MEXICO CITY: Award-winning Mexican poet Jose Emilio Pacheco died Sunday, officials said.

He was 74."We regret the passing of Jose Emilio Pacheco. Our sympathies to his family and friends," Mexico´s National Culture and Arts Council said on Twitter.

President Enrique Pena Nieto also paid tribute."A great representative of our (Spanish-language) literature has passed away.

Mexico will miss the great writer Jose Emilio Pacheco. May he rest in peace," the president tweeted.

Well known as an essayist, translator and poet, Mexico City-born Pacheco won international honors such as Spain´s Queen Sofia Iberoamerican Poetry Prize (2009) and the Cervantes Prize (2009), the top award in the Spanish language.

In Latin America, he was honored with the Octavio Paz prize (2003) and Pablo Neruda Iberoamerican Poetry Prize (2004).

Among Pacheco´s better known works were "Los trabajos del mar" (1984), "Iras y no volveras" (1973) and his poetry collection "Tarde o temprano" (2009).

SOURCE: AFP