3.74 AVERAGE

adventurous fast-paced

The full title is The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor: Who Drifted on a Liferaft for Ten Days Without Food or Water, Was Proclaimed a National Hero, Kissed by Beauty Queens, Made Rich Through Publicity, and Then Spurned by the Government and Forgotten for All Time, which pretty much sums up the story.

The story of Luis Alejandro Velasco is one of intense survival, as he was flung overboard from the destroyer Caldas with seven of his fellow seamen on February 28, 1955. The ship was traveling from Mobile, Alabama, in the United States, where it had docked for repairs, to the Colombian port of Cartagena, where it arrived two hours after the tragedy. After four days, the search was abandoned and the lost sailors were officially declared dead. Velasco, however, found a raft and remained on the open sea without food and without hope. After drifting with sea currents for ten days, an emaciated Velasco arrives with his raft on a coast that he later discovers to be Colombia. He is received first with affection and later with military honors and much money from publicity agencies.


The story on El Espectador



Yet, Luis Alejandro Velasco carried a secret within himself.

"...I asked Luis Alejandro Velasco to describe the storm that caused the disaster. Aware that his statement was worth its weight in gold, he answered with a smile, “There was no storm.” It was true: the weather bureau confirmed that it had been another clear and mild February in the Caribbean."

-Gabriel García Márquez in the foreword to the book.

The truth, unpublished until then, was that the destroyer was loaded with contraband. Not being able to withstand the weight of its cargo, the ship tossed in windy seas and dropped its ill-secured cargo and eight of its seamen into the sea. Knowing that it was illegal to transport cargo on a destroyer, the journalists were in a dilemma, as Colombia was under the military and social dictatorship of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla and the press was heavily censored.

The story, divided into installments, ran for fourteen days. The government denied that the destroyer was loaded with contraband. To back up the story, a special supplement was published one week after the publication of the series, containing photographic proof.

"Behind the groups of friends on the high seas one could see the boxes of contraband merchandise and even, unmistakably, the factory labels. The dictatorship countered the blow with a series of drastic reprisals that would result, months later, in the shutdown of the newspaper."

The aftermath

Luis Alejandro Velasco never recanted a word of the story, resulting in his having to leave the Navy and began to work in the private sector, starting with a job in a bus company. He eventually settled into work as a commercial agent in an insurance company in Bogotá. When Gabriel García Márquez published the story fifteen years later — in 1970 — in the book Relato de un Náufrago, he generously ceded the author's rights and royalties to Velasco. In 1983, Velasco sued for translation rights to the book and lost. In the last week of his life, he apologized to García Márquez for the lawsuit. He died in Bogotá on August 2, 2000, aged 66.
adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

Me ha gustado bastante aunque ha sido una lectura del instituto,en concreto la del segundo trimestre de 4 eso. Ahora me apetece leer libros sobre naufragios o aventuras.
adventurous reflective tense fast-paced
adventurous hopeful reflective slow-paced
adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced
adventurous hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced
reflective medium-paced

En Relatos de un náufrago, no hay un gran plow twist. Desde el título se sabe qué pasa con Antonio, que sobrevive solo en el mar y cuando llega a Tierra firme, al final es aborrecido.⠀

A mí opinión, el objetivo de esta obra va más allá: en el qué pensaba Velasco en el medio del mar, a la deriva, solo. ⠀
Hay ciertos elementos que podrían considerarse del realismo mágico (pero en mí caso lo atribuyo a la falta de ingesta alimenticia, cada uno lo percibe distinto).⠀

La idea inicial de esta historia, fue llevada a cabo mediante fascículos en el periódico donde trabajaba el autor. La recepción de aquellos fascículos, fue un completo éxito. ⠀
La gente deseaba saber qué pasó con Velasco, cómo sobrevivió, por lo que se publicaron 14 ediciones relatando los hechos y la última impresión, la 15, fue un especial donde se reunieron las fotografías del lugar, los compañeros y aquella carga de contrabando. (la "prueba del delito").⠀

En aquel momento, el país pasaba por la dictadura, por lo que el revuelo de esta noticia podía haber tenido consecuencias graves, pero al final, solo cerró el diario. Podría decirse que "corrieron con suerte".⠀

Es una buena idea para comenzar con un libro de Márquez y conocer la obra que luego causaría su exilio.
adventurous hopeful fast-paced