“We have the biological weapon that killed Pablo, which is crucial, and now we have to find the perpetrator,” his great-niece and lawyer, Paola Reyes, said.

The author of poems like “Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Cancion Desesperada”, died at a clinic in this capital on September 23, 1973, 12 days after Augusto Pinochet’s coup against the Unidad Popular (Popular Unity-UP) government.

Although the official version of the dictatorship (1973-1990) attributes the poet’s death to prostate cancer, an investigation was launched in 2012 following statements by his driver and assistant, Manuel Araya, about a possible poisoning.

Since then, three groups of international experts have analyzed the case, and the second one revealed the presence of Clostridium botulinum bacteria in the poet’s remains and one of his teeth.

Rodolfo Reyes, the writer’s nephew, told Prensa Latina that for 15 years and along with his colleague, Elizabeth Flores, they have conducted this trial to clarify the truth.

Science has already ruled out that he died of cancer, Reyes said, after noting that large quantities of the Alaska E 43 strain of the bacteria, which is fatal to humans, were found in his remains.

He noted that, for Augusto Pinochet’s regime in 1973, Neruda posed a danger because he was the most prominent figure after President Salvador Allende and singer-songwriter Victor Jara.

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