Latin American countries expressed on Wednesday their mourning for the death of former Argentine president Raul Alfonsin, who died of lung cancer on Tuesday night, Xinhua reported.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a message sent on Wednesday to his Argentine counterpart Cristina Fernandez that with the death of Alfonsin "South America has lost a great builder of democracy."
Alfonsin "was the maker of the alliance between Brazil and Argentina and he leaves memories of a man of dialogue, with deep democratic conceptions," Lula said.
Former Brazilian president Jose Sarney said in a statement on Wednesday that Alfonsin was an example of ethic in politics and his great heritage was laying the foundation for Latin America's integration.
Peru's Council of Ministers issued a decree of national mourning for Thursday due to the death of Alfonsin.
Alfonsin "was a great friend of our country, fighting to strengthen the ties between Argentina and Peru and for the Latin American integration," the Council of Ministers said in a communique.
Chilean government spokeswoman Carolina Toha said Wednesday that Chile will be represented on Thursday on Alfonsin's funerals by a delegation.
"He was a great defense for Chile to recover its democracy and that is why we are strongly sorry for his lost," Toha told the press.
Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez also lamented over the death of Alfonsin and said he was a man of "peace and dialogue."
Colombian government regretted on Wednesday the death of Alfonsin and expressed to Argentine people its sympathy.
While expressing its "most sincere condolence" to the Argentine government and people in a communique, the Mexican government said that Alfonsin was "one of the most representative political leader in the modern history of Argentina, whose work was essential to consolidate democracy and institutionalization in that nation."
Born in 1927 in Argentina, Alfonsin won the presidential election in 1983 after the military dictatorship collapsed, and served as president from 1983 to 1989.
Shortly after being elected, he ordered the trial of leaders of the former ruling military junta, which was considered as a daring decision in Argentina where the military had dominated for decades.