Chilean poet Pablo Neruda remembered

Posted on July 14, 2016 by petrel41

This video says about itself:

13 July 2016

Celebrating the life of Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, who was born 112 years ago. While still remembered all over the world for his Nobel Prize-winning poetry, Neruda also held strong political convictions that may have even led to his death.

Directed by Pablo Larraín; written by Guillermo Calderón Pablo Larraín’s Neruda is a highly unconventional and dissatisfying biopic of the Chilean poet (1904-73). The film focuses in particular on the year 1948, when the beginning of the Cold War led to a sharp change in Chile’s political situation and a climate of increasing repression. Neruda, at the time already a significant artistic and political figure, went into hiding for an extended period and ultimately was able to escape the country: here.

CHILE: Pablo Neruda’s nephew blames money owed by Chile to laboratories abroad for blocking final tests to determine the cause of death of the Nobel Prize-winning poet. Rodolfo Reyes said the government owed about $16,000 (£12,000), mainly to laboratories in Canada and Denmark. The leading communist died after Chile’s 1973 fascist military coup and the post-coup government claimed in 2015 that it was “highly probable that a third party” was responsible for his death: here.

World Poetry Day in Chile

Posted on March 21, 2013 by petrel41

This video is called Pablo Neruda Documentary (Part 1 of 6).

From Prensa Latina news agency:

Chile Celebrates World Poetry Day

Santiago de Chile, Mar 21

Prominent Chilean bards, several Mapuches among them, will participate today along with Chilean blues groups, at the celebration of World Poetry Day.

The celebration will take place in Providencia, a town of the capital city, sponsored by the municipality and produced by ChilePoesia (PoetryChile).

Every year this international meeting’s venue is Chile, homeland of Gabriela Mistral, Vicente Huidobro, Pablo de Rokha and Pablo Neruda.

Prominent poets will read their works from the balconies and columns of the Palacio Consistorial (Council Palace), says a report sent by organizers.

Poets participating in the celebration include Leonel Lienlaf, Teresa Calderon, Jaime Huenun, Loreley Saavedra, Magdalena Pulgar, Karen Hermosilla, Jose Maria Memet, Elicura Chihuailaf, A’scar Saavedra, Faumelisa Manquepillan and Mauricio Redoles.

Chilean blues groups Ivan Torres & Zapatillas Social Blues, Tito Escarate & Los Galanes Suplentes and La Banda del Capitán Corneta will also perform.

The recital will be broadcast by a ‘streaming’ system which will connect the celebration in Chile with other countries of the world, allowing poets from other parts of the world to participate.

Leading up to the celebration, in the morning, roving recitals will take place in the Santiago de Chile subway.

From the 25th to 28th documentaries will be screened about the great Chilean and world poets.

World Poetry Day is celebrated every March 21st, date established by UNESCO during its 30th meeting held in Paris in 1999.

Chilean poet Pablo Neruda murdered?

Posted on March 6, 2013 by petrel41

This video is called Poetry by Pablo Neruda 100 Love Sonnets IX.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Judge orders exhumation of ‘poisoned’ left poet

Tuesday 05 March 2013

A Chilean judge said today that there was enough evidence of wrongdoing to warrant a new post-mortem examination of the remains of Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda.

The body of the communist poet is to be exhumed after his former driver claimed he was poisoned by Augusto Pinochet‘s regime.

Mr Neruda was thought to have died of prostate cancer on September 23 1973.

But it has been claimed that Pinochet’s agents used the disease as a cover – injecting poison into his stomach while he was in hospital.

The poet was a supporter of socialist President Salvador Allende, who was toppled in a military coup on September 11 1973.

He is buried in his coastal home of Isla Negra beside his third wife, Matilde Urrutia and will be dug up in a “respectful” operation in April, officials said.

Chilean poet Neruda to be exhumed next month (rappler.com)
Did poet Pablo Neruda die from cancer or poison? (rappler.com)
Chile court orders exhumation of poet Neruda (abc.net.au)

Did Pinochet murder poet Pablo Neruda?

Posted on June 1, 2011 by petrel41

This video is about Neruda’s life. Pablo Neruda was the pen name of Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto, who was born in southern Chile in 1904.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Communists call for probe into Neruda death

Wednesday 01 June 2011

by Our Foreign Desk

Chile’s Communist Party demanded a formal investigation today into the death of Pablo Neruda in 1973.

The Nobel prize-winning poet was a Communist Party member and close friends with Salvador Allende, the elected president overthrown by General Augusto Pinochet on September 11 1973.

Mr Neruda died 12 days later, just after publishing a condemnation of the US-backed coup and accusing military chiefs of betraying their country.

Officially Mr Neruda died of prostate cancer. But his driver, Manuel Araya, says that Pinochet‘s agents injected poison into his stomach.

A lawyer for the Communist Party said that Mr Araya was not the only person with doubts over the death.

Other people employed by Mr Neruda have come forward and Mexico’s former ambassador to Chile Gonzalo Martinez Corbala has said that he seemed fine the day before he died.

Communist Party president Guillermo Teillier told the Appellate Court in Santiago that the cause of the poet’s death should be made clear.

He had died in the same clinic where former president Eduardo Frei was allegedly poisoned in 1981.

Mr Teillier pointed out that the deaths of Mr Allende, Mr Frei and former defence minister Jose Toha were also suspicious. Mr Allende’s remains are currently being studied by an international group of forensic experts.

The case will be investigated by Judge Mario Carroza, who is responsible for investigating Mr Allende’s death and those of 725 other suspected victims of the Pinochet dictatorship, which lasted until 1990.