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 . During the 1891 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 Campo , demanded of President Arturo Alessandri the dismissal of three of his ministers , including the minister of War ; the enactment of a labor code , the passage of an income tax law , and the improvement of the military salaries . Alessandri had no option but to appoint General Altamirano , then head of the Army , as Interior Minister to head a new cabinet . On September 8 , General Altamirano appeared in front of Congress to demand the passage of eight laws , including Alessandri ' s labor code and the income tax proposal . Congress didn ' t dare to protest , and the laws were passed in a matter of hours . At that point , Alessandri felt that he had become just a pawn of the military and on September 9 , he resigned , and requested asylum at the US Embassy . General Altamirano became Vice President ( a position reserved , in the absence of a president , to the Interior Minister , according to the Chilean constitution . ) Congress refused to accept Alessandri ' s resignation , and instead granted him a six - months constitutional leave of absence . Alessandri left the country immediately for Italy . On September 11 , General Altamirano established a military Junta to rule the country , together with Vice - Admiral Francisco Nef and General Juan Pablo Bennett , retaining the position of President . He assumed dictatorial powers and proceeded to close Congress . During his conservative rule , he tried several measures to control the economic crisis and to reform the local bureaucracy . Nonetheless , he lost the confidence of the " military committee " who had elevated him to power , and was deposed and arrested by another military coup on January 23 , 1925 . On February 6 , 1925 he retired from active duty and died in Santiago in 1938 .