Ángel José Arango Rodríguez

One of the pioneers of Cuban science fiction. He died in Miami at the age of 86.

Arango, born in La Habana on March 25, 1926, earned his doctorate in Civil Law from the Universidad de La Habana and specialized in Aeronautical Law.

He was part of the team of arbiters and expert consultants for the Organización de Aviación Civil Internacional, was a member of the Instituto Iberoamericano de Derecho Aeronáutico, del Espacio y de la Aviación Comercial, based in Madrid, and worked at the Instituto de Aeronáutica Civil de Cuba.

In 1964 he published the science fiction short story collection ¿A dónde van los cefalomos?, a work that, together with Oscar Hurtado's poetry collection La ciudad muerta de Korad, marked the birth of science fiction in Cuba.

In 1966, Arango published El planeta negro, in which the story Un inesperado visitante appears, which would later be included in numerous anthologies abroad.

"I knew him more than thirty years ago. I was a student who had just won my first literary prize and I still couldn't believe it. When they introduced me to him, I could barely hide my emotion. That man with large and intimidating eyeglasses was the author of Un inesperado visitante, a story that had marked me," said Daína Chaviano on her blog.

"It told the story of an extraterrestrial Christ who, using inexplicable powers, was capable of altering matter and transforming water into wine or walking on water. That story remains one of those narrative gems that, once you read it, is impossible to forget," she added.

Chaviano highlighted that Arango "remained faithful" to the science fiction genre "even during the infamous Quinquenio Gris, when everything on the Island was banned, among other things, any work of art or literature related to fantasy."

In 1982, he published the novel Transparencia, in which he develops the idea and setting of the story ¿A dónde van los cefalomos?. With that novel he began a series that includes Coyuntura (1984) and Sider (1994).

Arango published in Spain, in several countries of the former socialist bloc, Mexico, France and Argentina. He was included in the anthology Lo mejor de la ciencia-ficción latinoamericana, by Bernard Goorden and Van Vogt.

In 2009 he settled in Miami with his family. His last novel, La columna bífida, remains unpublished.

"He was always making plans and willing to advise every writer who ventured into his field. It was pleasant and comforting to find him in the halls of the Unión de Escritores (y Artistas de Cuba), and to sit down and listen to him talk about other authors who had in turn inspired him," Chaviano affirmed.

He was "the last representative of that first generation of writers of the genre on the Island, who paved the way for those of us who came after," she emphasized.