In 1973, he joined thousands of other Uruguayans and fled the military dictatorship. He spent 12 years living in exile in Havana, Madrid, Lima, and Buenos Aires.
His readings of his works attracted sell-out crowds in Uruguay.
He was awarded Amnesty International's Golden Flame in 1986. In 1999, he won the Queen Sofia prize for Iberoamerican poetry.
He was a prolific writer of novels, poems, short stories, and plays. His works deal with middle-class life in Uruguay. Many of his poems have been turned into popular songs.