Washington, D.C, October 7, 2010— The Independent Institute joins our Senior Fellow, Alvaro Vargas Llosa, in congratulating his father, Mario Vargas Llosa, on receiving the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.

In their official announcement from Stockholm on Thursday morning, the Swedish Academy praised Mr. Vargas Llosa “for his cartography of the structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt and defeat.”

Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Prosperity, who has authored such notable books as Liberty for Latin America, which obtained the Sir Anthony Fisher International Memorial Award for its contribution to the cause of freedom in 2006, expressed the following sentiments:

The Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to my father, Mario Vargas Llosa, is great news for those of us who value freedom. His work explores the oppressive structures of power and the plight of the individual who rebels against them, [and] their impact has given some comfort, for decades, to those who struggle against authoritarian regimes.

Among the moving messages he and the family have received since the announcement are hundreds of letters of hope from Cubans and Venezuelans who see in him a symbol of what they stand for. The cause of liberty in the Western Hemisphere has good reason to rejoice.

The Independent Institute and its staff would like to join Alvaro in his praise, and extend their sincere appreciation to Mario for his tremendous contributions to the advancement of liberty in Latin America and across the world.

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