Writer Plinio Mendoza, Close Ally of Colombian Nobel Winner Garcia Marquez, Dies

The Colombian literary and journalistic world lost one of its most influential figures on Monday. Writer, journalist, and diplomat Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza died at the age of 94, bringing to a close a career spanning more than seven decades devoted to literature, political analysis, and reporting. His death was confirmed by journalists and people close to him, although the cause has not yet been disclosed.

Through a body of work that blended fiction, essays, and journalism, Mendoza left a lasting mark on Colombian and Latin American culture. His name became permanently associated with that of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of his closest friends, with whom he shared much of his youth and later co-authored one of the most important books of conversations exploring the Nobel Prize winner’s life and ideas.

Writer Plinio Mendoza, Close Friend of Colombian Nobel Laureate Garcia Marquez, Dies

Born in Tunja, the capital of Colombia’s Boyaca department, in 1932, Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza grew up in an environment deeply connected to politics and journalism. He was the son of Liberal Party leader Plinio Mendoza Neira, a close associate of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan and a key figure during some of the country’s most turbulent political moments. That upbringing shaped his lifelong interest in public affairs and writing.

He studied Political Science at the Sorbonne University in Paris, where he began building relationships with Latin American intellectuals who would later become some of the world’s most celebrated literary figures.

Throughout his career, he balanced journalism, diplomacy, and literature. He served as first secretary at Colombia’s Embassy in France and contributed to numerous Colombian and international media outlets. He also directed the Prensa Latina news agency and Semana magazine, establishing himself as one of Colombia’s most influential journalists during the second half of the 20th century.

Among his best-known works are the novel Años de fuga (1979), which won the Plaza & Janes Prize, as well as El desertor, Entre dos aguas, Retazos de una vida, and Postales de una vida.

Although he built a distinguished career of his own, Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza’s name remained closely linked to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The two met as young journalists and spent formative years together in Europe, forging a friendship that endured for decades despite the political differences that emerged over time.

That friendship produced The Fragrance of Guava (El olor de la guayaba), published in 1982, a landmark collection of conversations widely regarded as essential reading for understanding the life, work, and creative process of the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

The book offered readers an intimate portrait of Garcia Marquez that went far beyond conventional interviews and remains one of the most valuable testimonies about the Colombian Nobel laureate.

Years later, Mendoza revisited that friendship in books such as Aquellos tiempos con Gabo and Gabo: cartas y recuerdos, in which he recounted shared experiences, personal anecdotes, and the intellectual atmosphere that shaped both writers during their early careers.

‘Manual of the perfect Latin American idiot’

Mendoza also gained widespread recognition in political essay writing with Manual del perfecto idiota latinoamericano (Manual of the Perfect Latin American Idiot), published in 1996 and co-authored with Cuban writer Carlos Alberto Montaner and Peruvian author Alvaro Vargas Llosa, the eldest son of Mario Vargas Llosa, himself a Nobel laureate in Literature, who wrote the foreword to the book.

Published three decades ago, the book was conceived as a direct response to the interpretation of Latin America popularized in Eduardo Galeano’s 1971 classic Open Veins of Latin America. While Galeano argued that the region’s underdevelopment stemmed from centuries of colonial and imperial exploitation, Mendoza and his co-authors contended that such an interpretation fostered a culture of victimhood that ignored Latin America’s own internal responsibilities.

Written in a satirical, provocative, and openly liberal tone, the book criticized populism, state intervention, and revolutionary rhetoric, which its authors argued had hindered the region’s development.

It sparked intense controversy upon publication and became a key reference for liberal political thought in Latin America by offering a sharply contrasting vision to one of the most influential works of the Latin American left.

“I was once a man of the left, but reality convinced me otherwise. I refuse to be labeled as right-wing. I am a liberal—not by party affiliation, but by conviction. I believe in political and economic freedom; I believe in individual liberty,” Mendoza said in an interview with Colombian newspaper El Espectador several years ago.

A legacy that transcends generations

Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza’s death prompted tributes from across Colombia’s public life. Politicians, journalists, writers, and readers praised his contributions to literature, journalism, and intellectual debate, remembering him as a public thinker who never hesitated to defend his convictions, even when they sparked controversy.

Among the first to react was former President Alvaro Uribe. “Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza has died—an exceptional human being: journalist, writer, humanist, liberal, critic, soldier of democracy, defender of our soldiers. I will always be indebted to him for his many hours of support. Patricia, sisters, and beloved family, thank you always,” Uribe wrote on his X account.

Murió Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, un ser excepcional, el periodista, el escritor, el humanista, el liberal, el crítico, el soldado de la democracia, el defensor de los soldados. Soy deudor de su apoyo de tantas horas. Patricia, hermanas, familia estimada, siempre gracias

— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) July 28, 2026

With his passing, Colombia loses one of the last surviving representatives of the generation of writers who witnessed firsthand the rise of the Latin American literary “Boom” and helped bring Colombian literature to the global stage.

His work—sharp, thoughtful, and always driven by intellectual debate—will endure as the testimony of an era marked by profound political, cultural, and social change.

Even his extraordinary friendship with the giant of Colombian literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, does not overshadow his legacy, because Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza ultimately earned his place in the history of Colombian and Latin American literature on his own merits.