I met Volodia Teitelboin today, and he told me General Prats had resigned. He was replaced by the chief-of-staff.

General Pinochet?

That's right. Volodia thinks the change will strengthen the government and ward off the threat of a coup. He claims Pinochet is a legalist and that, though Prats is good, he has clearly fallen out of favor.

The topic of this conversation was the situation in Chile, and the information was transmitted by Luiz Carlos Prestes, secretary general of the Brazilian Communist Party, on August 24, 1973. I was visiting the Soviet Union, and I met him at his stark apartment in Moscow, where he lived in exile. Volodia was a senator and a leader of the Chilean Communist Party.

General Carlos Prats was the commander-in-chief of the Chilean army. I had already had the opportunity to meet him personally. He was an educated, conservative soldier who held democratic convictions and was solidly opposed to mi...

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