Politicians, writers around the world react to death of Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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Reaction to death of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez:

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“A thousand years of loneliness and sadness for the death of the greatest Colombian of all time!” – Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos.

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“With the passing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the world has lost one of its greatest visionary writers – and one of my favourites from the time I was young … 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.” – U.S. President Barack Obama.

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“A great man has died, one whose works gave the literature of our language great reach and prestige,” Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, who had once famously feuded with Garcia Marquez.

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“I owe him the impulse and the freedom to plunge into literature. In his books I found my own family, my country, the people I have known all my life, the colour, the rhythm, and the abundance of my continent.” – Chilean writer Isabel Allende

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“A great artist is gone, but his grand art remains with us. Most authors are only shadows, but Gabriel Garcia Marquez belonged to those who cast a shadow, and he will continue to do so long after his death.” Peter Englund, permanent secretary of the Nobel Prize-awarding Swedish Academy.

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“One would really have to go back to Dickens to find a writer of the highest literary quality who commanded such extraordinary power over whole populations.” – British novelist Ian McEwan, to the BBC.

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“On behalf of Mexico, I express my sadness for the death of one the greatest writers of our time: Gabriel Garcia Marquez.” – Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

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“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 … I was honoured to be his friend and to know his great heart and brilliant mind for more than 20 years.” – former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

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“With Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a writing giant who gave worldwide reach to the imagination of an entire continent has passed. … His committed articles as a journalist and his tireless struggle against imperialism made him one of the most influential South American intellectuals of our time.” – French President Francois Hollande.

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“His unique characters and exuberant Latin America will remain marked in the hearts and memories of his millions of readers.” – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff

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“He is like the Mandela of literature because of the impact that he has had on readers all over the world. His influence is universal, and that is a very rare thing.” – Cristobal Pera, editorial director of Penguin Random House in Mexico.

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“Gabo’s death is a loss for Colombia and for the entire world. His work will safeguard his memory.” – Colombia’s largest rebel group, The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, said in a tweet.

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“He had the capacity to see stories that many of us have in front of us and don’t even notice. He was unique in that.” – Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramirez Mercado.

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“In recent times it wasn’t easy to communicate with him, although he understood and continued the conversation. He was always loving and generous and extraordinarily clever.” – Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, director of Mexico’s National Council for Culture and the Arts.

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“Gabo has left us and we will have years of solitude. But his works and his love for the motherland remain. Farewell until the victory, dear Gabo.” – Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.

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“If you’ve read him, you know that he’s not really gone. He is in an afterlife of his own creation, his own Macondo.” – Edwidge Danticat, a Haitian-American author.

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“Cuba suffers from this death, as do all readers of a writer who is an icon.” – Miguel Barnet, Cuban author and essayist.