The Culture of Liberty

Mario Vargas Llosa, a Peruvian novelist and essayist, is the author of many renowned works of fiction, including Conversation in the Cathedral, The War of the End of the World, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, The Storyteller, and most recently, In Praise of the Stepmother. In 1990 he was a candidate for the presidency of Peru, winning a plurality in the first round but then losing in the runoff to Alberto Fujimori. His article is based on a speech that he presented in Managua, Nicaragua, in March 1991 at a Democracy Commission conference organized by the Washington-based Puebla Institute.