Statement on the Death of Gabriel García Márquez

With the passing of Gabriel García Márquez, 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. As a proud Colombian, a representative and voice for the people of the Americas, and as a master of the magic realism genre, he has inspired so many others, sometimes even to pick up the pen themselves. 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.