Public Role During The Allende Years
General Prats became the head of the "constitutionalists", all members of the armed forces who lined themselves behind the Schneider Doctrine. With time, he became the strongest supporter of President Allende, and was a member of his cabinet several times, even becoming his vice-President in 1972 (Chilean Constitutional custom does not have a standing vice-presidential office; rather, the sitting Minister of the Interior, as the senior cabinet minister, is temporarily designated "vice president" only during the President's absence during formal State visits abroad).
Carlos Prats' supposed allegiance to the Schneider Doctrine was seriously undermined when he agreed to participate as a cabinet member in the Allende government. Many moderate, apolitical Army officers who supported Prats and believed in the Schneider Doctrine interpreted his joining the Allende government as a tacit endorsement of it, and thus a betrayal of General Schneider's staunch non-intereference position. At the same time, among anti-Allende Army cadres, Prats allowed fellow officers to infer that, if the Allende government allowed the economic and political situation to become too chaotic, Prats might be convinced of the need for a coup d'état.
This strategy of trying to please both sides resulted in Prats losing the trust of all sides. Non-interventionist, apolitical officers believed Prats had become a willing tool of Allende. Anti-Allende officers believed Prats would not stand in the way of Allende using the Army to carry out his socialist policies of forced nationalization and economic redistribution. The sole quality of Prats keeping him in good standing both within the Army and among the people was the sense that he was a measured, sober career officer who would not be pressured by the mob, nor forced into doing anything unconstitutional or rash.
Read more about this topic: Carlos Prats
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