MEXICO CITY: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel-winning Colombian author who used magical realism to tell epic stories of love, family and dictatorship in Latin America, died Thursday at the age of 87.
Known affectionately as "Gabo," the author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera" became one of the most popular Latin American novelists in the world and the godfather of a literary movement that witnessed a continent in turmoil.
The journalist was a colorful character who befriended Cuban leader Fidel Castro, got punched by fellow Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa and joked that he wrote to make his friends love him.
Politicians and celebrities mourned his death, the cause of which was not immediately revealed.
"One thousand years of solitude and sadness for the death of the greatest Colombian of all time," Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wrote on Twitter.
The writer had made fewer public appearances in recent years and was hospitalized for pneumonia on March 31, returning to his Mexico City home a week later to recover there.
His wife Mercedes and two sons were reportedly by his side at home at the time of his death.
Born March 6, 1927, in the village of Aracataca on Colombia's Caribbean coast, Garcia Marquez was the son of a telegraph operator.
He was raised by his grandparents and aunts in a tropical culture influenced by the heritage of Spanish settlers, indigenous populations and black slaves. His grandfather was a retired colonel.
The exotic legends of his homeland inspired him to write profusely. His masterpiece, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," was translated into 35 languages and sold more than 30 million copies.
The book, published in 1967, is a historical and literary saga about a family from the imaginary Caribbean village of Macondo between the 19th and 20th century - a novel that turned the man with the mustache and thick eyebrows into an international star.
Garcia Marquez wrote the novel after moving to Mexico City in 1961, taking a long bus ride from New York with his wife, Mercedes Barcha, and son Rodrigo.
His second son, Gonzalo, was born a year later in the Mexican capital, where he lived for more than three decades.
He recalled arriving in Mexico City "without a name or a penny in my pocket."
The writer faced financial hardship, working for advertising agencies, penning screenplays and editing small magazines.
"As long as there was whisky, there was no misery," Garcia Marquez quipped.
He owed nine months of rent payments when he penned "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and could barely afford to send the manuscript to his editor in Argentina.
Garcia Marquez wore a white liqui-liqui, a traditional costume with a high collar from his region, to receive his Nobel prize in Sweden in 1982.
The Nobel committee rewarded him for books "in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts."
In his Nobel speech, he said it was the "outsized reality" of brutal dictatorships and civil wars in Latin America, "and not just its literary expression," that got the attention of the Swedish Academy of Letters.
His other famous books include "Chronicle of a Death Foretold," "The General in His Labyrinth" and his autobiography "Living to Tell the Tale."
His final novel, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores," was published in 2004.
Garcia Marquez also left his mark in journalism, which he considered "the most beautiful profession in the world."
He founded the Iberian-American New Journalism Foundation in the Colombian port city of Cartagena in 1994.
His first job was with Bogota's El Espectador newspaper, which published his first short story in 1947, paying him 800 pesos, or less than $0.50 per month.
He left for Europe after an article angered the military regime at the time, living in Geneva, Rome and Paris, where he finished the 1961 book "No One Writes to the Colonel."
An admirer of Cuba's revolution, he became a correspondent for the communist island's Prensa Latina news agency in Bogota and New York.
He forged a controversial friendship with Castro, who called him "a man with the goodness of a child and a cosmic talent."
But he also worked as an emissary between Castro and then US president Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
"I was honored to be his friend and to know his great heart and brilliant mind for more than 20 years," Clinton said Thursday.
In Mexico, his circle of friends included famous Mexican writers Octavio Paz and Carlos Fuentes.
"I write so that my friends will love me," the novelist quipped.
Garcia Marquez was once friends with Vargas Llosa, but they had a falling out that culminated with the Peruvian novelist punching him outside a Mexico City movie theater in 1976.
"We were completely stunned and astonished," Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska recalled in an interview with AFP.
Neither men ever revealed the cause of the quarrel.
Here are quotes from friends and famous admirers of Nobel-winning author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude":
US President Barack Obama:
"The world has lost one of its greatest visionary writers - and one of my favorites from the time I was young. Affectionately known as 'Gabo' to millions of his fans, he first won international recognition with his masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude. I once had the privilege to meet him in Mexico, where he presented me with an inscribed copy that I cherish to this day. ... I offer my thoughts to his family and friends, whom I hope take solace in the fact that Gabo's work will live on for generations to come."
Former US president Bill Clinton:
"I was saddened to learn of the passing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. From the time I read One Hundred Years of Solitude more than 40 years ago, I was always amazed by his unique gifts of imagination, clarity of thought, and emotional honesty. He captured the pain and joy of our common humanity in settings both real and magical. I was honored to be his friend and to know his great heart and brilliant mind for more than 20 years."
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos:
"One thousand years of solitude and sadness for the death of the greatest Colombian of all time. Solidarity and condolences to (Garcia Marquez's wife Mercedes) Gaba and the family. Giants never die."
Colombian pop star Shakira:
"Dear Gabo, you once said that life isn't what one lived, but the life one remembers and how he remembers it to retell it... your life, dear Gabo, will be remembered by all of us as a unique and singular gift, and as the most original story of all. It's difficult to say goodbye to you, with all that you've given us! You will always be in my heart and in those of all who loved and admired you. Shak."
Colombian singer Juanes:
"The greatest of all has left but his immortal legend remains."
Peru's Nobel-winning writer Mario Vargas Llosa:
"A great writer whose work gave great exposure and prestige to the literature of our (Spanish) language has died. His novels will survive him and continue gaining readers everywhere."
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto:
"In the name of Mexico, I express sorrow over the death of one of the greatest writers of our time: Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Through his work, Garcia Marquez made Latin American magical realism universal, marking the culture of our era."
Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa:
"Gabo has left us, we will have years of solitude, but his works and love for the Great Fatherland (Latin America) remains. Until victory, always, dear Gabo!"
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