Mario Benedetti, left, is congratulated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez after being decorated with the order of Francisco de Miranda during a ceremony in Montevideo in December 2007. (Marcelo Hernandez/Associated Press)

Uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti, whose novels and poems are widely read throughout the Spanish-speaking world, has died at the age of 88.

Benedetti died at his home in Montevideo on Sunday morning, according to his brother.

The writer suffered from respiratory and intestinal problems, recently spending time in hospital.

"I don't think we should be talking of a loss, because he will be with us forever," Uruguayan Culture Minister Maria Simon told local media late Sunday.

Born to Italian immigrants on Sept. 14, 1920, Benedetti went on to write more than 80 novels, poems, short stories and essays. His longtime friend and collaborator, singer-songwriter Daniel Viglietti, often set the author's poems to music.

Benedetti's 1960 novel The Truce was translated into 19 languages and adapted into a film.

The writer's readings regularly meant sold-out crowds in his homeland, even into his old age.

Examined middle class and lived in exile

His popular short stories chronicled Uruguay's middle class and specifically, that of the capital.

"Montevideo is a city whose climate and lifestyle are almost provincial, where strangers feel comfortable," he noted in an interview in the late 1990s.

An ardent leftist, he lived in exile from 1973 to 1983 — taking residence in Argentina, Peru, Cuba and Spain — during his country's military rule and was an active supporter of the Cuban government.

"An intellectual's weapon is writing, but sometimes people react as if it were a firearm. A writer can do a lot to change the situation, but as far as I know, no dictatorship has fallen because of a sonnet," he once said.

The author spent much of his time ferrying between Madrid and Montevideo to avoid winter because of his asthma but had recently settled in Montevideo year-round.

Benedetti captured Spain's prestigious Reina Sofia Poetry award in 1999.