Mario Vargas Llosa on Brazilian elections: “Between Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva, I prefer Bolsonaro”
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature, commented on the elections to be held in Brazil in October, saying that despite the “antics” of the current conservative president, Jair Bolsonaro, he prefers his victory over challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The author gave a lecture in Montevideo on the current situation in Latin American countries, including Brazil, at the invitation of the think tank Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo (CED, liberal).
“Bolsonaro’s case is very difficult. Bolsonaro’s escapades are very difficult for a liberal to admit. Now, between Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva, I prefer Bolsonaro.
“With his antics, he’s not Lula da Silva,” commented Mario Vargas Llosa on the leftist former Brazilian president from 2003 to 2010, who will run against the current president in the next elections in October.
The author of “The Feast of the Goat” pointed out that “there is a kind of infatuation with Lula da Silva, especially in Europe,” but recalled that the former Brazilian president “was in prison” and sentenced by judges “because he was a thief.”
Vargas Llosa insisted that Bolsonaro “is not a candidate who arouses our enthusiasm,” and criticized him when he spoke about his refusal to administer vaccines against COVID-19, a disease that the 1994 Cervantes Prize winner has just contracted.
According to the latest poll in Brazil, Lula da Silva’s lead in the polls on electoral intentions for October has dropped six percentage points in three months.
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