Clostridium botulinum bacterium was found in his bones. More evidence that Neruda was killed in hospital during the 1973 coup d'état. Injection into the stomach.
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One of the most enduring mysteries of Chile's modern history may have finally been solved after forensic experts determined that Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda died after being poisoned by a powerful toxin. This claims the status of confirmation of decades of suspicion that he was indeed killed, writes The Guardian.
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According to the official version, Neruda, who became famous for his collection Twenty Love Poems and Songs of Despair, died of prostate cancer and malnutrition on September 23, 1973, just 12 days after the military coup that overthrew his friend's socialist government. of President Salvador Allende (the latter, according to one of the most common versions, committed suicide during the storming of his palace by supporters of Augusto Pinochet).
But some, including Neruda's nephew, Rodolfo Reyes, have long believed , that he was killed because of his opposition to Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, which was emerging at that time.
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Ten years ago, a Chilean judge ordered the exhumation of the poet's remains after his former driver Manuel Araya said that < An agitated Neruda called him from the hospital in Santiago, where he was being treated, and said that he had been injected in the stomach while he was sleeping. A few hours later, the poet died.
Samples of Neruda's remains were sent to forensic laboratories in four countries for analysis, and in 2015 the Chilean government said it was “very likely that a third party” was responsible for his death. Two years later, a group of international scientists said they were “100% sure” the poet did not die of prostate cancer.
On Monday, Reyes said scientific tests showed that clostridium botulinum toxin was present in his uncle's body when he died, suggesting that he was indeed “poisoned” after the coup. The results of the examination should be made public in a report on Wednesday.
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“Now we know that there was no reason in order forClostridium botulinum to be in his bones,” Reyes told the Spanish news agency Efe. “What does this mean? It means that Neruda was killed by the intervention of state agents in 1973.”
Bacteria that produce the neurotoxin that causes botulism were discovered on one of Neruda's exhumed teeth in 2017. Reyes said that an analysis by experts from McMaster University in Canada and the University of Copenhagen found that the bacteria did not enter Neruda's body from the coffin or the surrounding ground.
“We found the bullet that killed Neruda and it was in his body,” Reyes told Efe. “Who shot? We will soon find out, but there is no doubt that Neruda was killed by the direct intervention of a third party.”
The US-backed Pinochet coup, in which Allende committed suicide as troops stormed the presidential palace , devastated Neruda and made him plan to escape to Mexico.
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But a day before the planned after departure, he was taken by ambulance to the hospital of the Chilean capital, where he was treated for cancer and other diseases. He died there on the evening of September 23, allegedly from the debilitating effects of prostate cancer, which was first detected four years before his death.
