Vargas Llosa: More freedom now for Latin America press

Vargas Llosa: More freedom now for Latin America press
By BRUCE SMITH

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — While there's more freedom of the press for
Latin American media under democracies than the dictatorships once
common in the region, drug cartels pose a threat to such freedoms, Nobel
laureate Mario Vargas Llosa said Saturday.

The Peruvian journalist, author and scholar who won the Nobel Prize for
literature in 2010, spoke on a variety of issues during an appearance at
the Inter American Press Association which is meeting here through Monday.

Vargas Llosa comments in Spanish, interpreted by a translator, on some
of those issues:

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

"Freedom of the press today has enemies that are not only governments,"
he said. "There are, for example, drug trafficking organizations that
really fear a free press that investigates. It's a new threat to our
freedom of the press that did not exist before and now it's become a
very, very serious threat."

DONALD TRUMP AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS

"I don't think there's the slightest possibility that Trump is going to
be the Republican candidate," Vargas Llosa said. "I believe the United
States is a country that is deeply democratic. I cannot imagine him ever
becoming president. But it is sad that an individual who is engaging in
demagoguery that is racist in its essence has been able to rouse the
enthusiasm of a sector of the population."

THE POPE MEETING WITH FIDEL CASTRO BUT NOT DISSIDENTS DURING HIS RECENT
CUBA TRIP

"I do rue the fact that he did not invite any dissidents bit I believe
he was working on a political operation that has a long range vision
that goes beyond Cuba and the U.S.," Vargas Llosa said. "He actually
committed himself not to speak to the opposition and he made that
concession thinking that perhaps somewhere along the way he's going to
be rewarded."

He said the goal might be "something that will have to do with the
functioning of the Catholic Church in Havana or Cuba. I think that was a
political operation that has a long range goal and he was running the
risk of being criticized as he has been."

THE INTERNET

"There is a great audiovisual revolution in our time and there are
channels of expression that are much harder to control. I think that has
been tremendous progress for freedom of expression," he said.

"But there are problems that come up with the technological revolution
and that is the abundance tends to generate confusion. We were talking a
while ago about how today social media can deprive a person of their
identity," he added, noting that there is a Twitter account with his
name but it has nothing to do with him. "I will never have one. I'm not
interested."

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