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| Merces Barcha, Fidel Castro and Gabriel García Márquez |
The last days of Gabriel García Márquez
The son of the author of ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ has written an intimate portrait of his father’s struggle with memory loss, and the death of his mother Mercedes Barcha, who passed away last year
Camila Osorio
México, 28 May 2021
When Gabriel García Márquez was writing One Hundred Years of Solitude in the 1960s, he said one of the most difficult moments was when he got to the death of the memorable Colonel Aureliano Buendía. “Gabo,” as the Colombian author was popularly known, left the study of his home in Mexico City and went to find his wife, Mercedes Barcha, in the bedroom. “I killed the colonel,” he told her, heartbroken. “She knew what that meant for him and they remained silent with the sad news,” says García Márquez’s son, Rodrigo García, remembering his parents’ grief. Now it is Rodrigo who is writing about his own grief in a new book about the death of his parents, Gabo y Mercedes: una despedida (or, Gabo and Mercedes: a farewell).
