An international group of forensic experts came to the conclusion that the Chilean poet, the Nobel laureate of Pablo Neruda was poisoned. Neruda died in 1973, after a military coup, which overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of President Salvador Allende, with whom Neruda was friends. It is reported by BBC.
The poet’s nephew, Rodolfo Reyes, said that experts analyzed samples of Clostridium Botulinum bacteria found in the Neruda body during the previous investigation in 2017. According to Reyes, experts came to the conclusion that the bacterium fell into the poet’s body from outside.
“I can say this because I saw reports, – said Reyes.” I say this as a lawyer and nephew, with great responsibility. The judge can not make any statements yet, since she must have all the information “.
bacteria that produce botulinum toxin causing botulism, were found on one of the exhumed teeth of Neruda in 2017. However, then scientists could not establish how they fell into the poet’s body. According to Reyes, it is now proved that the bacterium was “introduced into the body.”
In an interview with Associated Press, Reyes said that forensic medical tests carried out in Danish and Canadian laboratories showed the presence of a “large number of Cloristridium Botulinum bacteria, incompatible with human life.” A powerful toxin produced by this bacterium causes paralysis of the nervous system and death.
According to Reyes, an analysis conducted by experts from the University of McMaster in Canada and the University of Copenhagen showed that bacteria did not get into the body of Neruda from a coffin or surrounding area.
Reyes’s comments have not yet been confirmed by forensic experts from Canada, Denmark and Chile.
According to the official version, Nerud, who became famous as a young poet with a collection of “Twenty verses about love and a song of despair,” died of prostate cancer and malnutrition on September 23, 1973, 12 days after a military coup. During the coup, President Allende committed suicide. Neruda seriously accepted the news about the change of power and the death of a friend and began to plan emigration to Mexico. But the day before the planned departure, he was taken to the hospital in the Chilean capital by ambulance, where he was treated for cancer and other diseases. There he soon died.
In 2013, the body of Neruda was exhumed to determine the cause of his death, but the tests did not reveal toxic substances or poisons in his bones. His family and driver demanded further investigation. Samples of the remains of Neruds were sent to analyze in the forensic medical laboratories of the four countries, and in 2015 the Chile government said that “it is very likely that a third party was guilty of his death.” In 2017, a group of scientists from different countries excluded the death of Neruda from cancer or malnutrition, but did not name the causes of death.