Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza

Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza (March 24, 1931 – July 28, 2026) was a Colombian journalist, writer and diplomat. He was named in honour of the Roman authors Pliny the Younger and Apuleius.

Life and career Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, born in Tunja, department of Boyacá, on March 24, 1931, was the son of the lawyer and politician , who witnessed the 1948 assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. He studied political science at the Sorbonne in Paris.

He had a close friendship with Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez. They spent time in Europe during the early 1960s. Mendoza published a biographical novel regarding the life and anecdotes of García Márquez and their circle of friends, poets, and writers during those years in Europe. The book was entitled The Fragrance of Guava. Mendoza served as first secretary of the Colombian Embassy in France, writing newspaper articles for several international publications at the same time. After returning to Colombia in 1959, he became a full-time writer and journalist.

Mendoza died on July 28, 2026, at the age of 95.

Works

Short stories The Deserter. Short Stories. 1974 The day that we buried the weapons. 2014

Novels Vanishing years. 1979 Five days at the island. 1997 Between two waters. 2010

Non-fiction The flame and the ice. 1984 People, places: selection of articles written in Europe and America. 1986 Fire zones: the guerrilla in Colombia, reportage and analysis. Our painters in Paris. 1989 The challenges of the power: open letter to former Colombian presidents. 1991 The sun continues rising. 1994 Those times with Gabo, 2000, extension of one of the chapters of 1984 Wind time: portraits, mementos, 2002 An unknown García Márquez, 2009 Many things to tell, 2012 Gabo: letters and mementos, 2013, an extension of the 2000 book The country of my father, 2013

As co-author The Fragrance of Guava. 1982 with Gabriel García Márquez Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot. 1996. With Carlos Alberto Montaner and Álvaro Vargas Llosa Manufacturers of misery: politicians, priests, soldiers, businessmen, unions ..., 1998, with Carlos Alberto Montaner and Álvaro Vargas Llosa The Return of the Idiot, 2007, with Carlos Alberto Montaner and Álvaro Vargas Llosa Latest news of the new Spanish American Idiot, 2014, with Carlos Alberto Montaner and Álvaro Vargas Llosa