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# 14-00000guilty of "compromising the national and professional character of the armed forces."In its original form, the resolution had declared the Allende government to be illegitimate, but the acuerdo had later been softened in order to secure the support of the Christian Democrats. Yet its effect was still to give a congressional green light to the military, and Allende immediately so interpreted it. He replied to the motion by accusing the Congress of "promoting a coup d'état by asking the military forces to make governmental judgments independently of the authority and direction of the President"; he also pointed out that according to the Constitution the only way that the Congress could decide on the legality of the President's conduct of his office was through. Impeachment by a two-thirds vote."The congressional vote was echoed by several professional associations. The Medical Association called on their "colleague" Allende to resign—a request that was echoed by the Federation of Professionals (CUPROCH)—and resignation petitions were circulated in Santiago. The Lawyers' Association issued a declaration which— "without attributing a malevolent intention" to the President—asserted an "incompatibility between the institutional framework within which he is supposed to exercise his office. and the actions which he feels obliged to carry out in his program." Arguing that Allende "would appear to be incapacitated (impedido) in the exercise of his functions as he understands them," the statement suggested that he could be removed from office under Article 43 of the Constitution, which authorizes the Congress to declare presidential incapacity."## The CoupExactly when the decision to carry out the coup was made is not yet certain, but it evidently was reached in the days following Prats' resignation. The armed forces had contingency plans for the control of vital points throughout the country in case of any emergency, and it only required a signal to put them into opération. Hence the actual seizure of control required little preparation.After the resignations of the third week of August, Allende restructured his cabirict without the top military commanders but still retained representatives of the armed forces in ministerial posts. Over the opposition of other PS leaders, he appointed as Minister of the Interior his socialist colleague Carlos Briones, who was known to be interested in another attempt at accommodation with the Christian Democrats. The president aiso canceled a projected trip to the Conference of Non-Aligned Nations in Algiers. The government and the opposition again staged rival demonstrations in connection with the third anniversary of the 1970 presidential elections..On the weekend before the coup, the Christian Democrats called all provincial party leaders to a meeting at which a proposal was adopted for the simultaneous resignation of the Congress and the President and for new elections to resolve the con-> [Figure] Gen. Carlos Prats, then Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army and Minister of Defense, leaves the President Palace on August 15, 1973, after a conference on the transport crisis.--on[^1]: *El Mercurio (International Edition)* Aug. 20-26, 1973, p. 5. The chairman of the Christian Democratic Party told the *New York Times* that "neither we nor the armed forces favor anything but a democratic solution to Chile's political crisis" but emphasized that the only day to avoid a breakdown.of the Constitution was the appointment of military men in at least six cabinet posts, as well as many undersecretary positions and as heads of the chief government agencies *The New York Times*, Aug. 27, 1973, p. 12.[^2]: *El Mercurio (International Edition)*, Aug. 26-Sept. 1, 1973, p. 7.59