Enrique Angelelli - The Murder

The Murder

Angelelli allegedly knew that he was being targeted for assassination by the military; people close to him had heard him many times say, "It's my turn next." On 4 August 1976, he was driving a truck together with Father Arturo Pinto, back from a mass celebrated in the town of El Chamical in homage of two murdered priests, Carlos de Dios Murias and Gabriel Longueville, carrying three folders with notes about both cases.

According to Father Pinto, a car started following them, then another one, and in Punta de los Llanos, people forced the truck between them until toppling it. After staying unconscious for a while, Pinto saw Angelelli dead in the road, with the back of his neck showing grave injuries "as if they had beaten him".

The area was quickly surrounded by police and military personnel. An ambulance was sent for. Angelelli's body was taken to the city of La Rioja. The autopsy revealed several broken ribs and a star-shaped fracture in the occipital bone, consistent with a blow given using a blunt object. The truck's brakes and steering wheel were intact, and there were no bullet marks.

The police report stated that Pinto had been driving, momentarily lost control of the vehicle, and when trying to get back on the road a tire blew out; Angelelli was said to have been killed as the truck turned several times. Judge Rodolfo Vigo accepted the report. A few days afterwards, prosecutor Martha Guzmán Loza recommended closing the case, calling it "a traffic event".

Other bishops (Jaime de Nevares, Jorge Novak and Miguel Hesayne) called the event a murder, even during the dictatorship, but the rest of the Church kept silent.

On 19 June 1986, the country already under democratic rule, La Rioja judge Aldo Morales sentenced that it had been "a homicide, coldly premeditated, and expected by the victim". When some military became involved in the accusation, the Armed Forces tried to block the investigation, but the judge rejected their claims. The case passed to the Supreme Court of Argentina, which in turn derived it to the Federal Chamber of Córdoba. The Córdoba tribunal said it was possible that the orders had come from Commander Menéndez of the Third Corps.

In April 1990, the Ley de Punto Final ("Full Stop Law") ended the investigation against the three military accused of the murder (José Carlos González, Luis Manzanelli and Ricardo Román Oscar Otero). This law and the Law of Due Obedience were repealed in 2005, and in August of that year the case was re-opened. The Supreme Court split the case in two: the accusation against the military was sent to the tribunals in Córdoba, and the possible participation of civilians in the murder was sent to La Rioja. Former Commander Menéndez was called on by the La Rioja tribunal on 16 May 2006 but chose not to declare anything.