Mercedes Barcha, widow of the Colombian Nobel Prize in Literature Gabriel García Márquez, died this Saturday at the age of 87 in Mexico City, his family sources confirmed.
The death of Barcha, affectionately called “La Gaba”, was confirmed to Efe by Gabriel Torres García, the nobel’s nephew, died on April 17, 2014 also in Mexico City.
“We don’t know much but we can confirm the veracity of the news. One of the sons told a sister who lives in Cartagena and the relatives found out right away, “said Torres García.
For its part, the Gabo Foundation, created by the Colombian Nobel laureate, stated: “Mercedes Barcha passed away on the morning of this Saturday, August 15, at her residence in Mexico City, where he settled with Gabo in 1981. He was 87 years old. “
The Foundation recalled that Gabo and Mercedes were married in 1958 in Barranquilla and “the result of their marriage were Rodrigo García Barcha, a prominent film and television director (…) and Gonzalo García Barcha, designer, painter, illustrator typographer and book editor , Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design in New York “.
“The Gabo Foundation, its general director, Jaime Abello Banfi, and its Governing Council they deeply regret the passing and at this moment of great sadness they accompany the family and relatives of Mercedes Raquel Barcha Pardo, widow of its founder, the Colombian Nobel Prize for Literature Gabriel García Márquez, and mother of Rodrigo and Gonzalo García Barcha, members of its Board of Directors, “he added the institution.
Gabo’s eternal love
Mercedes Barcha Pardo was born on November 6, 1932 in Magangué, in the Caribbean department of Bolívar, and had Egyptian ancestry through her paternal line. Barcha was the perfect complement to her husband’s dedication to letters, Well, as Jaime García Márquez, the Nobel laureate’s brother, once related, it was his “right arm” not only for stimulating him “but for really managing the economy.”
And he cited as an example one of the most endearing anecdotes in the history of the couple: the commitment of Mercedes’ family jewels to allow García Márquez could shut himself up to write “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
“This novel is the work of Gabito, but with the help of Mercedes for so many things”, Jaime García Márquez pointed out. Gabriel García Márquez himself recalled in an interview that when he finished the book he and his wife took it to the post office with the intention of sending it to the publishing house in Buenos Aires.
“It was 700 pages, so they weighed it and said it cost 83 pesos from Mexico to Argentina. And Mercedes told me, we only have 45. Look, it’s very easy: I split the book in half and said: ” weigh this book on me up to 45 pesos. ” They weighed up to 45 pesos and had leaves like someone who cuts meat. When it reached 45 pesos I grabbed those sheets, wrapped them up and sent them and we got the rest “, He said.
He added: “Then we went home and Mercedes took out the last thing that was left to pawn, which was the heater that I used to write – because I can write in any circumstance except cold -, the hair dryer that I used for my head and neck. mixer, he went with that to the Monte de Piedad and They gave him about 50 pesos. “
He said that they returned “with the rest of the novel to the post office, weighed it and said:” It costs 48 pesos “
“Mercedes paid her 50 pesos, they gave it two turns and I realized that when we left the post office she was green with pissed off and she told me: ” Now the only thing missing is that this novel is bad ” Gabo once told about the vicissitudes of his masterpiece before achieving success
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