Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (19041973) was poisoned with Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that caused his death in 1973, two years after he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. This was the conclusion of the specialists invited to form the third panel devoted to investigating the cause of the writer’s death.
Neruda died at the Clínica Santa María in Santiago de Chile on September 23, 12 days after Pinochet seized power in a coup d’état. The prostate cancer cause of death claimed on the death certificate was ruled out by a judicial inquiry launched in 2011, but was defended again in 2013 by the first panel of experts to look at the case.
But the story changes again. The Efe agency released a statement by Neruda’s nephew, Rodolfo Reyes, pushing the finding of the new investigation, carried out by an international panel of scientists who analyzed tests carried out in laboratories in Denmark and Chile.
According to Spanish newspaper El País, the conclusions will be officially published next Wednesday (15), when the report will be handed over to Judge Paola Paza.
“I can say that because I’ve seen the reports,” Reyes said. “I say that as a lawyer and nephew with a lot of responsibility. The judge can’t comment on anything yet because she doesn’t have all the information yet.” Reyes commented on the outcome of the investigation, which revealed he was injected with a poison found in the remains of Pablo Neruda in 2017.
“We expected that, because the panel 2017 [o segundo] had already found Clostridium botulinum [nos restos do poeta]. But I didn’t know if it was endogenous or exogenous, that is, if it was internal or external,” he said. “And now we’re proving it was endogenous and that it was injected.”
Judge Paola Plaza must analyze the report’s new scientific evidence and determine whether there is any justification for launching a judicial proceeding over thirdparty involvement in the poet’s death.