Colombia hopes to share Garcia Marquez remains

Associated Press
Friends surround Melquin Merchan, an 18-year-old painter from Aracataca, as he paints a portrait of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in front of the house where the Nobel laureate was born in Aracataca, Colombia, Friday, April 18, 2014. Garcia Marquez died at the age of 87 in Mexico City on Thursday. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The final resting place for the ashes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez remains unclear. It could be Mexico where he lived for decades or his native Colombia. Perhaps even both.

Colombia's ambassador to Mexico says it's completely up to the family of the Nobel laureate who died Thursday in Mexico City. And the family so far has not revealed its wishes.

Ambassador Jose Gabriel Ortiz says Colombians from President Juan Manuel Santos on down would like to see the remains divided between Mexico and Colombia. He notes that while Garcia Marquez wrote many of his novels in Mexico, "he never stopped being Colombian."

Santos sent a tweet on Saturday confirming he will attend a ceremony in Mexico City on Monday honoring the man he calls "the greatest Colombian of all."