Manuel Araya, who was a Nobel driver of Chilean Literature Pablo Neruda and who for decades claimed the poet was poisoned before going into exile, died after suffering an aneurysm, it was reported Wednesday.
Araya always questioned the official version that Neruda’s death which occurred on September 23, 1973 -12 days after the military coup- was due to complications of metastatic prostate cancer.
The driver died at the age of 77, due to an aneurysm that kept him hospitalized after suffering cardiovascular problems on June 12, the Communist Party, in which Neruda had been a member of his entire life, reported on Wednesday.
Araya always affirmed that Neruda was poisoned while he was admitted to a private clinic. However, he was only heard by the Communist Party in 2011 after his statements on the subject were published by a Mexican media outlet, according to what he reiterated to The Associated Press last February.