MEXICO CITY: Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America’s novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died on Tuesday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83.

Mexico’s National Council for Culture for the Arts confirmed the death of Mexico’s most celebrated novelist. The cause was not immediately known, said the culture official, who was not authorised to speak to the media.

Mexican media reported Fuentes died at the Angeles del Pedregal hospital, where he was being treated for heart problems. The loss was immediately mourned worldwide via Twitter and across Mexican airwaves. The prolific Fuentes wrote his first novel, “Where the Air is Clear,” at age 29, laying the foundation for a boom in Spanish contemporary literature during the 1960s and 1970s.—AP