Carlos Prats González (; February 24, 1915 – September 30, 1974) was a
Chilean Army officer and politician. He served as a
minister in
Salvador Allende's government while Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army. He resigned in August 1973 amid growing national discontent. Immediately after General
Augusto Pinochet's September 11, 1973 coup, Prats went into voluntary exile in Argentina. The following year, he and his wife,
Sofía Cuthbert, were assassinated in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
by a
car bomb planted by the
Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional.
Background
Carlos Prats González was born in
Talcahuano in 1915, the oldest son of Carlos Prats Risopatrón and Hilda González Suárez. He joined the Army in 1931, and graduated at the top of his class.
In 1935, he was commissioned as an artillery officer. Three years later he became a
Sub-lieutenant. Soon he returned to the Military Academy, this time as a teacher. He taught there and at the War Academy until 1954. In 1944, he married
Sofia Cuthbert Chiarleoni, with whom he had three daughters.
In 1954, Prats González was promoted to Major, and sent to the military mission to the United States as adjunct military attaché, where he served until 1958. That year he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and returned to the War Academy as a teacher. In 1961, he became commander of the Artillery Regiment Nº3 “Chorrillos”, and in 1963, became commander of the Regiment Nº1 “Tacna”.
In 1964, Prats González was promoted to Colonel and sent as military attaché to
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
. He returned to Chile in 1967 as commander of the III Army Division. In 1968, he was promoted to Brigade General and Chief of the General Staff. The following year he was promoted to Division General.
Public role during the Allende years
Salvador Allende was elected in the
1970 Chilean presidential election. General Prats became the head of the "constitutionalists", members of the armed forces who supported the
Schneider Doctrine. With time, he became the army's strongest supporter of President Allende, and was appointed several times as a member of his cabinet. Allende appointed him Vice-President in 1972 (The Chilean Constitution 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" during the President's absence on formal State visits abroad).
Prats' reputation was significantly damaged in the
Alejandrina Cox incident of June 1973, in which he became involved in an altercation with members of the public and fired a shot at their car. He immediately tendered his resignation, but Allende refused to accept it. Days later, an attempted coup known as the
Tanquetazo took place; Prats' rapid response helped to defeat the coup and somewhat restored his public standing.
Resignation
On August 22, 1973, the wives of Prats' generals and officers staged a rally in front of his home, calling him a coward for not restoring civil order in Chile. This event convinced Prats that he had lost support of his fellow officers. The next day he resigned his positions as Interior minister and as Commander in Chief of the Army. The only two other generals in favor of a constitutional solution to the political crisis, Generals
Mario Sepulveda Squella and
Guillermo Pickering (both in key troop command positions), also presented their resignations in a show of support for him. General
Augusto Pinochet, previously second in command and thought to be loyal to Allende, was appointed Commander in Chief of the Army, taking over the position on August 23, 1973. Prats had personally recommended to Allende to appoint Pinochet to the position.
Prats' retirement removed the last real obstacle to a military coup, which took place three weeks later, on September 11, 1973. Immediately after
the coup, on September 15, 1973, Prats voluntarily went into exile with his wife in
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
.
Death
On September 30, 1974, in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
, Prats and his wife Sofia were killed outside their apartment by a radio-controlled
car bomb. Debris reached the ninth-floor balcony of the building across the street.
Legal aftermath and investigations
In 1983,
Michael Townley admitted to his role in carrying out the assassination of Prats on behalf of
DINA officials, but was granted immunity from prosecution after entering a plea deal. The former leaders of DINA, including chief
Manuel Contreras, ex-chief of operation, and retired general
Raúl Iturriaga, his brother Roger Iturriaga, and ex-brigadiers Pedro Espinoza and Jose Zara, were charged in 2003 in Chile with Prats' assassination, and were later convicted. The Chilean judge investigating the case, Alejandro Solis, exempted Pinochet from prosecution after the
Chilean Supreme court rejected a request in January 2005 to lift the ex-dictator's immunity.
In Argentina, DINA civil agent
Enrique Arancibia was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2004 for Prats' murder.
In 2000,
SIDE agent Juan Martín Siga Correa was detained by Argentine officials on the orders of federal judge
María Servini de Cubría.
[Dictan nueva orden de detención en caso Prats]
, '' El Mostrador'', May 22, 2000 Martín Siga Correa was DINA's main connection with the SIDE and with
Intelligence Battalion 601, and was also a member of the
Tacuara Nationalist Movement.
In 2003, Argentine federal judge María Servini de Cubría asked Chile for the extradition of
Mariana Callejas, who was
Michael Townley's wife, and Cristoph Willikie Fleent, a retired colonel from the Chilean army; the three together were charged with Prat's murder. But Chilean Appeals court judge Nibaldo Segura refused extradition in July 2005, arguing that the three had already been prosecuted in Chile.
Italian terrorist
Stefano Delle Chiaie was reportedly also involved in the murder of Prats. Along with fellow extremist
Vincenzo Vinciguerra, Delle Chiaie testified in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
in December 1995 before Judge Servini that
Enrique Arancibia Clavel (a former Chilean secret police agent prosecuted for
crimes against humanity in 2004) and
Michael Townley were directly involved in this assassination.
See also
*
Chile under Allende
References
External links
*
United States Army Command and General Staff CollegeOfficial biography Chilean agent convicted over Prats' killing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prats, Carlos
1915 births
1974 deaths
Assassinated Chilean politicians
Assassinated Chilean military personnel
Chilean Army generals
Ministers of defense of Chile
Ministers of the interior of Chile
Chilean people murdered abroad
Chilean people of Catalan descent
Chilean people of Spanish descent
Chilean terrorism victims
Deaths by car bomb
People from Talcahuano
People killed in Operation Condor
People murdered in Argentina
Presidency of Salvador Allende
Terrorism deaths in Argentina
South American politicians assassinated in the 1970s
Politicians assassinated in 1974
Bernardo O'Higgins Military Academy alumni
Deaths by explosive device