The fact that his family and many others have always suspected that Neruda was murdered, despite the official statement about a natural death, is partly due to the fact that the poet died barely 12 days after the military coup in Chile. On September 11, 1973, the democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende was ousted from power by General Augusto Pinochet.
Elected in 1970, Allende was a close friend of Neruda, who had also been a senator himself. Allende was killed when the presidential palace was bombarded by the army. The official explanation is that he committed suicide instead of surrendering. According to his driver and family, Neruda was killed because he was a supporter of Allende. Incidentally, Neruda was first himself a presidential candidate for a broad front of left-wing parties, until he eventually withdrew and Allende was put forward.
Neruda was reportedly traumatized by the military coup and planned to go into exile in Mexico, from where he could have been an influential voice against the dictatorship. But a day before his departure he was admitted to the hospital, where he eventually died.
