Chilean appeals court says Neruda's death should be reinvestigated
THE death of Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda days after Chile’s 1973 military coup should be reinvestigated, an appeals court has ruled, saying that new steps could help clarify the circumstances of the communist poet’s death.
Last December, a judge rejected a request by Neruda’s nephew Rodolfo Reyes to reopen the case to look for causes other than cancer, listed on his death certificate. Mr Reyes said forensic experts from Canada, Denmark and Chile had found evidence of poisoning.
Tests carried out in Danish and Canadian laboratories indicated that Neruda’s body had “a great quantity of Cloristridium botulinum, which is incompatible with human life,” Mr Reyes said. The toxin can cause paralysis of the nervous system.
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