Colombian poet and novelist Alvaro Mutis has died in Mexico on Sunday, official sources announced Sunday. The award-winning author was 90 years old.
“We regret the death of the writer Alvaro Mutis. We send our condolences to family and friends,” the Culture and Arts Conncil of Mexico, where the writer had lived since the 1950s, said on its Twitter account.
Lamentamos el fallecimiento del escritor Álvaro Mutis. Enviamos nuestro pésame a familiares y amigos.
— Conaculta (@Conaculta) September 23, 2013
Mexican newspaper La Jornada quoted Mutis’ wife as saying that her husband’s death “occurred after a long illness that had kept him hospitalized since Sunday last week.”
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos also mourned the death of the poet and close friend of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
“The millions of friends and admirers of Alvaro Mutis profoundly mourn his death. Colombia as a whole honors him,” Santos said on Twitter.
Los millones de amigos y admiradores de Álvaro Mutis lamentamos profundamente su muerte. Colombia entera le rinde honores.
— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) September 23, 2013
The son of a Colombian diplomat, Mutis spent most of his life abroad. The artist took up poetry in the 1940s while in the Colombian capital Bogota and moved to Mexico permanently in 1956.
Since then, the poet released several books and won several awards. In spite of his recognition in Latin America and Europe, Mutis never became a well-known poet in the United States.
The Colombian will be buried in Mexico City.