Neruda, the truth prevails
From left to right, up to down: PaN-NGO - Manuel Araya - Pablo Neruda - Eduardo Contreras
For all those who in every part of the world appreciate truth and justice as fundamental rights of the human being, the conclusions of this Friday the 20th of this week of the International Panel of Experts appointed by the court in case N ° 1038 - 2011 opened to investigate the real causes of the death of our Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda, are not only accurate, founded, but also thrilled.
This is because, after a week of expositions and debates, the final scientific report on the specific topics of genomic and proteomic nature concludes categorically in the absolute falsity of the death certificate issued at that time, demonstrating that such "cachetcy" that would have suffered Neruda and that the certificate referred as "cause of death," was absolutely false, never existed. Then the certificate is entirely false. So conclusive.
The scientific experts also point out that, while the poet was clearly doubtful that he had cancer, it has been demonstrated, on the one hand, that his condition was not terminal and that, precisely because of his condition, the Santa Maria clinic was never provided the right treatment, just soothing. So if he had actually died of cancer, it is because he was allowed to die.
Finally, the Panel concludes that the discovery of another toxic element, which will have to be further investigated, leaves firm and does not rule out the possibility that its death was due to the action of third parties. That is to say an opinion that overturns the hypotheses hitherto accepted, although there are still some questions and another stretch of way to go.
The 16 professionals, foreigners and Chileans, who unanimously concluded, were: Cristian Orrego, George Sensabaugh, Charles Brenner and John Swartzberg, University of California, Berkeley, USA; Hendrik Poinar and his wife Debi Poinar, from the University of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Gloria Ramírez from the Chilean Ministry of Health, Niels Morling from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Jean Olivier Cathelineau, from the Montsouris Institute in Paris, France, Aurelio Luna from the University of Murcia, Spain, Francisco Etxeberría from the University of the Basque Country, Spain, Javier Domínguez from the Catholic University of Chile, Cecila Abdala from INTA, Chile, Andrei Tchernitchin and Leonardo Gaete from the University of Chile.
All of them professionals of the highest academic qualification, whose theoretical training and specific expertise are located at the highest international levels and, from the point of view of medical forensics, are writing a page of remarkable international importance.
In this probationary proceeding we were present with several legal advisers whose central objective was, if necessary, to ensure that all elements considered to be beyond the strictly medical profession were indeed part of the judicial file; that is to say that there was no element other than the strict merit of the process.
At this point and not talking about the Scientific Panel, we think that it is also worth remembering, as one of the academic panelists also commented, what was the historical context of the time of the death of the poet. And this was none other than that of a newly implanted brutal dictatorship, a climate of terror and insecurities.
Neither should it be forgotten that the Santa Maria clinic was operated on the same day September 11, 1973 and that the doctors who treated Neruda were both doctors of the military hospital. And let alone forget that while on the street soldiers burned books and persecuted the cultural manifestations, Neruda was a personage politically located in the antipodas of the dictatorship.
A Democrat, an internationally influential antifascist intellectual and also a communist leader who recorded throughout his life persecutions of both right-wing governments in Chile and American CIA maneuvers. The role of the latter entity in its 1964 operation is demonstrated, for example, in order to prevent the granting of the Nobel prize to our compatriot at that time.
The result of these skills that undoubtedly change the course of history occurs more than 44 years after the death of Neruda and more than 6 years since on May 31, 2011 we filed this complaint filed by the Communist Party of Chile. It was signed by President Guillermo Tellier and by parliamentarians Lautaro Carmona and Hugo Gutiérrez and we sponsor it along with colleagues Pedro Piña, sadly deceased, and Julia Urquieta.
Finally, it is important to highlight the role of the press and journalists in the events that give shape and life to the "Neruda case". Because everything begins months before the lawsuit, the Mexican magazine "Proceso" in a note by the Chilean journalist Francisco Marín published statements by Mr. Manuel Araya, who had been the last driver of Neruda.
Until then, what was installed was that the poet had died as a result of the cancer he suffered, and by the time of the event, the first days of the coup, it was particularly difficult to have elements, antecedents or witnesses that showed different facts that gave rise to a judicial investigation.
After knowing this publication, we began with Pedro Piña and other colleagues the study of the facts, including long conversations with Araya himself, the journalist Marín and the doctor treating the poet in the coastal region and with other people credible of the place. We also contacted the engineer Don Gonzalo Martínez Corbalá who was the ambassador of Mexico that would take Neruda to the Aztec country on Sunday,
September 24 and whom I met during my exile in Mexico and with several other people close to the case.
Only once we were convinced of the seriousness of the complaint, was the criminal complaint filed with the judge, Mr. Mario Carroza. Soon afterwards, lawyers Rodolfo Reyes, nephew of Neruda and Elizabeth Flores, both on behalf of the families of our Nobel Prize, joined the proceedings.
The case was also sponsored by the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior, which allowed the participation of outstanding legal professionals whose contribution has been substantial.
The presence of all of them only reiterates on one hand the historical importance of Neruda and, on the other, the solvency and seriousness of the investigation. They are the factors that opened the possibility of the scientific support that makes news today. At the same time, it is fair to remember the contribution of people such as Dr. Cristian Orrego, son of the great Chilean musician Juan Orrego Salas, or other outstanding national doctors such as Dr. Gloria Ramírez, Luis Fornazzari or Dr. Luis Soto, who died. we were shown the possibility that the progressive development of forensic medical science could at last discover the whole truth that we were looking for.
Special mention should be made of Eugenio Ortega, also deceased, who was the husband of Mrs. Carmen Frei and who approached to propose that together we reviewed the judicial records both in the case of his father-in-law, former President Frei Montalva, as in the case of Neruda. Although different years, it was the same clinic and some of the same physicians and, as all seems to indicate, using the same methods.
Moreover, through these curious coincidences of life during my time in Uruguay, I even met a Dominican diplomat who had been a prisoner at the National Stadium and had shared a cell with Manuel Araya; he, without knowing that I was a lawyer in that process, or in what state the trial was, spontaneously informed us of what Manuel told him during those days of 73 without possibility of being heard.
What's next? Undoubtedly deepen the research on the new finding of toxicants as was already done with Staphylococcus aureus. Only now it can be faster since we have other cases of poisoning and, precisely because of these judicial processes, we now also know of the existence of secret laboratories of the army, confessed by themselves in court.
That is to say, it is not just the chemist Berrios, or Oyarzún or Michael Townley or that strange "Doctor Price" spoken by one of the main suspects such as dr. Sergio Draper.
The investigation will continue, but the step forward that has given the historical truth in our country with the expert report in the Neruda case has been immense.
It is also an encouraging incentive for all the relatives of the thousands and thousands of victims of the dictatorship who have been fighting for truth and justice for so many years.
Eduardo Contreras.
SIN Sistema informativo Nerudiano
Florilegio: www.nerudavive.cl
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