Velasco is the dockmaster in Rubacava.
When he was alive he had lost his eye and now, while he doesn't need an eyepatch, he says it reminds people of the phantom pain. He claims to have a problem with names but is good at recognizing faces. He once saw Celso Flores's wife leaving in a cabin for two with another man.
Velasco first meets Manuel Calavera after he fell off a cliff and had to save him from the Sea of Lament. He took a shine to Glottis and the Bone Wagon and offered to keep it safe in a small ware-house on the dock.
On the Day of the Dead, a year later, Velasco saved Manny from the sea again when he tried to board the SS Lambada and failed. Manny then wanted to travel on the SS Limbo, a small-cargo ship; Velasco refused but offered Glottis a job as a mechanic in the engine room of the Limbo. However Manny was able to get his own Union card from Chowchilla Charlie, and the tools and when cook Naranja was mysteriously 'sprouted' Manny was given the job on the Limbo. Two years passed before Manny returned to Rubacava; Velasco had grown tired of the way Rubacava had become a mob-town and when he met Calavera again, he told him that they had sailed back on the SS Lamancha; Velasco had once loved the ship and went off to find it again in Puerto Zapato- whether he was able to or not remains a mystery.