Famed Uruguayan writer Benedetti dies at 88

By RAUL GARCES

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Mario Benedetti, a prolific writer whose novels and poems reflected the idiosyncrasies of Uruguay's middle class and a social commitment forged by years in exile from the country's military dictatorship, died Sunday, his secretary said. He was 88.

Benedetti died at his home in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, personal secretary Ariel Silva said. He had suffered from respiratory and intestinal problems for more than a year, and was released from the hospital on May 6.

Called "Don Mario" by his friends, the author penned more than 60 novels, poems, short stories and plays, winning numerous honors including Bulgaria's Jristo Borev award for poetry and essays, and Amnesty International's Golden Flame prize.

FILE - In this May 1, 2005 file photo, Uruguayan novelist Mario Benedetti gestures during an interview in Montevideo. Benedetti died on Sunday, May 17, 2009 at age 88, according to his personal secretary Ariel Silva. (AP Photo/Marcelo Casacuberta)


Marcelo Casacuberta

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Mario Benedetti, a prolific writer whose novels and poems reflected the idiosyncrasies of Uruguay's middle class and a social commitment forged by years in exile from the country's military dictatorship, died Sunday, his secretary said. He was 88.

Benedetti died at his home in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, personal secretary Ariel Silva said. He had suffered from respiratory and intestinal problems for more than a year, and was released from the hospital on May 6.

Called "Don Mario" by his friends, the author penned more than 60 novels, poems, short stories and plays, winning numerous honors including Bulgaria's Jristo Borev award for poetry and essays, and Amnesty International's Golden Flame prize.

His novel "The Truce" (1960) was translated into 19 languages and adapted to cinema, theater and television. Along with "Thank You for the Fire" (1965), it heralded his inclusion in the Latin American literary boom in the 1960s along with Colombia's Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa and Mexico's Carlos Fuentes.

While Benedetti was renowned throughout Latin America, he never attained the other authors' popularity in the English-speaking world.

Benedetti leaned to the political left and firmly defended the Cuban revolution to the end of his life. In 2006, he joined other Latin American leftist authors in a call for Puerto Rican independence.

Benedetti was born on Sept. 14, 1920, in the city of Paso de los Toros. In 1973 he joined thousands of other Uruguayans fleeing the nation's military dictatorship, spending 12 years in exile in Havana, Madrid, Lima and Buenos Aires.

"I think the only positive thing that came from Uruguay's dictatorship was the spread of Montevideo natives around the world, and I continued writing about them from my various places of exile," he once said.

Later in life, Benedetti would eat lunch most days at a restaurant a few feet (meters) from his house along with his brother Raul and Avila, his secretary.

"Whether or not you liked his books, he was an admirable person who fought for his ideas and kept writing to the end," said his habitual waiter, Miguel Braga.

In 1959, Benedetti traveled to the United States despite concerns by authorities about his ties to a leftist newspaper. He recalled that he had to sign a pledge not to assassinate the U.S. president.

He later became a leader of the March 26 Independence Movement, which joined the leftist Broad Front coalition that took power in Uruguay in 2005.

A widower, Benedetti left behind no wife or children.