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Mario, what you call "horseplay" we call blood

2022-05-18T03:58:26.123Z


The recent declarations of the Nobel Prize for Literature in favor of Bolsonaro give clues about the crisis of democracies


During a conference in Montevideo, the Nobel Prize for Literature Mario Vargas Llosa took a position on the Brazilian elections next October.

The Peruvian writer said: “Bolsonaro's antics are very difficult for a liberal to admit.

Now, between Bolsonaro and Lula, I prefer Bolsonaro."

It is not the first time that the renowned writer has made controversial political statements, to use a euphemism.

But defending Jair Bolsonaro against Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is going up several levels, even for Vargas Llosa.

It has never been so important to differentiate a liberal from a right-wing extremist, but statements like these blur the lines and contribute to the corrosion of democracy.

Let's see what the so-called liberal Mario Vargas Llosa, a character who has frequented refined intellectual circles in Europe for decades, considers to be "Bolsonaro's antics": the persistent attack on electronic ballot boxes and the electoral process to justify a coup. in case of not being re-elected;

the recurring aggression against the institutions that he has not been able to control, such as the Federal Supreme Court;

the almost 700,000 deaths from covid-19, the result of the proven execution of a plan to spread the virus and obtain “herd immunity”, systematically attacking the use of masks and vaccines;

support for illegal miners, loggers and thieves of public lands responsible for the destruction of the Amazon and the deaths of defenders of the forest;

the dismantling of environmental legislation built up over decades;

the constant attacks on women, native peoples and blacks;

the increasingly evident relations with paramilitary groups that control organized crime.

The list of "slapstick" does not fit in this column, an entire Sunday edition of EL PAÍS would be necessary, with supplements included.

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Mario Vargas Llosa: "Between Bolsonaro, with antics, and Lula, I prefer Bolsonaro"

But the alleged liberal Mario Vargas Llosa prefers Bolsonaro over Lula because the former president, a favorite in the polls, "was in prison" and the judges convicted him "as a thief."

Vargas Llosa must not know that Lula spent 580 days in prison, yes, but later the Federal Supreme Court annulled the convictions for procedural errors and determined that the trials be held again, which makes him innocent until proven otherwise.

If the convictions had been upheld, Lula would not have been able to stand for election.

What is at stake in the October elections in Brazil is democracy.

As much criticism as Lula can be leveled at —and there are many—, he is a democrat.

Bolsonaro, against whom several communications for genocide weigh in the International Criminal Court, defends the military dictatorship, considers the main torturer of the regime a hero and has turned Brazil into a country in a state of coup.

For a genuine liberal, Bolsonaro's acts should not be "hard to admit", but impossible to accept.

Admitting them as a lesser evil is not respecting the life of the most fragile and democracy itself.

That, between civilization and barbarism, a person with the public resonance of Mario Vargas Llosa openly manifests himself in favor of barbarism, reducing acts that have cost the lives of so many to "horseplay" and lead to the point of no return to the greatest tropical jungle of the world, explains very well why democracies are in crisis and gives clues about the authoritarian and racist instincts of the intellectual elites of Latin America.

We must say to Vargas Llosa: what you call "horseplay" we, who suffer daily the violence imposed by Bolsonaro, call it blood.

Translation of

Meritxell Almarza

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Source: elparis

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