Carlos Prats
| Carlos Prats | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army | |
|
In office October 27, 1970 – August 23, 1973 |
|
| President | Salvador Allende |
| Preceded by | René Schneider |
| Succeeded by | Augusto Pinochet |
| Chilean Minister of the Interior | |
|
In office November 2, 1972 – March 27, 1973 |
|
| President | Salvador Allende |
| Preceded by | Jaime Suárez |
| Succeeded by | Gerardo Espinoza |
| Chilean Minister of National Defense | |
|
In office August 9, 1973 – August 23, 1973 |
|
| President | Salvador Allende |
| Preceded by | Clodomiro Almeyda |
| Succeeded by | Orlando Letelier |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
February 24, 1915 Talcahuano, Chile |
| Died | September 30, 1974 (aged 59) Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Nationality | Chilean |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse(s) | Sofía Cuthbert (m. 1944–74) - died with her husband |
| Children | Sofía Angélica Cecilia |
| Religion | Catholic Church |
| Signature |  |
General Carlos Prats González (February 24, 1915 – September 30, 1974) was a Chilean Army officer and minister in the Salvador Allende's government, despite being at the time the Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army. Immediately after General Augusto Pinochet's September 11, 1973 coup, Prats went into voluntary exile in Argentina. The following year, he and his wife were assassinated in Buenos Aires by a car bomb, revealed as committed by the DINA.
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 in the US, as adjunct military attaché, where he served until 1958. That year he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and returned as teacher to the War Academy. In 1961, he became commander of the Artillery Regiment Nº3 “Chorrillos”, and in 1963, became commander of the Regiment Nº1 “Tacna”.
In 1964, he was promoted to Colonel and sent as military attaché to Argentina. 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.
General Prats became the head of the "constitutionalists", all 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 as a member of his cabinet several times. Allende appointed him as 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" only during the President's absence during formal State visits abroad).
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Wikipedia