Vargas Llosa, the Nobel laureate who challenged AMLO and the PRI government, has passed away.

The world of letters is in mourning. This Sunday, the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa passed away in the city of Lima at the age of 89. The news was confirmed by his family, who reported that the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literaturedied at his residence in the Barranco district, surrounded by his loved ones.

Considered one of the great figures of 20th and 21st-century Hispanic American literature, Vargas Llosa left a literary legacy of global projection. Additionally, he also left a strong voice in the political debates of the continent.

His work and his thought marked generations, both for his narrative style and for his critical stance against authoritarian regimes.

He called Mexico the "perfect dictatorship" and confronted López Obrador.

Vargas Llosa maintained an intense and, at times, controversial relationship with Mexico. In a famous intervention, he described the country as "the perfect dictatorship," referring to the prolonged dominance of the PRI, whose politicians are now in Morena. The PRI governed for more than 70 years under a system of democratic elections but with little real alternation.

"Mexico is the perfect dictatorship. The perfect dictatorship is not communism, not the USSR, not Fidel Castro. The perfect dictatorship is Mexico"

he stated during an intervention that was marked in the country's political history.

Decades later, the Nobel once again ignited controversy by becoming a harsh critic of the government of AMLO, whom he accused of authoritarianism and populism.

During his tenure as president, AMLO had several exchanges of statements with the writer, who publicly warned about the risks of democratic weakening in Mexico.

In 2019, during an event held in the Mexican capital, Vargas Llosa described the government of López Obrador as "a regression toward authoritarianism," a stance he maintained until his last years.

Farewell in Lima, surrounded by his history

Vargas Llosa celebrated his last birthday on March 28, in Lima, where he resided since his retirement from public and literary life in 2023. In his last months, he toured emblematic places in the city that inspired many of his novels.

Accompanied by his family, the author visited areas such as Barrios Altos and Quinta Heeren, central settings in his works Cinco esquinas (2016) and Le dedico mi silencio (2023).

These walks, shared by his son on social media, were interpreted as a way to pay tribute to himselfand to the city that saw him born and say goodbye.

With his passing, Latin America loses one of its most influential voices in literature and contemporary critical thought. His legacy transcends letters and remains as a testament to the power of the word against the structures of power.