Let's not pretend that the people who view communists as unacceptable for military office but stack them with personal cronies and known advocates for extremist measures are anything other than threats to Chile and enemies of democracy. Whether a man is a member of a political party or not, no one who advocates removing another party from the military, purging another party from politics, or otherwise shows an inclination towards unlawful behavior can be trusted. Don't forget revolts aren't the only ways generals can betray Chile, supporting a president who attempts to annul elections or otherwise impose a self-coup, a state of unconstitutional martial law, is itself one of the greatest betrayals a holder of any civil or military office can make.
So let us not even entertain the delusion that personal loyalty to De Conti above all else or a deep-seated hatred of the Communistas and FNT is any different than being a card-carrying member of his party.
And since when has a lack of party stopped rogue generals? Schmidt was the single most apolitical man in Chile, having served everyone from Imperialists to democrats and never shown himself as a rightist or a leftist or a centrist for that matter, and he declared his coup.
This whole situation is a travesty on the part of the Right, the Nuevo Imperialistas. The fact that military culture in Chile is traditionally anti-democratic, anti-leftist, and prone to staging coup does not make that default state of our generals "apolitical" and proper for the military any more than an anti-democratic anti-rightist like Juarez would be apolitical and a suitable candidate. Don't confuse what is traditional for what is safe, what is right, or what is constitutional - the tradition in Chile is for the military to be a hotbed of would-be Napoleons, paternalist authoritarians, and ultra-nationalists. The Communist Party has a far better track record of honorable military service than this traditional, unspoken "military party" - the core cadre of ultranationalist generals who have typically run the military establishment under conservatives, liberales, imperialists, and republicanos alike. The traditional military culture in Chile is seething with the poison of Severino, Cesar, and Zepeda; and yet men cut from that cloth dare impeach the character of leftist generals?