Mexico bid farewell on Monday to its beloved adopted son, Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, with thousands of fans filing past his ashes in a music-filled tribute to the Nobel laureate.
A woman looks at photos of Gabriel Garcia Marquez on display in Mexico.
A couple takes a photo of a portrait of Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez in front of the Casa de la Moneda Museum in downtown Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, April 17, 2014. Garcia Marquez died in Mexico City on Thursday. The author was
Miguel Guerra, a fan of Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, stands with flowers outside the funeral home where the body of Garcia Marquez was taken in Mexico City, Thursday, April 17, 2014
A vehicle from a funeral home is surrounded by journalists as it leaves the home of the late Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Mexico City,
Veteran actress Shashikala (left) and Talluri Rameshwari ( right) at the funeral.
A girl touches the sign outside the Gabriel Garcia Marquez cultural center in downtown Bogota, Colombia, Thursday
Genovevo Quiros, center, the driver of Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, arrives to the home the Colombian author, flanked by bodyguards in Mexico City, Thursday, April 17, 2014.
Mexican President Enrique Peña wrote on Twitter "I wish him a speedy recovery". Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said his country was thinking of the author and said in a tweet "All of Colombia wishes a speedy recovery to the greatest of all
In April 2014, Márquez was hospitalized in Mexico. He had infections in his lungs and his urinary tract and was suffering from dehydration. He was responding well to antibiotics.
In this March 1, 2011 file photo, Mexican telecom tycoon and world's richest man Carlos Slim, left, and British financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, right, help Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the inauguration of the Soumaya Museum's new
In This Nov. 18, 2008, file photo, Colombian Nobel Literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Nicarguan author and former Vice President Sergio Ramirez, attend a round table discussion on Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes' work at the UNAM national
In this Nov. 18, 2008 file photo, Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, left, embraces Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez during a round table discussion on Fuentes' work at the UNAM national university in Mexico City. Marquez died Thursday April 17,
In this Dec. 16, 2005 file photo, Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, left, greets National Liberation Army (ELN) spokesperson Francisco Galan before a meeting between Colombia's government and the ELN in Havana, Cuba.
Left: In this March 26, 2007 photo, Spain's King Juan Carlos, left, embraces Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the International Congress of Spanish Language's opening ceremony in Cartagena. Right: In this March 26, 2007 photo, former U.S. President Bill
The exotic legends of his homeland inspired him to write profusely, including his masterpiece, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," which was translated into 35 languages and sold more than 30 million copies.
Critics often describe his language as visual or graphic, and Marquez himself explains each of his stories is inspired by "a visual image," so it comes as no surprise that he had a long and involved history with film. He was a film critic, founded
Later, the author realized that he had sent the final half of the book, forcing him to scramble to find more money to send the rest. In this Oct. 20,1995 photo, PLO Leader Yasser Arafat greets Colombian Nobel laureate Marquez during the closing
He owed nine months of rent payments when he penned "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and could only afford to send half of his manuscript to his editor in Argentina. In this Dec. 2, 2006 file photo, Cuba's acting President Raul Castro, brother of
His acceptance speech was entitled "The Solitude of Latin America". García Márquez was the first Colombian and fourth Latin American to win a Nobel Prize for Literature. In this Nov. 26, 2002 file photo, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro, right, and
García Márquez received the Nobel Prize in Literature on 8 December 1982 "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts".
Reality is an important theme in all of García Márquez's works. He said of his early works (with the exception of Leaf Storm), "Nobody Writes to the Colonel, In Evil Hour, and Big Mama's Funeral all reflect the reality of life in Colombia and this
García Márquez, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, wrote fiction rooted in a mythical, magical Latin American landscape of his own creation, but his appeal was universal. He was liked both by critics and the masses.
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 so that his friends would love him. In this 2003 photo released by the Fundación Nuevo
Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century.
Photographs from the scene showed bodies, some with semi-automatic rifles and others without weapons, lying in fields, near farm equipment and on a blood-stained patio strewn with clothes, mattresses and sleeping bags. (Photo: AP)
He was a leading exponent of "magical realism," a style of story-telling that blends fantasy and realistic elements. The cause of his death has not been disclosed but he died a week after a bout of pneumonia.
Earlier inside, some of the guests danced as a three-piece band played folk songs from his native Colombia with an accordion, drum and guacharaca, a percussion instrument. Garcia Marquez first moved to Mexico in 1961 and it was here that the veteran
"I want to thank him for the pleasure he gave me in reading books," said Joseline Lopez, a 21-year-old Venezuelan medical student who queued outside the palace. "'One Hundred Years of Solitude' will survive 100 more years in our hearts," she said,
Outside, thousands of yellow paper butterflies were blown into the air, a nod to the fluttering insects that follow a man in his masterpiece of magical realism, "One Hundred Years of Solitude."
Known affectionately as "Gabo," Garcia Marquez died Thursday in the Mexico City house where he lived for decades with his wife and two sons. He was 87.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto called him 'the greatest Latin American novelist of all time.' "We, Mexicans, love him and will always love him," he said.
"We join together to pay tribute to the one who, from icy Stockholm in December 1982, touched the world by speaking about solitude in Latin America," said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, referring to the day the author received his Nobel
The presidents of Mexico and Colombia delivered speeches to honor the giant of Latin American literature, who influenced generations of Spanish-language writers.
Guests applauded when his widow, Mercedes Barcha, and sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo, stood as honour guards at the ornate cultural centre, where Mexico pays tribute to its late artistic icons.
Fans streamed to pay their last respects to the author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude," taking pictures as a string quartet played classical music.
A coffee-colored urn containing his ashes was placed on a pedestal, surrounded by yellow roses -- his favorite flowers -- in Mexico City's domed Fine Arts Palace.