Mario Vargas Llosa He affirmed that "there is only one freedom and must operate simultaneously in all fields." The 72-year-old Peruvian writer, who was a candidate for the presidency of his country in 1990, has aroused many controversies in Latin America throughout his life (career) due to his political positions.
Through the years, Vargas Llosa It has been very close to the thoughts of the right and for this reason it has been criticized many times by the intellectuals of the left. However, the writer has maintained his position over time.
When interviewed by the newspaper Peru.21, the author of The party of the goat (and so many other novels) he noted that "freedom means that a society must progressively promote individual freedom, the autonomy of the individual, so that he can realize his wishes and ideals in all fields."
Vargas Llosa, has been included by the magazine Foreign Policy among the 100 most prominent intellectuals in the world, and the truth is that the writer has long crossed the borders of literature to become a point of reference for thought in Latin America.
In recent interviews, the writer defended freedom as one of his ideals and said that “All totalitarian movements mean that: the abdication of the individual before a boss or an intelligence. That fear of freedom, in countries like ours (Peru), is deeply rooted ». And he continued his defense of freedom and his criticism of totalitarianism calling "semi-literate military dictators" those who have ruled Latin America for so many years.
At the same time, Vargas Llosa, showed his sympathy towards the president Álvaro Uribe and the recent rescue operation of 15 hostages, among which was the former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. And he added that “It is not surprising that Uribe, whose discretion and almost muteness, after the rescue, have been almost total (…) now enjoys a 90 percent popularity, surely the highest percentage of support for a democratic leader in the world. whole world". And he stressed that the operation obtained a successful result thanks to "lucidity of vision and courage" of Uribe.
With these statements Vargas Llosa mark once more distance with Chávez and much of the Latin American left.