With tragic irony, Mr Kerr's death might help: it provoked not just powerful symbolism among politicians, but palpable anger on both sides of the community, sections of which have in the past been inclined to regard the dissidents as little more than a disruptive nuisance.

ECONOMIST: A depressing terrorist attack��and a heartening response

"We hope that the exam will help to clarify doubts that might exist with respect to the poet's death, " the Pablo Neruda Foundation said in a statement.

CNN: Foundation: Chile to exhume body of Nobel laureate

"We hope that the exam will help to clarify doubts that might exist with respect to the poet's death, " the Pablo Neruda Foundation said in a statement in February.

CNN: Chile set to exhume body of Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda