Chile is re-opening the investigation into the death of poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda, because there are indications that he was poisoned, Chilean government spokesman Francisco Ugas said today.
Neruda died in 1973, 12 days after the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, the BBC reported.
Due to the death investigation, Neruda's body was exhumed in April 2013, and no traces of poison were found then.
According to the official version, the celebrated poet died of a prostate tumor.
The new forensic tests should detect the presence of inorganic or heavy metals, in order to determine the direct or indirect cause of death, officials said.
Neruda was a member of the Communist Party of Chile, a member of parliament and a former ambassador to France.
He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.
Pablo Neruda's driver doubts the version that the poet died of natural causes.
He said that Neruda called him from the hospital in Santiago and told him that he felt bad after receiving an injection in his stomach.
Some believe that Neruda was poisoned at the age of 69 because he was a supporter of ousted president Salvador Allende and it was feared that he could become the leader of the opposition, the BBC said.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
