AP EXPLAIN: What killed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda?

SANTIAGO — Nearly 50 years after the death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, a panel of experts is set to say whether he died of prostate cancer or was poisoned by a toxin whose remains appeared on his skeleton and molar.

Neruda died 12 days after the 1973 military coup and hours after his exile in Mexico.

A group of experts has been stressing for a decade that Neruda did not die of his cancer and is preparing to publish a report which must clarify whether a botulinum toxin present in his body led to his death, which occurred on September 23, 1973 .

WHAT HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT THE CAUSE OF THE POET’S DEATH?

Neruda was a member of the Communist Party all his life and after the military coup, his wife, Matilde Urrutia, and his driver, Manuel Araya, took him from their house-museum in Isla Negra, 110 kilometers to the north west of the Chilean capital, to a private health clinic while finalizing details for him to board a plane that would take him into exile. However, he died a day before traveling to Mexico.

According to the official version, he died of metastatic prostate cancer and was not questioned at that time because the crackdown spread across the country.

Araya has told The Associated Press for years that Neruda was poisoned at the clinic. He claims that while he and Urrutia were carrying out orders for the poet in Isla Negra, Neruda called them on the phone and said, “Come quickly because I was sleeping and a doctor gave me an injection in my wadding (stomach), I I’m in a lot of pain and I’m hot”. He died a few hours later.

WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT NERUDA’S CAUSE OF DEATH?

Forensic experts from Canada, Chile and Denmark met three times in Santiago, either in person or remotely. Neruda was exhumed in April 2013 and seven months later the group confirmed cancer, adding that no “relevant chemical agent” was found that could be linked to his death.

But in 2017, they report the discovery of fragments of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum in his bone remains and in a molar and decide to carry out genetic tests to “confirm or exclude the action of third parties in the death of the poet”.

This bacteria produces botulinum toxin, the causative agent of botulism, a disease that attacks the nervous system and can lead to breathing difficulties, muscle paralysis and even death.