. H.- That the young men mentioned in the preceding letters correspond to Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya, a sympathizer of the Communist Youth, 22 years old, a university student, and Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez, 14 years old, with no political affiliation, a secondary student, who were detained separately by military patrols. The first of them inside his father's home, located at the current Calle José Luis Osorio No. 370, and the second on Calle Artesanos, when he was heading to his home located at that street and Pedro de Oña, coming from the house of his paternal grandmother, María Arriagada Valdés, located at Artesanos No. 190, it not being proven that they had any involvement in the execution of the alleged shot fired outside the Húsares Regiment of Angol, nor was any weapon found in the respective searches. I.- That all of the above in relation to the execution of the young men Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya was observed by a 19-year-old woman, who upon hearing noises approached the wall adjacent to her home and the warehouse of Duberli Rodríguez, who saw when the military opened fire against the young men Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya, at which moment she heard when one of them said ‘uncle, it's me, your nephew.’ Even the next day, she was a witness to how Corporal Pedro Bitterlich Jaramillo appeared at each of the neighboring houses to ask the neighbors if they had heard or seen anything the night before. J.- That, as a result of the events related above, to this date the whereabouts of Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya remain unknown, no action having been taken by the Military Prosecutor's Office of the time to instruct proceedings or investigate official responsibilities for the events of which the military authority became aware. Furthermore, that same night, once the respective alarms were sounded in the barracks, the entire military contingent was mobilized, even the Intendance Lieutenant, Lieutenant Carlos Alberto Campusano Osorio, participating and heading to the guard post for about 30 minutes to receive instructions from his superiors and collaborate in whatever was deemed necessary. Subsequently, that same night, the regiment commander himself, Alejandro Morel Donoso (deceased, according to page 6.164, Volume XVII), arrived at the unit, making inquiries about what had happened, with the Officer of the Guard, Second Lieutenant Gabriel Enrique Fuentes Campusano, commenting on what had happened regarding the alleged attack on the Regiment. As a result, Commander Morel ordered an immediate meeting with the officers of the military barracks, among them captains Armando Staeding Schaffer and Enrique Gómez Ibáñez; Lieutenant German Ojeda Bennett; and the second commander León Rivera González (deceased, according to page 6.163, Volume XVII). K.- That then, the next day, the father of Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya, who was detained in the commune's jail, was officially informed by the commander of the Regiment, Alejandro Morel Donoso, that his son had been executed by firing squad the previous night. Said information was provided to him in the presence of other officers, among them Second Lieutenant Manuel Montero Souper, who had allegedly witnessed what happened to the young men. L.- That, finally, to this date, no public official, whether soldier, non-commissioned officer, or officer, of the Húsares Regiment of Angol who served at the time of the events, has provided any information to the respective authority in relation to what happened to the bodies of the young men Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya, maintaining to this day the concealment of all types of information regarding their deaths.”

Source: pjud.cl, October 24, 2023

Temuco Court sentences retired military personnel to 15 years and one day for the qualified homicide of Angol students in 1973

In the civil sphere, the appellate court confirmed the appealed sentence, that is, the payment of compensation of $300,000,000 for moral damages to the relatives of the victim Cotal Álvarez, modifying the aspect regarding costs to the State, an aspect in which it is revoked and instead the State is absolved of said burden.

