Dionisio Gutiérrez meets with Mario Vargas Llosa in Guatemala

España - español

Latin America - español

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Jan 23, 2019, 14:30 ET

GUATEMALA CITY, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Last December, Dionisio Gutiérrez met with Literature Nobel Prize Winner, Mario Vargas Llosa, to discuss about the current state of liberalism and the renovation of politics in Latin America.

Dionisio Gutiérrez began the conversation assuring that Liberalism is a system of ideas that has promoted the development and welfare of the Western Countries: "It is a political program that blends with democracy and rule of law. It defines social order and encourages economic growth." However, he explained: "Politics are no longer a space for ideas, reflections and proposals; it became a vain activity."

Mario Vargas Llosa, stated that "in order to reach development, is important to overcome the sense of inferiority regarding liberalism. We must insist that, thanks to liberalism, democracy has become modern and has been strengthened. We must break away from the stigma that the left wing created around liberalism, as if it was part of the status quo and a stumbling block for progressive reforms."

Regarding the decrease of the political class in Latin America, Gutiérrez pointed that "the discredit of politics in our days, is a phenomenon that does not respect frontiers. Almost all over the world, the intellectual level, the professional career, and moral quality of politicians has decayed. This has provoked a generalized lack of interest and absence of new leaderships in election processes."

Additionally, Vargas Llosa indicated, that corruption is responsible for pushing youth away from politics and that "when the best people don't participate in politics, the worse are those who fill in the public roles. It is necessary to convince young people that great things can be achieved through politics." He argued that "the existence of a good moral within a society is absolutely indispensable because it is one of the great shields against corruption."

Moreover, they concluded that the massive use of Internet has brought consequences for politics due to the spreading of fake news and defamation. Gutiérrez explained that "the problem in this post-truth era, is that a 67% of internet users does not distinguish fake from true information. To be strong and effective, a democracy needs citizens with critical thinking."

Dionisio Gutiérrez made the most out of the meeting to interview Mario Vargas Llosa for his Razón de Estado TV show.

SOURCE Fundación Libertad y Desarrollo