In the same way that the drug trade has infiltrated various social and power levels, it does so in literature. Of course, in a way that is not fake. Colombia and Mexico have such an extensive literature connected with the subject, that there is even a risk of believing, in the great mistake usually made with the novel and its countries, that the part represents the whole. It is only a segment and type of novel that deals with immediate reality. Juan Carlos Calderón’s titled has just been launched in Ecuador News of the new kingdom, published by Dinediciones, which goes fully into this problem with the help of one of the most reliable investigative journalists in Ecuadorian journalism. Together with Christian Zurit, he co-authored the controversial book, Big Brother, about the network of power and corruption of the brother of former president Rafael Correa, who launched a campaign against two journalists, with a trial led by the former president himself seeking millions in damages, which became ridiculous when writers from around the world reacted to this exaggerated persecution of the press. That is, Calderón has extensive experience in live journalism on current social issues. Why a novel now?

That’s a question everyone reading should ask themselves. News of the new kingdom, to define what the novel offers compared to the great chronicle. This is a question that Calderón himself certainly asked himself for a long time after several books he wrote, and it would be interesting to know his thoughts on the transition from one genre to another. A step that is not perceived as a radical change: Calderón’s novel is deeply documented and the reader will probably consider it a document of reality. But it’s a novel. Which does not surprise me, because among the journalists I met, if there is anyone who loves novels, of all kinds, even the most risky and extensive ones, it is Calderón. He enthusiastically told me about the latest work of Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk, Books of Jacoba volume with more than a thousand pages.

Other Ecuadorian novels also dealt with the topic of drug trafficking, such as A girlMariasol Pons, from 2013, recently republished by Planeta, which explores the links between the Colombian and Ecuadorian drug trade, and in particular Esteban Michelena’s trilogy, which began Atacames Tonicfrom 2002, continued with No more tearsfrom 2018, and closes with The past does not forgive, 2022. This trilogy provides a comprehensive overview of the drug trade in one of the conflict regions: Esmeraldas. There are probably more novels that dealt with or touched on that topic. Among those I remember, although I am not a specialist, is the Colombian Daría Jaramillo Agudela, crossed cards. Perhaps I remember that because the approach to the problem of drug trafficking is very gradual and is treated around the edges, the most problematic of the invisible edges, the smaller trade. The novel is completely unprecedented, to begin with because it deals with the epistolary genre. It develops between two friends from Medellín, Luis and Esteban, in which Raquel and the relationship she has with Luis play an important role. While Esteban has a comfortable lifestyle, the same does not happen with Luis, who ends up involved with drugs to get money. Interestingly, what begins as a brilliant correspondence between two lucid individuals ends up revealing how the vision of the world degrades. Originally published in 1995. crossed cards It is a comprehensive novel, written in a fresh and colloquial register, which places it alongside other great novels of Latin American narrative from the 1990s. By era, I associate him with the Argentinian Mempo GiardinelliHoly Office of Remembrance, 1991; that of the Mexican Héctor Aguilar Camín, Gallic War, from 1990, is a vivid portrait of the corrupt world of politics and the press in Mexico. He will add these three novels, years later, in 1998. Wild detectives, Robert Bolaña, whose twenty-five years of publication are being celebrated these months, and which perfectly complete the circle of the nineties in Latin America. Each of the axes that communicate with each other. Protagonist of Holy Office of Remembrance lived in Mexico as the protagonist Wild detectivesand everyone migrates, everyone moves between different social and geographical areas of a Latin America that is certainly problematic, restless and revolted, between misery and splendor.

Of course, it is disturbing to see that the subject of drug trafficking has entered Ecuadorian novels. The talent of his novelists will be to provide perspective and respite from the daily bombardment of news. And even for those who refuse to follow the news because the burden of terror drains the vital energy from everyday life, the patience of the novel will come later, to settle accounts, to discover what the rush and speed of events do not allow us to see, but above all to decide how they unfold in society different aspects that go beyond the main actors of corruption, violence and consumption. What cannot be said, what has no obvious evidence, what cannot be verified, is the field in which the novel takes risks, which always bets on this perception of an individual subjected to and confronted by forces he does not understand. which can glimpse the light of the way out, hope or at least a secret confirmation that despite adversity one should remain unscathed before the wave that carries all human depravities. (OR)