The legacy of Vargas Llosa and his confrontation with López Obrador
Mario Vargas Llosa, central figure of the Latin American boom and Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 2010, died in Lima at the age of 89. His children confirmed that his death occurred peacefully, surrounded by his family. In addition to his contribution to letters, the author was an open critic of populist ideologies, especially during the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico.
A political stance without concessions
Since the 90s, Vargas Llosa described the Mexican political system as “the perfect dictatorship” due to the dominance of the PRI. In recent years, he supported figures such as Keiko Fujimori, José Antonio Kast and Jair Bolsonaro, positioning himself as a reference for liberal-conservative thought in the region.
During the 2018 presidential campaign in Mexico, the writer warned about the risks of populism, comparing López Obrador with the Venezuelan model. “I hope he doesn’t win, it would be a setback for the country,” he declared. After Morena’s victory, he reiterated his criticism, ensuring that populism “could ruin Mexico.”
Public responses and tensions
López Obrador dismissed Nobel’s criticism, stating that he “did not know him” and joking about his “intellectual decline.” In 2021, the Mexican president ironically commented on a lecture by the author, calling it “commonplaces.” The tension escalated when Dina Boluarte, president of Peru, decorated Vargas Llosa in 2023, generating new criticism from Mexico.
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