Pablo Neruda’s remains will be exhumed to clarify causes of his death

Pablo Neruda

During the excavation carried out last Sunday to the tomb of Pablo Neruda, to exhume his remains within the framework of a judicial process that will allow to discover if the Chilean poet was murdered by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, or died of cancer, as the official version states.

The examinations to the remains of Neruda, that are buried in his House Museum in the town of Isla Negra, in the central Chilean coast, are part of the investigation that judge Mario Carroza began in 2011 to establish the causes of death of Neruda.

The judge gave rise to the investigation, after the complaint presented by the Communist Party (PC), in which Neruda was militant, encouraged by the report of Manuel Araya, his former driver and personal advisor, who said that he was killed by agents of the military regime.

“We are here mainly to start activities regarding the exhumation of the poet. We started with the excavation and we will get to the tombstone”, said Carroza, during an improvised press during the operation.

The official explained that they will proceed to remove the soil to reach the tombstones to then identify the remains of Neruda and his wife.

Patricio Bustos, director of the Legal medical service (SML), explained that the next exhumation will be in charge of a dozen Chilean and foreign experts including archaeologists, anthropologists, doctors and toxicologists, a coroner and representatives of the International Red Cross.