Chile successfully exhumes body of Nobel laureate Neruda, seeking answers about his death

A visitor is reflected on the marble of the tomb of literature Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda in Isla Negra, Chile, Sunday April 7, 2013. The body of Neruda will be exhumed in an effort to clear up four decades of suspicion about how the poet died in the days after Chile's military coup. (AP Photo / Luis Hidalgo). (The Associated Press)

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A visitor stands next to the grave of literature Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda and his wife Matilde Urrutia in Isla Negra, Chile, Sunday April 7, 2013. The body of Neruda will be exhumed in an effort to clear up four decades of suspicion about how the poet died in the days after Chile's military coup. (AP Photo / Luis Hidalgo). (The Associated Press)

In this photo released by Chile's Judiciary, forensic specialists dig at the grave of Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda as they prepare for the exhumation of the remains in Isla Negra, Chile, Sunday April 7, 2013. The body of Neruda will be exhumed in an effort to clear up four decades of suspicion about how the poet died in the days after Chile's military coup.(AP Photo / Judiciary of Chile) (The Associated Press)

ISLA NEGRA, Chile – Chilean forensic experts have exhumed the body of Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda to solve a four-decade mystery about his death.

The official version is that the poet died of cancer, but his driver and others believe he was poisoned by the military dictatorship.

Patricio Bustos, head of Chile's medical legal service says Neruda's body is in good shape after the one-hour exhumation on Monday. His remains are being taken to the capital for tests.

Neruda was also a leftist politician and he would have been would have been an influential voice in exile against the dictatorship, but he died 12 days after the 1973 military coup at a Santiago hospital.