“My siblings Gonzalo and Morgana and I would like to express our infinite gratitude for the displays of affection that we are receiving from all over Peru, from friends, acquaintances and anonymous people who loved and admired my father,” he said.
He also expressed thanks for condolences that have been pouring in from around the world.
The family has not specified the author’s cause of death, but his health had been deteriorating in recent months.
The Peruvian flag was flown at half-staff at municipalities, military and police barracks and public institutions in compliance with a day of national mourning decreed by the government.
In Lima, bookstores displayed Vargas Llosa’s works prominently in their windows, and offered discounts.
And at the Leoncio Prado Military School, where Vargas Llosa studied and where one of his novels is set, the cadets paid tribute by forming human lines spelling out the writer’s initials.
After the private vigil at his home, Vargas Llosa’s remains were transferred to a military crematorium in Lima in a dark wooden coffin on a hearse followed by a procession of cars.
‘Master of the word’
Born into a middle-class Peruvian family, Vargas Llosa was one of the greats of the Latin American literary boom of the 1960s and 1970s, along with Colombia’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Argentina’s Julio Cortazar.
Rumors of the writer’s deteriorating health had spread in recent months, during which he had been living out of the public eye.
He celebrated his 89th birthday on March 28.
The writer’s “intellectual genius and enormous body of work will remain an enduring legacy for future generations,” Boluarte posted on X.