Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda re-buried after investigation reveals little

World Today

Pablo NerudaPoet Pablo Neruda in Italy, 1963 (Photo: Mondadori Publishers CC)

Forty-three years later, Pablo Neruda’s death is still a mystery. Following a new investigation that revealed little, today was his fourth burial.

CCTV’s Joel Richards reports the controversy is not over.

Neruda was reburied Tuesday in Isla Negra, west of Santiago.

Neruda in Berlin with his wife and Erich Honecker in 1951. (Photo: German Federal Archives)

Neruda in Berlin with his wife and Erich Honecker in 1951. (Photo: German Federal Archives)

Neruda is one of the great Latin American poets, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He was a prolific writer whose work ranged from romantic love poems to sweeping epics of Latin American history.

“He was a man with great ability, with passion, with talent and intellect. Neruda is universal and is the pride of all Chileans,” Isabelle Allende, Chilean Socialist Party leader said.

Neruda’s life was defined as much by his poetry as by his politics. In the context of today’s Syrian refugee crisis, Chileans remember how he personally helped two-thousand Spanish refugees escape the Spanish civil war to travel to Chile.

Grian Féretro at Neruda's coffin, 1973 (Photo: CC)

Grian Féretro at Neruda’s coffin, 1973 (Photo: CC)

In 1973, a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet seized power in Chile. As a member of the Communist party,  Neruda was a vocal opponent. But 12 days after the coup, he died at a clinic nearby his home in Santiago. Neruda had been diagnosed with cancer, yet doubts remain about how he died.

Manuel Araya, Neruda’s personal secretary and bodyguard, was with when he was allegedly poisoned at the clinic.

“He said ‘Manuel, a doctor came in while I was asleep and injected me in the stomach, I am burning up inside,'” Araya stated.

Arraya insists Neruda was murdered. His testimony led to the body being exhumed in 2013 to investigate if the poet had in fact been poisoned. Neruda’s remains were analyzed in Denmark and Canada to determine whether he was injected with bacteria.

“The investigation has to bring this all to an end, whatever the result shows,” said Rodolfo Reyes, Neruda’s nephew. “But, everything indicates there was criminal intent in the death of Neruda”

 There’s still speculation and debate about the investigation. There’s even disagreement within Neruda’s family over whether he was murdered.

The results of the investigation into the death of Pablo Neruda are expected in May. But even those results may not bring to an end to the doubts and questions about how he died.

Forensic Institute workers rebury the remains of Chile's Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda at his home on Isla Negra, Chile, Tuesday, April 26, 2016.  (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Forensic Institute workers rebury the remains of Chile’s Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda at his home on Isla Negra, Chile, Tuesday, April 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

For now, Neruda has returned to his final resting place, facing the sea, as he had wished.