Mexico's most celebrated novelist Carlos Fuentes died on Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital at the age of 83 after experiencing heart problems.
"I am profoundly sorry for the death our loved and admired Carlos Fuentes, writer and universal Mexican. Rest in peace," Mexican President Felipe Calderon wrote in his Twitter blog.
Fuentes was born in Panama City in 1928. His father was a Mexican diplomat and he spent his childhood in various capital cities: Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Washington, Santiago, Quito, and Buenos Aires.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Fuentes became a diplomat in 1965 and served in London, Paris and other capitals.
He published his first novel, La Región Más Transparente, at the age of 30.
His most famous novels include The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962) and Gringo Viejo (1985). The latter became the first U.S. bestseller written by a Mexican author and was filmed as The Old Gringo (1989) starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda.
Fuentes regularly contributed essays on politics and culture to the Spanish newspaper El País and the Mexican Reforma.
