Jose del Carmen Valenzuela - The Jackal of Nahueltoro

Nahueltoro (near Chillan), Nuble Region, Chile · 1960

solved Mass murder / spree August 20, 1960

Perpetrator

Jose del Carmen Valenzuela Torres

An illiterate, impoverished itinerant farm laborer in rural Chile, often drunk and known by the nickname 'El Chacal de Nahueltoro' (The Jackal of Nahueltoro). In 1960 he murdered a widow and her five children with whom he had been living. Imprisoned at Chillan, he learned to read, write and work, and underwent a public rehabilitation before being executed by firing squad. His case inspired Miguel Littin's acclaimed 1969 film.

Victims

Rosa Rivas (the widow) (38)
Child of Rosa Rivas
Child of Rosa Rivas
Child of Rosa Rivas
Child of Rosa Rivas
Child of Rosa Rivas

Location

Nahueltoro (near Chillan), Nuble Region, Chile

Summary

A drunken Chilean farm laborer murdered a widow and her five children in 1960; after rehabilitation in prison he was executed, inspiring a landmark Chilean film.

Details

In August 1960, Jose del Carmen Valenzuela Torres, a poor and illiterate itinerant laborer, killed the widow Rosa Rivas and her five children near Nahueltoro in central Chile, reportedly while drunk. Captured and imprisoned in Chillan, he became a model prisoner, learning to read and write and acquiring a trade in what was publicized as a rehabilitation. Despite the apparent reform, he was condemned to death and executed by firing squad in 1963. His life and execution inspired Miguel Littin's celebrated 1969 film 'El Chacal de Nahueltoro,' a landmark of Chilean cinema that criticized social inequality and capital punishment.

Background

Jose del Carmen Valenzuela Torres was a poor, itinerant Chilean farm laborer known by several nicknames, among them "El Canaca" and later "El Chacal de Nahueltoro" (The Jackal of Nahueltoro). Born in 1933, he grew up in extreme poverty in rural southern Chile, was illiterate, and had no formal schooling. From childhood he worked as a seasonal laborer, moving between farms in search of work, and developed a dependence on alcohol that would feature heavily in accounts of his life and crime.

His story unfolded in the rural Nuble area of central-southern Chile, near the locality of Nahueltoro, in the agricultural heartland of the country. The case became emblematic of the deprivation, marginalization, and lack of education affecting rural laborers in mid-twentieth-century Chile, and it would later be interpreted as a portrait of social conditions as much as of an individual offender.

The Murders

In August 1960, Valenzuela committed the crime that made him notorious. While intoxicated, he killed a widow, Rosa Rivas, and her five young children near Nahueltoro. The victims were beaten and killed, and the brutality of the attack on a defenseless woman and her children shocked Chilean public opinion at the time.

Accounts describe the killings as occurring during a period in which Valenzuela had been living and working in proximity to the family. The crime, carried out against six victims including small children, was widely reported in the Chilean press and became one of the most infamous murder cases of the era. The savagery of the act, combined with Valenzuela's own poverty and apparent lack of comprehension, framed much of the later public discussion.

Arrest, Trial, and Rehabilitation

Valenzuela was arrested in the aftermath of the murders and confessed to the killings. While imprisoned awaiting and undergoing legal proceedings, he underwent a notable transformation that became central to how the case is remembered. In prison he was taught to read and write, received religious instruction, and learned trades and skills he had never had access to during his impoverished life.

This period of rehabilitation produced a striking contrast: a man condemned for an exceptionally brutal crime had, by the time of his sentence, become literate, devout, and reportedly remorseful. The episode raised difficult questions in Chile about justice, the death penalty, social inequality, and whether a man could be executed for acts committed in a state of ignorance and deprivation that society had done nothing to remedy. Public debate intensified as his case drew attention to these themes.

Execution

Despite his rehabilitation in prison and the public attention to his transformation, Valenzuela was sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad in 1963, with sources placing his execution in the prison context of the period. His death became one of the more debated capital cases in modern Chilean history precisely because of the gap between the man who committed the crime and the man who was executed.

The execution crystallized the moral paradox at the heart of the case. Critics pointed to the irony that the state invested in educating and reforming a prisoner only to then put him to death, using the episode to question both the death penalty and the broader neglect of Chile's rural poor. The case has since been cited in discussions of capital punishment and social justice in Chile.

The Landmark Film and Cultural Legacy

The case achieved lasting cultural significance through the 1969 film "El Chacal de Nahueltoro," directed by Chilean filmmaker Miguel Littin. The film, often considered one of the most important works in Chilean cinema and a landmark of the New Latin American Cinema movement, dramatized Valenzuela's life, crime, imprisonment, rehabilitation, and execution.

Littin used the story to deliver a powerful social critique, emphasizing the poverty, illiteracy, and neglect that shaped Valenzuela's life, and framing his fate as an indictment of social conditions rather than a simple morality tale of crime and punishment. The film was internationally acclaimed and remains a touchstone of politically engaged Latin American filmmaking. Through it, the real case of Jose del Carmen Valenzuela Torres has endured in collective memory far beyond the borders of the rural district where the crime occurred.

Video Coverage

Frequently asked questions

What was the Jose del Carmen Valenzuela - The Jackal of Nahueltoro case?

A drunken Chilean farm laborer murdered a widow and her five children in 1960; after rehabilitation in prison he was executed, inspiring a landmark Chilean film.

Who was responsible for Jose del Carmen Valenzuela - The Jackal of Nahueltoro?

Jose del Carmen Valenzuela Torres. An illiterate, impoverished itinerant farm laborer in rural Chile, often drunk and known by the nickname 'El Chacal de Nahueltoro' (The Jackal of Nahueltoro). In 1960 he murdered a widow and her five children with whom he had been living. Imprisoned at Chillan, he learned to read, write and work, and underwent a public rehabilitation before being executed by firing squad. His case inspired Miguel Littin's acclaimed 1969 film.

Who were the victims of the Jose del Carmen Valenzuela - The Jackal of Nahueltoro case?

The named victims were Rosa Rivas (the widow), Child of Rosa Rivas, Child of Rosa Rivas, Child of Rosa Rivas, Child of Rosa Rivas, Child of Rosa Rivas.

Where and when did the Jose del Carmen Valenzuela - The Jackal of Nahueltoro case take place?

It took place in Nahueltoro (near Chillan), Nuble Region, Chile in 1960.

Was the Jose del Carmen Valenzuela - The Jackal of Nahueltoro case solved?

This case is recorded as solved.

Sources & further reading

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