The Temuco Court of Appeals confirmed, with a declaration, the sentences issued by the minister for extraordinary causes for human rights violations for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, against the then-lieutenant Germán Eduardo Ojeda Bennett; the second lieutenants Carlos Patricio Bunster Medina, Alejo César Tisi Gómez, Jorge Alberto Lagos Robles, Alessandro Ernesto Cartoni Pruzzo, Manuel Arturo Montero Souper, Eduardo Humberto Carrasco Hauenstein; and Corporal José Omar Correa Martínez, reducing the sentences from 19 years to 15 years and one day in prison for their responsibility in the qualified homicides, as crimes against humanity, of Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya. These crimes were perpetrated in the commune of Angol on October 4, 1973. In a majority ruling (case file 159-2024), the Second Chamber of the appellate court also modified the 15-year and one-day sentence for the former conscript soldier Luis Alejandro Toledo Osses to 5 years in prison for his responsibility in the crime. Furthermore, second lieutenants Eduardo Humberto Carrasco Hauenstein and Gabriel Enrique Fuentes Campusano, Lieutenant Carlos Alberto Campusano Osorio, First Corporal Mario Hernán Tapia Sepúlveda, and conscript soldier José Liborio Lavín Leiva must serve 3 years and one day in prison as accessories to the crimes. In the civil sphere, the appellate court confirmed the appealed sentence, that is, the payment of compensation of $300,000,000 for moral damages to the relatives of the victim Cotal Álvarez, modifying the aspect regarding costs to the State, an aspect in which it is revoked and instead the State is absolved of said burden. In the ratified sentence, Minister Mesa Latorre established the following facts as proven: “A.- That as a result of the events occurring since September 11, 1973, Carlos Horacio Guitart Olhagaray, a retired captain of the Chilean Army who until that date had been residing in Bolivia, was called to collaborate with the new regime, presenting himself at the ‘Húsares’ Regiment of the commune of Angol to support the work of the Military Prosecutor's Office operating within the unit, which was under the charge of the second commander León Rivera González (deceased, according to page 6.163, Volume XVII). B.- That on the night of October 4, 1973, two conscript soldiers were performing guard duty at the so-called south sentry box of the Húsares Regiment of Angol, located near the intersection of Calle Los Confines and General Bonilla. One of them, Luis Alejandro Toledo Osses, while gathering firewood to keep warm, heard a pistol shot outside the unit and others coming from inside it. A contingent immediately mobilized inside and outside the barracks, and at that moment, Corporal José Correa Martínez ordered them to head outside, specifically to a warehouse located in front of the military unit. Due to the situation, Second Lieutenant Eduardo Humberto Carrasco Hauenstein, who was sleeping in the bachelors' dormitory of the officers' mess, was even awakened. C.- That, as a consequence of the shots heard, a contingent from the Regiment left the unit, separately and through different access points, heading toward a warehouse located at Calle Los Confines No. 15, that is, in front of the aforementioned guard post, specifically a warehouse that currently corresponds to a well-known vehicle dealership. Said place was raided together with the adjacent dwelling, both owned by Duberli Rodríguez Silva, and the persons who allegedly fired the shots against the military unit were not found. The Regiment's Reaction Unit also arrived at that location, which was prepared 24 hours a day to repel possible attacks on the military barracks, composed of about 30 soldiers and which that night was under the charge of one of the active-duty captains of the Regiment, who according to the officer roster of the time would correspond to Armando Staeding Schaffer (deceased, according to page 7.590, Volume XIX) and Enrique Gómez Ibáñez (deceased, according to page 6.162, Volume XVII). Furthermore, as a result of the alleged shots heard that night, at least three second lieutenants gathered at the scene, among them Jorge Alberto Lagos Robles, Alejo Tisi Gómez, and Carlos Patricio Bunster Medina; Lieutenant German Ojeda Bennett; and captains Armando Juan Emilio Staeding Schaffer and Enrique Gómez Ibáñez, who cooperated in the initial search for the authors of the alleged shots and in their capture. D.- That following the line of letter B), upon arriving at the scene, conscript Luis Alejandro Toledo Osses was able to observe the presence of a Toyota military vehicle, other conscript soldiers, Major León Rivera González, second lieutenants Carlos Bunster Medina and Alessandro Cartoni Pruzzo; Corporal José Correa Martínez, who had given him the order to report to that warehouse; and Corporal Pedro Bitterlich Jaramillo (deceased, according to page 6.574, Volume XVIII), who was patrolling the town that night. Furthermore, in that property, owned by Duberli Rodríguez, he observed two young men standing, unbound, with their faces uncovered, with no weapons in sight, of young age, and one of them wearing a white shirt. E.- That immediately thereafter, Major León Rivera González gave the order to fire against the young men, who at that moment were standing next to a brick wall, obeying the superior's order and executing the boys, at which moment one of the young men shouted ‘cowards’ at them. Said execution order was carried out by, among others, conscript soldier Luis Alejandro Toledo Osses, who was performing surveillance duties at the south sentry box, and Corporal José Omar Correa Martínez, who ordered him to go to that location. Furthermore, several officers, among them Captain Armando Staeding Schaffer; second lieutenants Carlos Bunster Medina, Alessandro Cartoni Pruzzo, Manuel Montero Souper; Corporal Pedro Bitterlich Jaramillo, who was patrolling the town, and other conscripts who accompanied him in those duties that night, witnessed the execution of those boys at the scene. After the above, the conscript soldiers, among them José Liborio Lavín Leiva, placed the bodies in sacks inside a military vehicle, observing the bloodstained white shirt of one of the young men, and transported the corpses to the La Arcadia bridge, throwing them into the channel of the Malleco River, losing sight of them in the darkness of the night. F.