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Everyone's “Gabo”

Categories: Colombia, U.S.A., Arts & Culture, Citizen Media, Literature

Pain undoubtedly overwhelms literature. Gabriel García Márquez, affectionately known as Gabo, was a precursor to “magic realism” and although some of his works were about love, his furies and other fantastic stories about his native village, Aracataca [1], gained followers in places as remote as China and Iran. 

Fue tal la reacción de la muerte de Gabo, que incluso diarios como The New York Times dedicaron una buena parte de su espacio en su sitio electrónico. Imagen extraída de nytimes.com

The reaction to Gabo's death was so strong that even papers like The New York Times dedicated a good part of the space on their website to him. Image taken from nytimes.com

His death [2] shocked Americans that have closely follows his work. His reach was so powerful that the acclaimed Oprah Winfrey included “Love in the Time of Cholera” in her selective book club and labeled it “one of the greatest love stories I have ever read [3].” 

On the afternoon of April 17, once his death became public, the White House issued a statement on Twitter using hashtag #GraciasGabo (#ThankYouGabo): 

As seen in most tweets, people dedicated themselves to quoting celebrated phrases from his works: 

Others, like journalist Ioan Grillo, offered interesting information on the relationship that Gabo had with the United States as a result of his ideological inclinations:  

The United States denied Gabriel Garcia Marquez a visa for 30 years for having been “communist”. Bill Clinton (a fan) finally let him in. 

Other Twitter users confirmed the friction between Gabo and American diplomacy: 

#GabrielGarciaMarquez was tagged as subversive due to his points of view on American imperialism