Mexican opposition politicians are appealing to Latin America's best-known writer, Gabriel García Márquez, to mediate in the diplomatic crisis that has taken their country's traditionally good relations with Cuba to the brink of collapse.

"We need the actions of a friend to both Mexico and Cuba, like García Márquez," Senator Javier Corral from the leftwing Party of the Democratic Revolution said, explaining his appeal to the Colombian author of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

García Márquez lives much of the time in Mexico but is also a personal friend of Fidel Castro and has helped smooth over disputes involving the Cuban president in the past.

Mexico recalled its ambassador from Havana and ejected his Cuban counterpart a week ago after Mr Castro accused its leaders of following US directives over its support for a UN resolution criticising human rights on the island. The crisis moved to mutual accusations over the case of a businessman who fled to Cuba

Behind it all, analysts say, is a profound realignment of a relationship that survived revolutions in both countries as well as the cold war, when Mexico was the only Latin American nation not to break off diplomatic ties with Cuba.

The war of words has been a domestic public relations disaster for the Mexican govern ment, which now seems keen to defuse the crisis, beginning with an energetic rejection of the latest US plan to hasten the demise of the Castro regime.

The foreign minister, Luis Ernesto Derbez, also said yesterday that he hoped to meet his Cuban counterpart during an forthcoming summit of Latin American and European nations. There has been no official comment on the possibility of him calling on García Márquez's help.