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As the disturbances of 1973 unfolded, Neruda, then deathly ill from [[prostate cancer]], was devastated by the mounting attacks on the Allende government. The final military coup led by General [[Augusto Pinochet]] on [[11 September]] saw Neruda's hopes for a socialist and democratic Chile literally go up in flames. Shortly thereafter, during a search of the house and grounds at Isla Negra by Chilean armed forces at which he was present, Neruda famously remarked:
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Neruda died of [[leukemia]] on the evening of [[September 23]], [[1973]], at Santiago's Santa María Clinic. Subsequent to his death, Neruda's homes in both Valparaiso and Santiago were looted and vandalized. His wife moved his body to lie in state amidst the rubble in the couple's Santiago house La Chascona, which had just been violently ransacked by the armed forces, as a way of drawing world attention to the ongoing conduct of Pinochet's [[junta]]. His funeral took place with a massive police presence, and mourners took advantage of the occasion to protest the Pinochet regime.
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