Thursday, November 24, 2011

"The beast in the cave and the soap opera actor" - thoughts of November 24, 2011

Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature and a frequent commentator on Mexican affairs, speaking today in Mexico City on the drug war:

México ha tenido el gran coraje de enfrentar un problema que no es mexicano, sino latinoamericano y en buena parte mundial, que es el problema de narcotráfico, una de las fuentes más peligrosas de la corrupción que está socavando las instituciones democráticas en muchos países, y se ha enfrentado de manera resuelta, valiente y ha sacado a la bestia de la cueva donde se ocultaba, ahora sabemos hasta qué punto el narcotráfico es una bestia monstruosamente poderosa, enormemente rica y sin ninguna clase de escrúpulos.

"Mexico has had the great courage to confront a problem which is not just Mexican, but Latin American - really, a problem which is facing the entire world. It's the problem of drug trafficking, one of the most dangerous, corrupting forces which undermines democratic institutions in many countries. Mexico has confronted the problem with resolve, with valor, and has dragged the beast out of the cave where it's been hiding. Now we know that the beast is a monstrosity, powerful, enormously rich and without the slightest scruples."

And leftist PRD presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on his PRI rival Enrique Peña Nieto: "He's a soap opera actor, more of that same group that's hoarded privileges and corrupted the country." [Note: Peña Nieto married Angélica Rivera Hurtado, a well-known "telenovela" star, in November 2010].

Added López Obrador, "Peña Nieto and PRI represent those who don't want any change in Mexico, those who want more of the same, more corruption, more injustice, and more privileges (for the few)."

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