Death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda days after 1973 coup should be reinvestigated, court rules

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — An appeals court says the death of Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda days after Chile’s 1973 coup should be reinvestigated. The poet’s nephew had asked for the case to be reopened to look for causes other than cancer, which is listed on the death certificate. He said forensic tests from laboratories outside Chile found toxins in Neruda’s body. The ruling was the latest turn in one of the great debates of post-coup Chile. Neruda was a friend of President Salvador Allende, whose government was toppled in the coup that put Gen. Augusto Pinochet in power. Neruda was traumatized by the coup’s aftermath and planned to go into exile. He died in a Santiago clinic just before he planned to leave.