The nephew of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, Rodolfo Reyes, confirmed this Monday to EL PAÍS that the international panel of experts that analyzed the clostridium botulinum bacterium, found in his body in 2017, concluded that its origin was endogenous, which would confirm the thesis of the complaint of the Communist Party that the substance "was injected as a biological weapon", that is to say that he died of poisoning.
“I can say it because I know the reports.
I say this, as a lawyer and nephew, with a lot of responsibility, because the judge cannot point it out yet because she has to have all the information," Reyes said in conversation with this newspaper, confirming information provided by the family to the agency. Eph.
“This is what we were waiting for, because the 2017 panel had already found clostridium botulinum.
But it was not known if it was endogenous or exogenous.
That is, if it was internal or external.
And now it has been proven that it was endogenous and that it was injected or placed ”, he added.
The Nobel laureate died on September 23, 1973 at the San María Clinic in Santiago, 12 days after the coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende.
For 40 years, the official cause of his death was believed to be his metastatic prostate cancer.
That was until his ex-driver, Manuel Araya, pointed out that he was poisoned, testimony that was the basis of the lawsuit filed by the Communist Party.
For days, the judge in the Paola Plaza case has been expected to present the conclusions of the panel of international experts, although this information is not binding.
As of March, she must evaluate the scientific evidence with the judicial investigation to determine if there was or intervention by third parties.
Information in development.