Ultimately, the cause of his death was poisoning. Pablo Nerudaaccording to the data provided by the nephew of the Nobel laureate, the Chilean poet, and which seem to put an end to the scenarios of his death from prostate cancer.

Rodolfo Reyes, Neruda’s nephew, in an interview with The Associated Press presented forensic data, which has not yet been confirmed, indicating that high concentrations of a toxin (Clostridium botulinum) “incompatible with human life” were found in the poet’s blood. body and can cause paralysis of the nervous system and death.

Neruda’s death, just days after Pinochet’s dictatorship took over Chile, remained an open question in the Latin American country for decades.

Until now, the official cause of death was that the poet died from complications of prostate cancer, but experts have disputed this version for years, but have not been able to determine what exactly killed Neruda.

Reyes, as a public trial lawyer in his uncle’s death, says he has access to a forensic report that also shows the poet was injected with the toxin while he was alive.

However, the results of the report have not yet been made public. In fact, their publication has already been delayed twice in the past year. The experts who reviewed the lab data are the same international team that concluded in 2017 that Neruda’s bones showed signs of the toxin.

The Chilean coup that overthrew President-elect Salvatore Allende took place on September 11, 1973. Neruda was then 69 years old and suffering from cancer.

But he was going to go into exile and fight for the restoration of democracy in his country. The day before his departure, he was rushed to the hospital, where he died.