Mourning Justo Vasco
I am sad to learn that my friend, the self-exiled Cuban writer, Justo Vasco died earlier this week of a stroke at his home in Gijon, Spain. He was 62.
This is a devastating loss to all of us who knew him.
I first met Justo in Havana in 1989 when he was one of the prime movers behind the International Association of Crime Writers. Justo was one of the most extraordinary and engaging individuals I have met in my adult life.
He came from extremely humble origins, raised in the Afro-Cuban subculture of the island. His father was a founder of the Cuban Communist Party but never benefitted from Castro's revolution (the last time I saw Justo's father in the early 90's, he was living in a crumbling, unventilated and small apartment on the outskirts of Havana).
Justo had an extraordinary talent for languages. I can't remember how many he spoke, but it must be at least five. As a young believer in the Cuban Revolution he mastered Russian and soon became Cuba's primary translator of Russian books on the island. He also began his own writing, penning political thrillers that celebrated Cuban Intelligence.
During the 1960's, Justo spent a few years living in Moscow where he was perfecting his Russian studies. He married a Russian and his first son, who stayed in Moscow when Juso returned to Cuba, eventually became an officer in the Soviet Red Army.
By the time I met Justo sixteen years ago, he retained his leftist principles but --precisely because of that fact-- he had grown deeply disillusioned with Fidel Castro and with Soviet-style socialism in general. He didn't hesitate to characterize Fidel as someone who consciously imitated Mussolini and who, in effect, ran the country as if it were his personal hacienda. His younger son Enrique, a budding computer whiz, was spending more and more time abroad.
I was, then, not surprised at all when in 1992 -- and with the help of our mutual friend, the Mexican writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II -- Justo moved permanently to Gijon. He became the full-time coordinator of Paco's yearly Semana Negra literary festival. Justo had also married a local writer, Cristina Macias with whom he had one child.
I kept up an email correspondence with Justo and last saw him, in Gijon, in the summer of 2002. With a new wife, a baby girl in the crib, and fully enjoying the creative oxygen afforded him by life outside of Cuba, Justo -- at nearly age 60-- seemed reborn. In his obit published in the Mexican press this week, Taibo describes Justo as passionately waddling like an oversized duck along the pedestrian paths of Gijon, lustily searching out alll of the wrinkles and contradictions that everyday life provides.
For those who can read Spanish, I leave you with these final words from Taibo. You never really completely die so long as others remember you:
La rabia sigue. Por más que me diga que nadie muere del todo si otros lo recuerdan, lo leen. Y recuerdo a un hombre bueno, muy de izquierda, que pensaba que el mundo deberÃa ser mejor, enciclopédico, ilustrado, racionalista, ateo, beligerante, que encendÃa una radio, una luz o una tele cada vez que entraba a un cuarto, como para vengarse en Gijón de las escaseces eléctricas de La Habana, bromista, generoso.
Recuerdo a mi amigo, que no era, que es.
¿Verdad, Justo Vasco?
So long, Justo.
January 26th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Sorry for the loss of your friend. It was an interesting and full life that Justo Vasco led. Age 62 is too young to leave, especially when you have more to contribute to the world. Although I used my usual awful translation site for your final words to him, I got the gist of it and know that he was special.
Justo’s disillusionment with Castro is likely shared by almost all who initially supported him, and that disillusionment by someone so close to the initial movement should sent a message to those who support similar regimes starting in South America, as they will be face the same consequences and disappointments as the Cubans. Justo surely foresaw the eventual end of rule for Castro and maybe the end of a dictatorship in Cuba, and it would have been nice to get his thoughts when that happens–but, his writings may reflect that.
It’s nice of you to put this tribute to Justo up for us who didn’t know him.
January 26th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
He became the full-time coordinator of Paco’s yearly Semana Negra literary festival.
An event I would love to attend or be the proverbial fly on the wall.
Condolences for your loss, Marc.