- That subsequently the entire contingent returned to their previous posts, with Juan Abarca Briones, a non-commissioned officer who was on duty that night, observing the entry into the unit of military vehicles, with several officers on board who were performing active duties in the barracks that night. Furthermore, said vehicles were driven by two people, one of them the conscript Jorge Washington Aguilera Oñate (deceased, according to page 6.575, Volume XVIII), who worked as a driver in that unit and who, after entering the Regiment, proceeded to wash the vehicles that were bloodstained, asking them what had happened without receiving an answer. G.- That days later, notice was given to the Húsares Regiment of Angol that the bodies of the young men were seen in the river, so personnel from that unit proceeded to remove them from that place, transporting them to different points inside the regiment. Different people saw the corpses, among them Captain Carlos Horacio Guitart Olhagaray, who was cooperating in the work of the Military Prosecutor's Office, and Luis Fernando Montanares Morales, who at that time was working inside the barracks. This last person was a witness to how three members of the unit, among them First Corporal Mario Hernán Tapia Sepúlveda, who worked as a tractor operator, drove the corpses on a vehicle to a sector of the regiment, where they were buried, without having to this date certainty of the exact location of that burial. H.- That the young men mentioned in the preceding letters correspond to Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya, a sympathizer of the Communist Youth, 22 years old, a university student, and Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez, 14 years old, with no political affiliation, a secondary student, who were detained separately by military patrols. The first of them inside his father's home, located at the current Calle José Luis Osorio No. 370, and the second on Calle Artesanos, when he was heading to his home located at that street and Pedro de Oña, coming from the house of his paternal grandmother, María Arriagada Valdés, located at Artesanos No. 190, it not being proven that they had any involvement in the execution of the alleged shot fired outside the Húsares Regiment of Angol, nor was any weapon found in the respective searches. I.- That all of the above in relation to the execution of the young men Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya was observed by a 19-year-old woman, who upon hearing noises approached the wall adjacent to her home and the warehouse of Duberli Rodríguez, who saw when the military opened fire against the young men Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya, at which moment she heard when one of them said ‘uncle, it's me, your nephew.’ Even the next day, she was a witness to how Corporal Pedro Bitterlich Jaramillo appeared at each of the neighboring houses to ask the neighbors if they had heard or seen anything the night before. J.- That, as a result of the events related above, to this date the whereabouts of Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya remain unknown, no action having been taken by the Military Prosecutor's Office of the time to instruct proceedings or investigate official responsibilities for the events of which the military authority became aware. Furthermore, that same night, once the respective alarms were sounded in the barracks, the entire military contingent was mobilized, even the Intendance Lieutenant, Lieutenant Carlos Alberto Campusano Osorio, participating and heading to the guard post for about 30 minutes to receive instructions from his superiors and collaborate in whatever was deemed necessary. Subsequently, that same night, the regiment commander himself, Alejandro Morel Donoso (deceased, according to page 6.164, Volume XVII), arrived at the unit, making inquiries about what had happened, with the Officer of the Guard, Second Lieutenant Gabriel Enrique Fuentes Campusano, commenting on what had happened regarding the alleged attack on the Regiment. As a result, Commander Morel ordered an immediate meeting with the officers of the military barracks, among them captains Armando Staeding Schaffer and Enrique Gómez Ibáñez; Lieutenant German Ojeda Bennett; and the second commander León Rivera González (deceased, according to page 6.163, Volume XVII). K.- That then, the next day, the father of Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya, who was detained in the commune's jail, was officially informed by the commander of the Regiment, Alejandro Morel Donoso, that his son had been executed by firing squad the previous night. Said information was provided to him in the presence of other officers, among them Second Lieutenant Manuel Montero Souper, who had allegedly witnessed what happened to the young men. L.- That, finally, to this date, no public official, whether soldier, non-commissioned officer, or officer, of the Húsares Regiment of Angol who served at the time of the events, has provided any information to the respective authority in relation to what happened to the bodies of the young men Luis Raúl Cotal Álvarez and Ricardo Gustavo Rioseco Montoya, maintaining to this day the concealment of all types of information regarding their deaths.”

Source: pdju.cl, August 28, 2025