International
Pablo Neruda’s nephew says lab report reveals poisoning
February 15 |
The nephew of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, Rodolfo Reyes, said Monday that the forensic report on the cause of death of the Nobel Prize in Literature indicates that he would have been poisoned with a botulinum bacterium in September 1973, a few hours before a flight that would have taken him to exile in Mexico.
This conclusion would dismantle the official thesis that he died of metastatic prostate cancer.
The affirmation of Reyes, who besides being a nephew is a lawyer in the judicial case of Neruda’s death, is known a couple of days before a group of forensic experts from Canada, Chile and Denmark deliver a report that will establish if the poet was poisoned or if he died of cancer, which is the official explanation that was delivered in September 1973, 12 days after the military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende.
The results of the forensic expertise were to be released at the beginning of February, but the convocation was suspended due to connection problems of the specialists.
Reyes, interviewed by AP, said that the forensic report from laboratories in Canada and Denmark indicates the presence in Neruda’s remains of “a large amount of Clostridium botulinum, which is incompatible with human life”, a fact that the relative first confirmed to the Spanish news agency EFE.
The botulinum toxin is produced by a bacterium that can cause problems to the nervous system and even death.
According to Reyes, as a lawyer in the court case, he had access to the results of the tests of the laboratories in Canada and Denmark, which were made after the same forensic group indicated in 2017 that other experts had already pointed to the presence of the toxin in the bone remains and in a molar of the poet.
Reyes stated that the laboratory reports ratified that “there was no external contamination, that the Clostridium botulinum was endogenous”, that is, internal, and that it would have been given to the poet “while he was alive”.
He added that the only reports missing in the case investigated by Judge Paola Plaza are those elaborated by a couple of experts from each of the laboratories, which would be received tomorrow or the day after.
The first to affirm that the poet was poisoned was his driver, Manuel Araya, who has reiterated to AP that while Neruda was hospitalized in the private clinic, an alleged doctor gave him an injection in his stomach while he and the poet’s wife, Matilde Urrutia, were carrying out some of the poet’s errands in Isla Negra, 110 kilometers northwest of the Chilean capital. He said that the version was given to him by a nurse.
Urrutia and Araya hospitalized him while waiting for the plane to take him to his exile in Mexico. In a telephone conversation with AP, the Mexican ambassador at the time, Gonzalo Martínez Corbalá, said that on Saturday, September 22, he went to pick him up at the clinic to take him to the airport, but the poet postponed the trip to Monday and died on Sunday.
The conversation with Martínez was in 2017, shortly before his passing.
Neruda was a lifelong militant of the Communist Party, which after several years accepted the driver’s complaint and in 2011 filed a lawsuit to investigate what killed him.
The Nobel’s remains were exhumed in April 2013 and, seven months later, the same experts indicated that no “relevant chemical agents” were found that could be related to his death.
However, at that time the Chilean forensic institute lacked the latest technology to detect a poisoning that could have occurred 40 years earlier.
In 2017, they announced the presence of the toxin and requested genetic tests to “confirm or exclude the action of third parties in the poet’s death.”
International
China calls for dialogue amid rising Iran-Israel conflict
The Chinese government emphasized on Monday the importance of “creating the conditions to return to the proper path of dialogue” between Iran and Israel, which have exchanged attacks in recent days resulting in more than 20 Israeli and over 220 Iranian deaths.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun expressed deep concern at a press conference over the Israeli attacks on Iran and the “sudden escalation” of the military conflict.
Guo called on all parties to “take immediate measures to ease tensions and prevent the region from descending into further turmoil,” stating that “force cannot bring lasting peace.”
“If the conflict between Israel and Iran continues to intensify or even expand, the countries of the Middle East will be the first to suffer the consequences,” he added, while noting that China “will continue to maintain communication with the relevant parties, promoting peace and dialogue.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke last Saturday with his Iranian and Israeli counterparts to condemn the Israeli airstrike on Iranian territory, which he described as a “violation of international law” with the potential to trigger “disastrous” consequences.
In both calls, Wang reiterated China’s rejection of the use of force, defended diplomacy as the only solution to the Iranian nuclear dispute, and offered China’s mediation to prevent further destabilization in the Middle East.
International
Suspect arrested in killing of Minnesota legislator and husband, governor Says
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced on Sunday the arrest of Vance Luther Boelter, 57, the main suspect in the killing of Democratic legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband in a Brooklyn Park suburb on Friday night.
Boelter, who also reportedly shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife early Saturday morning, was apprehended in Sibley County following an intensive manhunt involving hundreds of law enforcement officers.
In a public statement, Governor Walz condemned Boelter’s “unthinkable actions,” which resulted in the death of a woman who “shaped the core of who we are as a state.”
“We cannot become numb to this. We are a deeply divided nation,” Walz said in a statement posted on his X account.
“We move forward not with hatred or violence, but with humility, grace, and civility,” he added.
Expressing solidarity with the victims’ families, Walz said the entire state of Minnesota is in mourning. He also thanked law enforcement for their bravery and professionalism: “They have saved lives,” he emphasized.
“As we heal, we will not let fear win,” Walz concluded. “We must honor Melissa by moving forward with understanding, service, and above all, humanity.”
Throughout Sunday, police and sheriff units searched a rural area in Minnesota for Vance Luther Boelter, a security company director and preacher who, according to Governor Walz, acted out of politically motivated violence.
International
40,000 tourists stranded in Israel amid airspace shutdown over Iran conflict
Approximately 40,000 tourists are stranded in Israel following the closure of the country’s airspace amid escalating hostilities with Iran, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism reported on Monday.
The ministry has set up a virtual office to provide information via email (virtual@goisrael.gov.il) and phone (+972-53-583-5808), as well as a Facebook page called Israel Virtual Tourist Office.
Israeli Tourism Minister Haim Katz is in contact with hotels and accommodations across the country to offer support to tourists in need, the ministry added.
Many stranded travelers are considering crossing overland into Jordan or Egypt to seek flights from those countries. The Israel Airports Authority reminded the public that land border crossings remain open.
Three German tourists stranded in Jerusalem told EFE today that they have not received any assistance from their country’s embassy in Israel, and their primary option currently is to cross into Jordan to catch a flight from there.
Since early Friday morning, Israel launched operations against Iran, targeting military personnel and infrastructure, including energy and nuclear facilities, as well as numerous residential areas in Tehran.
In response, Iran has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel, some of which have struck various locations across the country, leaving at least 24 dead so far, according to Israeli authorities.
Iranian health officials report at least 224 deaths, mostly civilians, including at least 17 senior military officials—nine from the Revolutionary Guard—and more than a dozen nuclear scientists.
The Israeli military has warned that many more “targets” remain, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard declared on Monday that it will continue missile attacks against Israel until its “destruction.”
China calls for dialogue amid rising Iran-Israel conflict
Suspect arrested in killing of Minnesota legislator and husband, governor Says
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