Que pena.
January 29th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
That’s a lovely eulogy from Taibo… I don’t know Vasco’s work, so I would have loved some links or excerpts from his works.
I do think that everyone in Cuba has benefited from the Revolution. Some more than others, of course. Healthcare and education, etc.
January 30th, 2006 at 8:02 am
Marc,
For those readers who can’t read Spanish, I’ve taken the liberty of translating Taibo’s elegy to Justo
Rafe
____________________________________
The rage goes on. For all the times you’ve told me that no one really dies completely if he’s remembered, you still read it. And I remember a good man, very leftist, who thought that the world should be better; a man who was encyclopedic, illustrious, rational, atheist, and belligerent; who turned on a radio, a light, or a television each time he entered a room, so as to revenge himself in Gijon against the electric scarcities of Havana…a humorous and generous man.
Remember my friend…not as he was, but as he is, and continues to be.
Is that not right, Justo Vasco?
January 31st, 2006 at 6:43 am
Fui la esposa de Justo por 25 años, casi toda la vida, y vivo en Cuba.
Es exacto todo eso que dicen para hacer entretenidos sus blog?
Han estado alguna vez en la piel de los acontecimientos y no en la orilla, tanto Cooper como Taibo?
Pobre Justo que murió tan triste y lejos de su Habana!
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Una vez más vemos partir a alguien admirado, el caso de Justo Enrique Vasco, querido por muchas personas aquà en Cuba como intelectual y sobretodo como ser humano, lo recuerdo lleno de vitalidad, de alegrÃa de vivir, en aquellos Talleres Literarios en su Habana que lo vio nacer. La Habana que recogió toda su obra más importante, sus novelas que lo dieron a conocer al mundo y su abundante trabajo de traducciones de obras de la literatura rusa.
Lo que lamento es que algunos artÃculos aparecidos en la prensa a raÃz de su muerte y escritos por amigos muestren tanto desconocimiento acerca de su vida, es como si quisieran eclipsar la etapa de su vida en que mas brilló, en que vivió para dar su talento a los que vinieran luego. Incluso la última novela que editó ¨ Mirando Espero ¨ nació, como su hijo Enrique en su pequeño pero acogedor apartamento del Vedado habanero, un hogar que permanecÃa con las puertas abiertas a los amigos e incluso a los solamente conocidos.
Considero que la última etapa de su vida, con perdón de otros que estuvieron mas cerca de él en esos últimos años después de 1995 en que decidió residir en otras tierras, no tuvo el vigor creador y fructÃfero que le caracterizaba.
Amor sentiremos siempre cuando desempolvemos uno de sus libros y recordemos su voz y su alegrÃa.
February 2nd, 2006 at 4:34 pm
No voy a entrar en otras cosas. Simplemente señalar para los que lo queremos que Justo no murió triste. Fue feliz hasta el último momento. Doy fe.
July 12th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
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July 17th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
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August 2nd, 2006 at 3:42 pm
I met Justo Vascó (yes, emphasis in the last syllable) in 1970, when I was studying in the Faculty of Physics in Havana University. He was one of my professors.
I immediately sensed this was an extraordinary man, with a very funny Cuban humor, and an extraordinarily wide set of interests and talents.
Years later, I recognized him as one of the best translators of Russian (Soviet) literature, who was often published in the magazine Soviet Literature (in Spanish) and through his work I learned about the once banned poets and writers, that were finally published during the Perestroika…
I also enjoyed his police and espionage stories and novels, including his collaboration with Daniel ChavarrÃa.
Cuban literature has lost another wonderful author…
I agree with Paco Ignacio: He will always be alive for me in his work and in my memories.
August 20th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
I met Justo Vasco in Havana - he was brilliant and warm and shed great insight into the Cuban world for me - There’s an error in your article though because I was there in 93-94 and I definitely met him in 1993, so he didn’t leave in 92.
July 4th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Bob…
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