Luis Altamirano

Division General Luis Altamirano Talavera (July 5, 1867 – July 25, 1938) was a Chilean military officer, minister, Vice President of the Republic and finally President of the Government Junta of Chile between 1924 and 1925.

He was born in Concepción on the son of Eulogio Altamirano Araceda and Antonia Adelina Talavera Appleby. He studied Law and started a career in the ministry of Justice. In 1891, during the Chilean Civil War, he joined the congressional army as an artillery captain. He was a Lieutenant Colonel by the end of it, a year later. After the end of revolution he left the army, only to return in 1897. The year after, he was named commander of Regiment Nº3 of artillery. In 1908 was promoted to full Colonel, and named Under-Chief of General staff. In 1911, he was sent as military attaché to the Chilean embassy in Berlin. In 1912, was promoted to Brigadier General, and named Inspector General of artillery, and Army Chief of staff. In 1919 is promoted to Division General, and named Commander of the II Division. In 1922, was named Army Inspector General, the highest position in the Army at the time. As such he was in charge of the Chilean delegation to the swearing-in of a new president of Argentina. That year he also was named Minister of War and Navy, by President Arturo Alessandri.

On September 5, 1924, and as a consequence of the episode known as the saber-noise, a group of young military officers, led by Colonel Marmaduque Grove and Major Carlos Ibáñez del......
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