Intellectuals reject Vargas Llosa’s admission to the French Academy

On Thursday, a group of French intellectuals showed their rejection of the admission of the Spanish-Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa to the French Academy of the language, because of his political positions close to the extreme right.

In a gallery published in the newspaper Release, the signatories express their “stupefaction“For the inclusion of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature in the select group of”The immortals”, Which must ensure the French language.

“This decision presents serious ethical problems”, Indicate the five intellectuals, who recall the recent support of Vargas Llosa for the far-right candidate for the presidency of Chile, José Antonio Kast, whom they define as “nostalgic defender of Pinochet’s military dictatorship”.

They also indicate their support for the current president of Colombia, Iván Duque, who “ended the peace accords signed in 2016″ With the FARC guerrillas and dissolving demonstrations “clean shot”.

The signatories also recall their support for the presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori last April, who does not accept the results of the elections and denies the legitimacy of the winner, Pedro Castillo.

Fujimori “campaigns for the removal of the new president. Far-right groups physically attack political figures of the center-left and center-right. Some call for a coup. Vargas Llosa has played an active role in bringing this chaos to Peru by campaigning unreservedly in favor of Keiko Fujimori, whom he presents as the last obstacle against communism.”They write.

Finally, they note that Vargas Llosa asked in 1995 “bury the past”In Argentina, in reference to the crimes committed by the dictatorship in that country.

The intellectuals point out their involvement in the so-called “Pandora papers”, Where it was revealed that he had companies in tax havens to evade taxes.

The signatories consider that to include it in the Academy “it tarnishes the image of France in Latin America, where its extremist positions are well known and arouse strong rejection ”.

His entry among the defenders of the language “threatens to legitimize positions that trample on the values ​​of democracy with which France wants to associate itself, such as freedom of expression, acceptance of voting results and the right to defend causes without risking loss of life”, They add.

The signatories are university professor César Itier, research director of the Institute for Development Research (IRD) Evelyne Mesclier, professor of the University of Paris Valérie Robin Azevedo, researcher Sylvie Taussig and anthropologist Pablo del Valle.

Varga Llosa was elected on November 25 by a majority of members of the French Academy and should take possession of his seat in a ceremony that will take place in the coming months.