World, hometown hail 'literary giant' Garcia Marquez

Garcia Marquez, who died Thursday at age 87, was mourned in the European cities where he once lived, the United States and his native Colombia, which inspired his surreal stories of family, love and dictatorship.

Colombia declared three days of mourning for the author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude," with flags flying at half-mast, newspapers publishing special editions and folk bands singing in his honor in his native Caribbean coast town of Aracataca.

Aracataca inspired him to create the imaginary Caribbean village of Macondo in his masterpiece, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," a family and historical saga set over two centuries.

Visitors flocked to his childhood home, now a museum, to place candles, pictures of the author and his favorite flowers, yellow roses.

"We had to come," said Aida Maestre, 60, who was on vacation 70 kilometers (45 miles) away in Rodadero when she decided to come to Aracataca.

In Bogota, the headline in the newspaper El Espectador, where Garcia Marquez worked as a journalist for many years, called him "Immortal." Catholics marking Good Friday said they would pray for him atop a hill shrine.

In Mexico City, where he lived for decades until his death, officials said a public tribute would be held at the Bellas Artes cultural palace on Monday.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will attend the event.

The author's ashes will be taken to the palace and Santos will stand in an honor guard alongside Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

"It will be very simple, very beautiful and well-deserved for Gabo," said Colombian Ambassador Jose Gabriel Ortiz.

Admirers left flowers in front of Garcia Marquez's house, including white roses sent by Colombian pop star Shakira. Friends continued to flow into the house.

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook the city but the family stayed inside.

The author's wife, Mercedes Barcha, and two sons Rodrigo and Gonzalo said his remains would be cremated but his final resting place has yet to be disclosed.

The cause of death was not revealed, but Garcia Marquez died one week after being hospitalized with pneumonia.

Garcia Marquez last appeared in public on his birthday, March 6, but he only waved and said nothing to reporters outside his Mexico City house.

"All of Colombia is in mourning because the most admired and cherished compatriot of all time is gone," Santos said in a televised address late Thursday.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a Marxist rebel group negotiating peace with the government, said it would seek inspiration from Colonel Aureliano Buendia, a character in "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

"With the departure of this magnificent man, we reiterate today that, like Aureliano Buendia, we dream of, and we will make, peace," the FARC guerrillas said in a statement to AFP.

Garcia Marquez's other celebrated books include "Love in the Time of Cholera," his autobiography "Living to Tell the Tale" and his final novel, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores," published in 2004.

"My maestro has died. I will not mourn him because I have not lost him: I will continue to read his words over and over," said Chilean novelist Isabel Allende.

British novelist and screenwriter Ian McEwan told the BBC that Garcia Marquez was comparable to Charles Dickens, with "extraordinary persuasive powers over whole populations."

A champion of left-wing causes, the longtime journalist forged a controversial friendship with Fidel Castro, but he also counted foes of communism like former US president Bill Clinton among his friends.

Cuban President Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel in 2006, said "the world and particularly the people of Latin America have physically lost an emblematic writer and intellectual."