Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat and politician. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.” During his lifetime, Neruda also occupied many diplomatic positions, served as a senator for the Chilean Communist Party, escaped into exile in Argentina, and later advised socialist President Salvador Allende. In September 1973, Neruda was hospitalized with prostate cancer at the time of the U.S.-backed Chilean coup d’état (the other 9/11) led by Augusto Pinochet. Neruda died suddenly of heart failure, but some suspect the junta had a hand in his death. Neruda was born on this day in 1904.
Note: In 2011, a Chilean judge ordered that an investigation be launched, following suggestions that Neruda had been killed by the Pinochet regime for his pro-Allende stance and political views. On April 8, 2013, Neruda was exhumed, 40 years after his death, to determine if he was poisoned. Last month, a court order was issued to find the man that prosecutors allege poisoned Neruda. Suspects include former CIA agent Michael Townley.
