CONTRERAS: Latin America is witnessing a major backlash against neoliberal economic policies. Why do you continue to support those policies?
VARGAS LLOSA: Those policies work quite well when they are properly implemented. Chile is a typical case; it is a country that is growing and opening [new] opportunities. But that hasn’t happened in the rest of Latin America. You cannot describe as liberal the policies that [former Peruvian president Alberto] Fujimori adopted or those of [Carlos] Menem in Argentina. They privatized [state-owned] companies to hand over to their cronies and line their pockets.
But El Salvador embraced the free-trade model 15 years ago and large numbers of Salvadorans are still going to the United States in search of jobs.
Reform doesn’t always produce benefits as quickly as one would like. It isn’t a magic wand.
You endorsed Alejandro Toledo for president, but his approval ratings in Peru have plummeted since taking office two years ago. Do you still back him?
Yes, I am his friend and I support his government, even though I have criticized him for some things. We Peruvians should be grateful to Toledo because he played a decisive role in bringing down the Fujimori regime. He has been ferociously attacked from the very outset in ways that few presidents of Peru have ever been. There are Peruvians who simply don’t accept the notion of having an indigenous person as their president, and that strikes me as a great injustice.
Your highly acclaimed novel “The Feast of the Goat” is set in the dictatorship of the Dominican Republic’s Rafael Trujillo. Ever think about writing a novel about the Fujimori era in Peru?
Not really. I have written so much about dictatorships, it’s the same old cesspool, with different names and places.
You were roundly criticized in some circles for publicly breaking with Fidel Castro many years ago, but in recent months a slew of Latin American writers and artists have condemned the regime’s ongoing crackdown on Cuban dissidents. Do you feel vindicated?
It’s encouraging to see that people who stood by the Castro regime come hell or high water are now finally starting to criticize it. It’s very difficult to continue defending a regime that executes people and commits these terrible abuses unless you’re a blind, dogmatic sectarian.
You have also expressed concern about civil liberties and the political climate in the United States after the September 11 attacks.
There have been some restrictions placed on civil liberties in order to combat terrorism. But the United States must not swallow the fallacy that restricting freedom gives you more security. To the contrary, that is a very serious mistake for which we in Latin America have paid dearly through countless dictatorships. Nothing defends liberty better than the exercise of liberty.
Whom do you hold most responsible within the Bush administration for these measures?
I’m talking above all about the attorney general, [John] Ashcroft, who resembles more a religious leader than someone who has the responsibility of enforcing the law of the land. There’s a religious element in him, and when I hear Ashcroft speak I have the impression I’m listening to an imam from Baghdad.
You vowed never again to run for office after you were defeated by Fujimori in the 1990 Peruvian presidential election. Are you ever tempted to get back into politics?
No way. I’m involved in politics as a writer; I write about current affairs and I take part in the broader political debate. But as a professional politician? No, sir.
You say that despite such a bleak political landscape in Peru and the region overall?
But it’s not all that bleak. We have a democracy, we have emerged from one of the most corrupt dictatorships in our history. The economic situation is bad because of unfavorable international conditions and terrible corruption. But in spite of everything democracy has been preserved, and never before have we had so few dictatorships. One needn’t be so pessimistic about Latin America.
