Santiago: Family of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda today said forensic experts have found evidence of a massive bacterial infection in his remains, increasing their suspicion that he was poisoned by dictator Augusto Pinochet's regime.

Doubts have surrounded the cause of the Nobel laureate's 1973 death since his former driver claimed Neruda was given a mysterious injection in his chest at the Santiago clinic where he was being treated for prostate cancer. Neruda, who had been planning to leave for Mexico to lead the opposition to Pinochet's regime, died hours after the injection.