One of the longest-running mysteries of Chile's modern history may have finally been solved after forensic scientists determined that Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda died after being poisoned by a powerful toxin.. This claims to be the confirmation of decades of murdered suspicions, writes The Guardian.

According to the official version, Neruda, who became a young poet thanks to the collection Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair, died of prostate cancer and malnutrition on September 23, 1973, only 12 days after the military coup that overthrew the socialist government of his friend, President Salvador Allende (the last.

But some, including Neruda's nephew, Rodolfo Reyes, have long believed he was assassinated because of his opposition to the then-nascent dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet..

Ten years ago, a Chilean judge ordered the exhumation of the poet's remains after his former driver, Manuel Araya, revealed that an agitated Neruda called him from a Santiago hospital where he was being treated and said he had been injected into his stomach while he was sleeping.. The poet died a few hours later..

Samples of Neruda's remains were sent to forensic laboratories in four countries for analysis, and in 2015 the Chilean government said it was " Two years later, a group of international scientists said they were "

Reyes said on Monday that scientific tests showed that clostridium botulinum toxin was present in his uncle's body when he died, suggesting he was indeed poisoned after the coup.. The results of the examination are to be made public in a report on Wednesday..

" \? This means that Nerud was killed due to the intervention of state agents in 1973."

The bacteria that produces the neurotoxin that causes botulism was found on one of Neruda's exhumed teeth in 2017.. Reyes said an analysis by experts from McMaster University in Canada and the University of Copenhagen found that the bacteria did not enter Neruda's body from the coffin or nearby ground..

" \? We will soon find out, but there is no doubt that Neruda was killed due to the direct intervention of a third party..

The US-backed Pinochet coup, during which Allende killed himself when troops stormed the presidential palace, ravaged Neruda and forced him to plan an escape to Mexico.

But the day before his scheduled departure, he was taken by ambulance to a hospital in the Chilean capital, where he was treated for cancer and other diseases.. He died there on the evening of September 23, allegedly from the debilitating effects of prostate cancer, first discovered four years before his death..