Mario Vargas Llosa: “I sincerely wish that Keiko Fujimori wins the elections”

The winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Mario Vargas Llosa he said that “Ardently wishes that Keiko Fujimori wins the elections” of this Sunday in Peru, to avoid the triumph of the left candidate Pedro Castillo, since he considers that a triumph of the rural professor would mean a change of system similar to that experienced in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

“If Pedro Castillo wins the elections, Marxism-Leninism-Marianism (as its hosts define it) will come to supercharged power and sacrament with the voices of Peruvians.“, Declared the writer in his Sunday column Piedra de Toque, entitled” On the tightrope “, published in The country and several newspapers from the region.

Vargas Llosa, a former staunch enemy of Fujimori, announced his support for Fuerza Popular shortly after the first round results were known in April. As explained in its text, supports Fujimori “to save the country from incompetence, censorship and poverty that the communism of his rival would bring”.

The novelist and former presidential candidate (1990) said Castillo’s appearance was “a surprise to the people of Lima, who suddenly discovered that the provinces existed, with huge demands against the capital” and “a resentment that the terrible handling of the pandemic has worsened. ”However, He considered that giving in to the urgency of change “is to rush into political suicide which would close forever – or for a very long time – the possibility for the country to regain its ancient history”.

Instead, he argued that Fujimori, whom he harshly criticized in the 2011 and 2016 elections, “publicly apologized for his past mistakes and significantly expanded his government team, including convicted anti-Fujimori. and confessed, and committing to respect freedom of expression, to the Judiciary and to hand over command after five years as provided for in the Constitution ”.

The 85-year-old author of “Conversation in the Cathedral” indicated that Peru “is an immediate privileged target for the Cuban, Venezuelan, Bolivian and Nicaraguan axis”, and he warned that if Castillo wins, Peru will no longer have clean elections. “The supposed electoral ‘consultations’ will be identical to these collective farces of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua,” he compared.

Speaking on the region, he felt that in Ecuador (where former banker Guillermo Lasso recently won the presidency) and Uruguay (where liberal Luis Lacalle Pou rules) voters were “more reasonable” and therefore these countries are “the few democratic exceptions on a subcontinent”. which seems to want to resuscitate the Marxism-Leninism that Europeans and Asians have undertaken to bury ”.

Instead, he criticized countries where leftist forces have made political progress.

“In Argentina, the duo Alberto Fernández / Cristina Kirchner is getting worse every day and the break is in the air; but the two are less stupid than you might think and will likely maintain an apparent coexistence to retain power. It is not of much use to them, judging by the catastrophic situation of the nation, ”he said.

In the case of ChileHe said “he’s not doing much better”, referring to the recent defeat of right-wing parties in the Constituent Assembly elections. “In this country which seemed to have done its homework and grown up to move away from the rest of Latin America and reach European levels, it is now absolute chaos (…) ‘avant-garde has moved to the rear of Latin America among the ravages of which a certain number is enough to measure the catastrophe, ”he analyzed.

More than 25 million Peruvians are called this Sunday to the polls and the latest polls show a technical tie, with less than a point difference between Castillo and Fujimori, in the most polarized campaign of recent decades.

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