Gabriel García Márquez ill

Famed author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, seen here in 2007, was admitted to a hospital in Mexico earlier this week.

• Gabriel García Márquez has infections that are being treated by antibiotics


• The 87-year-old author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" also dehydrated


• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982


• He was born in Colombia, has lived for many years in Mexico

(CNN) -- Gabriel García Márquez, widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary Latin American authors, was admitted to a hospital in Mexico earlier this week, according to the Ministry of Health.

The Nobel Prize recipient, known as "Gabo," had infections in his lungs and his urinary tract. He was suffering from dehydration, the ministry said.

García Márquez, 87, is responding well to antibiotics, but his release date is still to be determined.

"I wish him a speedy recovery." Mexican President Enrique Peña wrote on Twitter.

García Márquez was born in the northern Colombian town of Aracataca, the inspiration for the fictional town of Macondo, the setting of the 1967 novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982 "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts," according to the Nobel Prize website.

García Márquez has spent many years in Mexico and has a huge following there.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said his country is thinking of the author.

"All of Colombia wishes a speedy recovery to the greatest of all time: Gabriel García Márquez," he tweeted.

CNN en Español's Fidel Gutierrez contributed to this story.