The body of Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda is being exhumed this weekend in an effort to clear up four decades of suspicion about how he died in the days after Chile's military coup. A team of investigators is to begin digging today at Isla Negra, a rocky outcropping on the Pacific Coast where Neruda lived. But forensic experts say there's little hope that the exhumation will answer the question of whether one of the greatest poets of the 20th century died of natural causes as was recorded, or if he was poisoned by the military dictatorship as his driver and some others believe.

The remains of Chilean Nobel prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda were exhumed Monday to determine if he died of cancer or was poisoned by the Pinochet dictatorship he strongly opposed. Workers broke open the tomb housing his remains at his last home overlooking the sea in Isla Negra under the supervision of Judge Mario Carroza, lawyers and a dozen forensic experts. The leftist author, who died 12 days after the 1973 military coup that ousted socialist president Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was long believed to have died of prostate cancer.

Chilean Nobel prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda's remains will be exhumed Monday in a bid by the government to determine if he died of cancer or was poisoned by the Pinochet dictatorship he strongly opposed. The leftist author, who died 12 days after the 1973 military coup that ousted socialist president Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was long believed to have died of prostate cancer. But officials in 2011 started looking into the possibility he was poisoned by agents of the Pinochet regime, as claimed by Neruda's driver.

Experts on Sunday started work on opening the tomb of Chilean Nobel prize winning poet Pablo Neruda, to uncover his remains and determine if he died of cancer or was poisoned. The leftist author, who died 12 days after the 1973 military coup that ousted socialist president Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was long believed to have died of prostate cancer. But officials in 2011 started looking into the possibility he was poisoned by agents of the Pinochet regime, as claimed by Neruda's driver.