Mahir Ali
PABLO Neruda was already something of a renowned poet when he was posted as the Chilean consul to Barcelona in 1934, and shortly afterwards transferred to Madrid, a vantage point from where he witnessed the unfolding Spanish civil war. It proved to be a thoroughly politicising experience.
He did not need to be pressured to pick sides in that conflict. Like the towering American singer Paul Robeson, he had no choice. The Franco fascists claimed the life of his close friend Federico Garcia Lorca. Other comrades fought at the front. Neruda published a volume of verse titled Spain in My Heart, and subsequently, as a diplomat in France, facilitated the passage of dozens of Spanish Republican exiles to Chile.