His fame is considerably more quaint outside his home country, where it derives primarily from his standing as having been part of the influential artistic and intellectual circle in Colombia in which fellow writer and journalist Gabriel García Márquez—with whom he was also a member of the more particularized Barranquilla Group—and painter Alejandro Obregón also played prominent roles.
His reputation is more limited outside his native country, deriving primarily from his association with a specific group of artists and intellectuals in Colombia, including Gabriel García Márquez and Alejandro Obregón.