Who was Pablo Neruda and why is his death a mystery?

Fifty years on, the true cause of death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, in the wake of the country’s 1973 coup, has remained in doubt across the world.

The Nobel laureate was not only one of the world’s most celebrated poets but also one of Chile’s most influential political activists. An outspoken communist, he supported Salvador Allende, Chile’s leftist president from 1970 to 1973, and worked in his administration.

Neruda’s death in a private clinic just weeks after the coup was determined to be the result of cancer, but the timing and the circumstances have long raised doubts about whether his death was something more nefarious.

Last month, the New York Times reviewed the summary of findings compiled by international forensic experts who had examined Neruda’s exhumed remains and identified bacteria that can be deadly. In a summary of their report, the scientists confirmed that the bacteria was in his body when he died, but said that they could not distinguish whether it was a toxic strain of the bacteria, nor whether he was injected with it or instead ate contaminated food.

The findings once again leave open the question of whether Neruda was murdered.

Who was Pablo Neruda?Neruda was a Chilean lawmaker, diplomat, and Nobel laureate poet. He was regarded as one of Latin America’s greatest poets and was the leading spokesperson for Chile’s leftist movement until the ascendancy of a socialist president, Allende, in 1970.

Neruda occupied several diplomatic positions in countries including Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and France. To the end of his life, he was as engaged in political activism as in poetry.

Born July 12, 1904, he grew up in Parral, a small agricultural community in southern Chile. His mother, a schoolteacher, died shortly after he was born; his father was a railway employee who did not support his literary aspirations. Despite that, Neruda started writing poetry at the age of 13.

During his lifetime, Neruda occupied several diplomatic positions in countries including Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and France. To the end of his life, he was as engaged in political activism as in poetry.

Neruda died in a clinic in Santiago, Chile’s capital, at the age of 69. His death came less than two weeks after that of his friend and political ally, Allende, who died by suicide to avoid surrendering to the military after his government was toppled in September 1973.

Why is he such a big deal?Neruda is one of Latin America’s most prominent figures of the 20th century for his poetry and his political activism — calling out US meddling abroad, denouncing the Spanish Civil War, and supporting Chile’s Communist Party. His books have been translated into more than 35 languages.

However, Neruda was also a controversial man who neglected his daughter, who was born with hydrocephalus and died at the age of eight, in 1943. And recently, he has been reconsidered in light of a description in his memoir of assaulting a maid.

What are his most notable works?Neruda was a prolific writer who released more than 50 publications in verse and prose, ranging from romantic poems to exposes of Chilean politicians and reflections on the anguish of a Spain plagued by civil war. His fervent activism for social justice and his extensive body of poems have echoed worldwide, making him an intellectual icon of the 20th century in Latin America.

In 2017, a group of forensic investigators announced that Neruda had not died of cancer — and that they had found traces of a potentially toxic bacteria in one of his molars.

He published his first book, “Crepusculario”, or “Book of Twilight”, in 1923 at 19, and the following year he released “Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Canción Desesperada” (“20 Poems of Love and a Song of Despair”). This collection established him as a major poet and, almost a century later, it is still a bestselling poetry book in the Spanish language.

What is the controversy surrounding his death?After Chile’s coup, one of the most violent in Latin America, troops raided Neruda’s properties. The Mexican government offered to fly him and his wife, Matilde Urrutia, out of the country, but he was admitted to the Santa María clinic for prostate cancer.

On the evening of September 23, 1973, the clinic reported that Neruda died of heart failure. Earlier that day, he had called his wife saying he was feeling ill after receiving some form of medication.

In 2011, Manuel Araya, Neruda’s driver at the time, publicly claimed that the doctors at the clinic poisoned him by injecting an unknown substance into his stomach, saying Neruda told him this before he died. Although witnesses, including his widow, dismissed the rumors, some challenged the claim that Neruda had died of cancer.

The accusations eventually led to an official inquiry. In 2013, a judge ordered the exhumation of the poet’s remains and for samples to be sent to forensic genetics laboratories. But international and Chilean experts ruled out poisoning in his death, according to the report released seven months later. The findings said there were no “relevant chemical agents” present that could be related to Neruda’s death and that “no forensic evidence whatsoever” pointed to a cause of death other than prostate cancer.

Yet in 2017, a group of forensic investigators announced that Neruda had not died of cancer — and that they had found traces of a potentially toxic bacteria in one of his molars. The panel handed its findings to the court and was asked to try to determine the origin of the bacteria.

In the final report given to a Chilean judge last month, those scientists said that other circumstantial evidence supported the theory of murder, including the fact that in 1981, the military dictatorship had poisoned prisoners with bacteria potentially similar to the strain found in Neruda. But they said that without further evidence, they could not determine the cause of Neruda’s death.


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