Experts found Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was poisoned, his nephew says

Forensic experts from Canada, Denmark and Chile have reviewed Pablo Neruda’s cause of death and are scheduled to announce their findings. The poet’s nephew, in an interview, said lab tests indicate the presence of a great quantity of a powerful toxin. (AP Photos)

SANTIAGO, Chile — Forensic experts have determined that Chilean poet Pablo Neruda died of poisoning nearly 50 years ago, a family member of the Nobel Prize winner said Monday.

The revelation by Rodolfo Reyes, a Neruda nephew, is the latest turn in one of the great debates of post-coup Chile. The long-stated official position has been that Neruda died of complications from prostate cancer, but the poet’s driver argued for decades that he was poisoned.