Álvaro Vargas Llosa

Álvaro Vargas Llosa (born 1966 in Peru) is a writer and political commentator on international affairs with emphasis on Latin America.

Fame

In 2007, he was nominated Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum based in Davos, Switzerland. He is currently the director of the Center on Global Prosperity at the Independent Institute, and his articles are syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group in both English and Spanish throughout the U.S. Latin America, Europe, and Asia. He is a proponent of free-market economics and democracy under the rule of law, calling for more open trade between Latin America and the United States. He has been critical of the legacies of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Cuba and Bolivia, and more recently, the policies of the Hugo Chávez government in Venezuela and the Evo Morales government in Bolivia. He is a member of the International Council of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation.

Álvaro Vargas Llosa is a Senior Fellow and Director of The Center on Global Prosperity at the Independent Institute, a nationally syndicated columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group, and the author of the book Liberty for Latin America, which obtained the Sir Anthony Fisher International Memorial Award for its contribution to the cause of freedom in 2005. He was recently appointed Young Global Leader 2007 by the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Life

Vargas Llosa was born in Peru in 1966 and received his B.S.C. in international history from the London School of Economics. He has been a member of Board of the Miami Herald Publishing Company and op-ed page editor and columnist at the Miami Herald, and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the BBC World Service, Time Magazine, Granta magazine, El País, the International Herald Tribune, and other media outlets. In addition, Mr. Vargas Llosa has been a commentator at Univision TV, news director at RCN radio, London Correspondent for Spain’s ABC daily newspaper, commentator at Radio Nacional de España in Madrid, host of the weekly TV program “Planeta 3” that aired in twelve Latin American countries for five years, and columnist at La Nación (Argentina), El Nacional (Venezuela), Reforma (Mexico), El Tiempo (Colombia), El País (Uruguay), El Listín Diario (Dominican Republic).

He is the author of the books The Che Guevara Myth, Liberty for Latin America, The Madness of Things Peruvian, Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot (which he co-authored with Carlos Alberto Montaner and Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza), The Myth of Che Guevara, El Exilio Indomable, Cuando Hablaba Dormido, El Diablo en Campaña, En el Reino del Espanto, Tiempos de Resistencia, and La Contenta Barbarie, and a contributor to How I Learned English (editor Tom Miller).

Mr. Vargas Llosa was the press spokesman for the presidential campaign of the Democratic Front in 1990 in his native Peru and an Advisor on International Relations for the presidential campaign of Perú Posible in 2001.

He is the recipient of the Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award for his book Liberty for Latin America (2006), the Juan Bautista Alberdi Award (2006) for his defense of freedom across the western hemisphere, the A.I.R. Award for Best Current Affairs Radio Show in Florida (1998), the Puerto Rican Parliament’s Award for the Defense of Freedom (1997), the Peruvian Association of Fishermen’s Award for the Defense of Freedom (2000), and The Freedom of Expression Award given by the Association of Ibero-American Journalists (2003).

He has lectured widely on world economic and political issues. Among other venues, he has spoken at The World Economic Forum, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Council on Foreign Affairs (U.S.), The World Affairs Council (U.S.), The Inter-American Dialogue (U.S.), Florida International University (U.S.), University of New York (U.S.), The Cato Institute (U.S.), The Atlas Economic Research Foundation (U.S.), The Mount Pelerin Society (Chile), The Naumann Foundation (Germany), the FAES Foundation (Spain), the Brazilian Institute of Business Studies, the Fundación Libertad (Argentina), the CEDICE Foundation (Venezuela), the Ecuatorian Chamber of Commerce (Ecuador), and University of San Marcos (Peru).

Vargas Llosa is the son of writer Mario Vargas Llosa and the brother of UNHCR representative Gonzalo Vargas Llosa and photographer Morgana Vargas Llosa. He is married, has a son and a daughter, and lives in Washington, D.C. He holds Spanish and Peruvian citizenship.

Books

In English

* "The Che Guevara Myth and the Future of Liberty" (2005) ISBN 1-59813-005-6
* "Liberty for Latin America: How to undo 500 years of state oppression" (2005) ISBN 0-374-18574-3
* "Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot", with Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza and Carlos Alberto Montaner (1999) ISBN 1-56833-134-7
* "Riding the tiger: Ramiro de León Carpio's battle for human rights in Guatemala" with Santiago Aroca. (1995) ISBN 0-9648426-0-2
* "The Madness of Things Peruvian: Democracy Under Siege" (1994) ISBN 1-56000-114-3

In Spanish

* " _es. La fauna política latinoamericana : neopopulistas reyes pasmados e insoportables" (2004) ISBN 956-8207-07-4
* " _es. La Mestiza de Pizarro: una mestiza entre dos mundos" (2003) ISBN 84-03-09342-X
* " _es. En el Reino del Espanto" (2000) ISBN 970-05-1197-9
* " _es. Tiempos de Resistencia" (2000) ISBN 9972-40-147-2
* " _es. Cuando Hablaba Dormido" (1999) ISBN 970-05-1125-1
* " _es. El Exilio Indomable: historia de la disidencia cubana en el destierro" (1998) ISBN 84-239-7763-3
* " _es. La Contenta Barbarie" (1993) ISBN 84-08-01021-2
* " _es. El Diablo en Campaña" (1991) ISBN 84-03-59113-6
* " _es. El Regreso del Idiota", with Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza and Carlos Alberto Montaner (2007) ISBN 03-073-9151-5

External links

* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2793315251391637273 Liberty for Latin America (video)]
* [http://www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=494 Independent Institute biography page]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/opinion/27llosa.html No Left Turn] - An op-ed by Vargas Llosa on the December 2005 election of President Evo Morales in Bolivia.
* [http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1535 The Killing Machine: Che Guevara, from Communist Firebrand to Capitalist Brand]