Chile judge orders hunt for poet's alleged killer

[Judi Lynn]

Chile judge orders hunt for poet's alleged killer
Published: June 1, 2013
The Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Chile — Forty years after the death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, a judge has issued an order for police to make a portrait of and find the man who prosecutors allege may have poisoned him.

Neruda's death was attributed at the time to prostate cancer but the case's plaintiff lawyer, Eduardo Contreras, says there is new evidence showing he was likely murdered by agents of dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Contreras said Dr. Sergio Draper, who originally testified that he was with Neruda at the time of his death on Sept. 23, 1973, is now saying there was another doctor named "Price" with the poet.

But Price did not appear in any of the hospital's records as a treating doctor and Draper said he never saw him again after the day he left him with Neruda. Moreover Price's description of a blond, blue eyed, tall man, matches Michael Townley, the CIA double agent who worked with Chilean secret police under Pinochet.

Townley was taken into the U.S. witness protection program after acknowledging having killed prominent Pinochet critics in Washington and Buenos Aires.

More:
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/06/01/2527332/chile-judge-orders-hunt-for-poets.html#storylink=cpy

On edit, adding photos:
[center]

Michael Townley [/center]

[ocpagu]

1. I'm impressed at how quickly...

... they are acting to solve this mystery. I was expecting the usual suspects to start creating obstacles to stop us from knowing the truth. You know, those who never sleep. Great to know about this decision by the Chilean judge.

[Judi Lynn]

2. "Experts" to the rescue!

Jun 3, 2:11 PM EDT
US experts: Townley could not have killed Neruda
By MARIANELA JARROUD
Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- U.S. experts on human rights violations before and during Chile's dictatorship say an investigation into the death of poet Pablo Neruda risks going off track by looking at Michael Townley, an American who later worked as a spy for Chile.

Townley is an admitted assassin who tried to undermine Neruda's great friend Salvador Allende. But the researchers say there's a long paper trail that proves he was in Florida during the coup that toppled Allende and when Neruda died in September 1973.

They say Townley had fled Chile months earlier, fearing arrest in a killing, and didn't return until November 1973.

Townley later spied for Chile's intelligence agency, but "Pinochet File" author Peter Kornbluh and journalist John Dinges said Monday he was never a CIA agent, despite misinformation in Chile.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_CHILE_NERUDAS_DEATH?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

(Short article, no more at link.)