The house of General Villegas in which the 28 from December to 1932 and the writer Manuel Puig lived for the first six months of life was demolished this weekend by decision of Guillermo Grosso, homeowner and undersecretary of city government.

Despite the promises of the current mayor of the town, surgeon Eduardo Campana, to negotiate with the family that owns the property, the old house was demolished without prior announcements.

The historic house was located on Arenales street at 400 between Moreno and Alberti, one block from the main square, In the heart of the city. Puig lived on the same property with his father, Baldomero and his mother María Elena “Male” Delledonne who had a degree in Chemistry and worked at the regional hospital.

The town "Coronel Vallejos" from his first two novels, "The Betrayal of Rita Hayworth" (1968) and "Painted mouths" (1969), is the fictional reflection of the writer's hometown. The demolished house might as well be the one from chapter two, titled “At Berto's House, Vallejos 1933”, although it could also be the home where the little "Toto" (Coco in fiction) moves in June 1933.

Before demolition, the façade of the house conserved the peeled semi-circular white wooden door with a grille at the top and the windows also barred. The walls in the lower part with the worn plaster leaving the bricks in sight. A typical house of the towns of the province of Buenos Aires. By the way, the local newspaper Distrito Interior reports that the bars, windows and other elements will be donated to the Municipality.

In that house, told the local media Patricia Bargero -the enthusiastic librarian and student of Puig's life- It is where María Elena had the delivery in which the novelist was born, “But the true historical value is given by the fact of its birth there (literal)”, he explained. Then, at six months, the family moved around the street San Martin, also to 400, on the same block.

In the documentary film "Regreso a Coronel Vallejos" (2016) the relationship of the townspeople with the writer is shown: the vast majority of locals were hurt by the fictionalization of the city by the author of “Tropical night falls”.

During the film -the cinema was one of Puig's weaknesses- the house that was demolished without any compassion appears, remembering the characters Zunino and Zungri from “El Aleph” by Jorge Luis Borges, that in the name of progressivism they were going to demolish the house of Carlos Argentino Daneri. The demolition of the birthplace seems like a sign, an answer. Fiction and life are too alike, that's why Puig's novels are so valid thirty years after his death.