Mario Vargas Llosa: “Between Bolsonaro and Lula, I prefer Bolsonaro” | A Nobel without filter

The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa he visited Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, and was consulted about the presidential elections that will take place in October in Brazil. “The case of (Jair) Bolsonaro is very difficult. Bolsonaro’s antics are very difficult for a liberal to admit. NowBetween Bolsonaro and Lula, I prefer Bolsonaro. With Bolsonaro’s antics, it’s not Lula,” said Vargas Llosa, during a talk on Latin American politics organized by the Center for Development Studies (CED), a liberal organization based in Uruguay.

In another passage of the conversation, he opined that “there is a sort of infatuation with Lula, especially in Europe”, despite the fact that the former Brazilian president “was imprisoned” and faced convictions “for thief”. He did not bother to clarify that the Brazilian justice itself considered his entire prosecution to be irregular and his conviction null and void.

Despite expressing his option for the presidential elections, he was also critical of the current president of Brazil, especially for his pandemic management. “He is nonsense, it is absurd to face each other the way he has done. It seems absolutely irresponsible to me,” said the Peruvian writer, who recently tested positive for covid-19.

As part of his visit, he also questioned the presidents peter castle from Peru and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico, and was complimentary of the political direction of Uruguay, which has “a democracy that works.” “It is a calm, calm country, where the laws work, the governments work for the majority. It is the example that must be followed, the example that we must follow in Latin America,” he assured.

“Latin America is doing much worse; the situation could not be more tragic -added the Peruvian writer-. It is very difficult to be optimistic in the face of a Latin America that is paralyzed by the new dictatorships or about to sink again into a period of violence, which It is what can happen in Central America, in Colombia or in Brazil”, he had said on his way through Buenos Aires, highlighting the cases of the two countries in which a victory for the left is predicted in the next elections.