Tuesday, 22 April 2014
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| President Juan Manuel Santos: "The world knows about Colombia because of Garcia Marquez"
Colombia is paying tribute to its most celebrated author, Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who died on Thursday aged 87.
President Juan Manuel Santos will lead a ceremony in Bogota's cathedral which is expected to be attended by the author's sisters.
On Monday, a formal commemoration in honour of Garcia Marquez was held in Mexico City, where the author lived.
He was cremated in a private family ceremony last week.
'What Colombia is'
Family members have not yet revealed what they intend to do with his ashes.
There have been suggestions that they may be divided between his birth country and Mexico, his home for several decades.
Organisers said although the event would be held in Bogota's cathedral on Bolivar Square, it would not be of a religious nature.
The National Symphonic Orchestra will play Mozart's Requiem and there will be performances by singers from the Saint Cecilia Choral Society.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on state television and radio.
On Wednesday - to coincide with World Book Day - Colombians will further remember Garcia Marquez by organising readings of his novella No One Writes to the Colonel at more than 1,000 libraries, parks, universities and schools.
 A large photograph of the author has been placed on the facade of the National Library in Bogota
Twelve thousand copies of the novella have already been handed out for the reading.
President Juan Manuel Santos also attended the event at Mexico City's Palace of Fine Arts on Monday.
He told the BBC's Will Grant: "The world knows about Colombia through Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He represented what Colombia is in many ways. His magic realism is - and he said it - is not an invention. It's a description of what Colombia is."
 Fans of Garcia Marquez queued to pay their last respects to the author at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City
Thousands of fans filed past the urn containing his ashes. Joseline Lopez, a Venezuelan medical student, said she had come because she wanted "to thank him for the pleasure he gave me in reading books".
Referring to his best-known novel she said: "One Hundred Years of Solitude will survive 100 more years in our hearts."
Nelly Hernandez, a teacher, said that the author was "a watershed in my life". "He taught me to relish life through literature."
The cause of his death has not been disclosed, but he had been treated for pneumonia shortly before he died.
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