The White House yesterday mourned the death of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombia’s Nobel-winning writer famed for his novel ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, Xinhua news agency reported.

“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,” spokesperson Jay Carney said in a statement.

Garcia Marquez passed away yesterday at his home in Mexico City aged 87.

He was admitted to hospital on April 3 due to dehydration and bronchial and urinary tract infections.

Carney said he once met the novelist in Mexico and will cherish to this day an inscribed copy of the famed novel presented by the 1992 Nobel laureate.

“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,” he said.

‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ was published in 1967 and has been translated into 35 languages and sold more than 30 million copies.

- Bernama