Vargas Llosa visit stirs controversy in Argentina

[Judi Lynn]

Mar 2, 7:04 PM EST
Vargas Llosa visit stirs controversy in Argentina
By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- The choice of Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa to inaugurate Argentina's annual book fair is turning into a political challenge for President Cristina Fernandez.

Key supporters of the populist president are angry that the Vargas Llosa will open the fair given his criticism of Fernandez and other populist leaders in Latin America.

The director of Argentina's National Library wrote an open letter calling on the fair to disinvite Vargas Llosa. The president then called him twice to get him to pull back the letter and spread her word that it should be clear "without the most minimal doubt" that anyone can speak freely in Argentina.

Her government was sharply criticized last year after her supporters shouted down two writers and kept them from presenting their books. Fernandez told the library director that such attacks on free speech can be unwelcome distractions.

More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_ARGENTINA_VARGAS_LLOSA?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://1.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_4PVKncZWjc4/TK2-Bh4fyMI/AAAAAAAAAx8/A8lkUuX02bY/s1600/mario_vargas_llosa_luces_e_sombras_590.jpg

Mario Vargas Llosa

http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_HyyDHyAwI6k/Sj7zyD2bTGI/AAAAAAAAFl0/38N-3fbMv0M/s400/galeano.jpg

Man of character, Latin American writer, Eduardo Galleano.

[rabs]

1. What VL has said about Cristina and her late husband

and what the AP does not tell you.

What Cristina is doing is upholding the right of freedom of speech in Argentina, despite the gross insults VL has flung her way. The expectaion is that VL will speak about literature, not his political crap, at his "unofficial" opening of the book fair, one day after the official inauguration (scheduled for April).

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Qué dijo Vargas Llosa en su confrontación con los Kirchner

What id Vargas Llosa say in his confrontation with the Kirchner.

“Cristina Fernández es un desastre total. Argentina está conociendo la peor forma del peronismo, populismo y anarquía. Temo que sea un país incurable”.

"Cristina Fernandez is a total disaster. Argentina is experiencing the worst form of peronismo, populism and anarchy. I fear it is an incurable nation."

Corriere della Sera, 20/3/09 (Italian newspaper, March 2009)

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“No es posible que Argentina, con lo que representa desde el punto de vista cultural, elija un presidente de esos niveles de incultura y de pobreza intelectual”.

"It's not possible that Argentina, with what it represents from a cultural point of view, elects a president of those levels of (lack of culture) and of intellectual poverty."

La Red, 10/10/10 (Argemtoma radio station, Oct. 2010)


“... dos capitalistas ejemplares, que no sólo sortearon la crisis (...) sino que consiguieron multiplicar siete veces su capital. ¿De quién hablo? De los Kirchner”.
El País, 9/8/09

"... two capitalistas .. who were able to multiply by seven times their capital. Of whom do I speak? Of the Kircher."

(El Pais newspaper of Madrid, Sept. 2009)

[roody]

2. Que quiere decir 'sortear'?

[rabs]

3. In the context of the remark

(Remember this is Vargas Llosa talking and he talks high-faluting Spanish)

I think he was saying the Kirchners were able to "evitar con habilidad" whatever the crisis VL was talking about (probably the global economic crisis of 2008-09), and thus multiply their capital by seven times.

It will be interesting to see what the reaction is when VL speaks at the BA Book Fair. That is a major cultural event in Argentina.

[Judi Lynn]

4. VL seems character and ethics-impaired. What an imposter he is. n/t