黑料社

ARACATACA, Colombia 鈥� Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his homeland had a relationship as conflicted as any in the Nobel laureate鈥檚 twisting and impassioned novels.

Colombia inspired and dismayed Garcia Marquez in equal measure, and the feeling was often mutual.

Nowhere is that ambiguity more evident than in this sweltering hamlet that was the inspiration for the fictitious Macondo in 鈥淥ne Hundred Years of Solitude.鈥�

Since the author died聽Thursday聽at the age of 87, residents and holidaymakers have been flocking to the zinc-roofed home where he was born and raised by his maternal grandparents until the age of 8, paying their final, tear-filled respects to a man who was a symbol of pride for a country long torn by violence.

President Juan Manuel Santos declared three days of national mourning for the 鈥渕ost loved and most admired compatriot of all times.鈥�

Still some in this impoverished Caribbean town regret, with not a little bit of rancor, that he didn鈥檛 use his considerable wealth and fame to help residents overcome their perennial neglect.

An aqueduct officials have promised for decades to relieve frequent water outages has never been completed despite numerous ribbon-cutting ceremonies. And when authorities converted his childhood home into a museum in 2006, Garcia Marquez reviewed the blueprints but didn鈥檛 donate a penny to its $350,000 restoration.

鈥淗e should鈥檝e thought more about his people and not left us on our own,鈥� said Mariby Zapata, a 31-year-old dentist. 鈥淚 guess he preferred fame and abandoned us.鈥�

A few steps away, Robinson Leyva countered that putting the town of 45,000 on the map was聽generous聽enough.

鈥淥f course he helped us,鈥� said the 49-year-old teacher. 鈥淏ut officials here didn鈥檛 know how to take advantage of his influence.鈥�

Some of Garcia Marquez鈥檚 mixed feelings stemmed from the way he was treated for his leftist political views. He fled the country in 1981 after friends and government officials warned him that the army wanted to interrogate him about alleged ties to the now defunct M-19 guerrilla group.

When he was awarded the Nobel Prize a year later, conservative President Belisario Betancur attempted to quash the international backlash against the writer鈥檚 treatment by offering him ambassadorships in Europe. But it was too late. Garcia Marquez would always maintain a critical distance from his homeland, proclaiming himself a 鈥渨andering and nostalgic Colombian.鈥�

Although he evoked his homeland鈥檚 beauty in his novels and visited frequently, he never again resided there permanently, instead spending his time in Europe and Mexico City, where his cremated remains will be displayed at a memorial service聽Monday. Aracataca鈥檚 mayor, Tufith Hatum, says he hopes the author鈥檚 ashes are returned to his birthplace.

Colombia鈥檚 ambassador to Mexico, Jose Gabriel Ortiz, suggested聽on Friday聽that Garcia Marquez鈥檚 ashes could be divided between Mexico and Colombia, but there was no official confirmation that the family has agreed to that idea.

鈥淭here will be a portion (of the ashes) in Mexico, of course, and I would like to think that another portion could be taken later to Colombia,鈥� he told reporters. 鈥淲e Colombians would like to do that tribute, to have part of his ashes resting over there.鈥�

Security was one reason why Garcia Marquez stayed away. As he chronicled in his 1996 work 鈥満诹仙缏爋f a Kidnapping,鈥� an account of several high-profile abductions ordered by cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, Colombia had fallen into a seemingly bottomless pit of political and drug-fueled violence.

Known for directness, he never tired of wagging his finger at his compatriots.

鈥淲e鈥檙e scandalized by our country鈥檚 bad image abroad, but we don鈥檛 dare admit to ourselves that the reality is worse,鈥� he said in a speech at the presidential palace in 1994. 鈥淲e鈥檙e capable of the noblest acts as well as the most abject, of sublime poems and insane assassinations, of jubilant funerals and deadly revelry. Not because we鈥檙e good and others are bad but because we all partake in both extremes.鈥�

Gabo, as he鈥檚 almost universally called in Colombia, tried to mediate a solution to the country鈥檚 long-running rebel conflict but the effort didn鈥檛 go anywhere. In death, he鈥檚 had more luck, prompting expressions of praise and mourning both from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Marxist insurgents鈥� fiercest enemy, former President Alvaro Uribe.

Still his lifelong friendship with Cuban leader Fidel Castro continues to rankle many in what remains one of Latin America鈥檚 most conservative countries. Shortly after his death was announced, recently elected congresswoman Maria Fernanda Cabal, an ally of Uribe, tweeted an old photo of the two under the heading: 鈥淪oon you鈥檒l be in hell together.鈥� It was later removed.

Whatever his ideology, Garcia Marquez always sought to strengthen the country鈥檚 democracy and bring about peace, the 91-year-old Betancur said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

With less fanfare, he also taught several聽generations聽of journalists by purchasing the newsmagazine Cambio with money from his Nobel and by creating a foundation to train reporters and raise the standards of journalism across Latin America.

鈥淲hat Gabo did was describe things that nobody had seen before,鈥� said Andres Grillo, an editor at Bogota-based magazine Soho who took part in two workshops with the novelist. 鈥淚f Colombia is known for something it鈥檚 because of him.鈥�

Oscar Collazos, who wrote a biography of the novelist, said much of the criticism is a byproduct of envy.

鈥淭hey say that because he lived a half-century in Mexico, Garcia Marquez isn鈥檛 Colombian; that because he鈥檚 friends with Fidel Castro he鈥檚 a miserable communist,鈥� Collazos wrote in a column published in El Tiempo newspaper just before the author鈥檚 death. 鈥淚n Colombia, there鈥檚 less unanimous support for Garcia Marquez as a person than a writer.鈥