Yet it was in his power to to refuse office and yield to another successor. Frei described the military's action as meeting its "legal obligation," consistent with the directions of the legislative and judicial branches. Seeing as his expertise on Chilean constitutional law far exceeded anything you could ever hope to glean from your frantic search engine-style "research" into a historical event with which you are painfully unfamiliar, I'll gladly yield to his judgement in that matter.
A successor as defined by the constitution. You have yet to show any provisions in the Chilean constitution that place Pinochet in the line of presidential succession.
Frei described the military's action as meeting its "legal obligation," consistent with the directions of the legislative and judicial branches. Seeing as his expertise on Chilean constitutional law far exceeded anything you could ever hope to glean from your frantic search engine-style "research" into a historical event with which you are painfully unfamiliar, I'll gladly yield to his judgement in that matter.
Seeing as Pinochet abolished the constitution upon seizing power in the coup, it's fair to say that Frei was speaking under a very different set of circumstances. His familiarity with the Chilean constitution had little weight under the rule of a military junta that did not recognize that constitution. Indeed, it was quite likely that his immediate post-coup statements were influenced by a desire to keep from running afoul of the leaders of the unconstitutional coup.