Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian Nobel giant and critic of Israeli occupation, dies at 89

Peruvian writer and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, one of Latin America's most influential literary and political figures, died on Sunday in Lima at the age of 89.

His death was confirmed in a statement by his children and marks the end of a career spanning over half a century. Vargas Llosa authored more than 50 novels, plays, and essays, earning global acclaim and the Nobel Prize in Literature ​​​​​​in 2010.

Born in 1936 in Arequipa, Peru, he rose to prominence with The Time of the Hero, a novel drawn from his harsh experiences at a military academy. Vargas Llosa was a central figure in the Latin American literary "Boom," alongside Gabriel García Márquez.

While his early politics leaned to the left, he became disillusioned with the Cuban Revolution and later embraced free-market liberalism. In 1990, he ran for the presidency of Peru but lost to Alberto Fujimori. He later acquired Spanish citizenship and wrote prolifically for El País, frequently addressing Middle East issues.

Outspoken on Israeli Occupation

Vargas Llosa was known for his outspoken criticism of authoritarian regimes - from Havana and Caracas to Tel Aviv. Among his most consistent public stances was his opposition to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.

Despite receiving Israel's prestigious Jerusalem Prize in 1995 and being an admirer of Western liberal democracies, Vargas Llosa fiercely criticised Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank, describing the occupation as a colonial project and voicing concern over human rights violations.

In 2005, he authored 'Israel-Palestine: Peace or Holy War', a book chronicling his journey through Palestine with his daughter Morgana under the then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. In the book, he condemned Israeli occupation practices and described the suffering of Palestinians in vivid terms.

Following a visit to Jerusalem's Old City, Vargas Llosa wrote: "The Old City is still a ghostly world, soulless, empty, with more prohibitions than people. It’s a deeply painful sight and, I think, a symbol of what the occupation means - the drama that exists there, the human suffering."

His criticisms, however, also drew ire from some pro-Palestinian circles. While he denounced Israeli airstrikes on Gaza as “intolerable” and “counterproductive,” he also rejected cultural or academic boycotts of Israel, calling them a form of "collective punishment."

He recognised Israel’s "right to self-defence" against what he called "Hamas terrorism" but remained sharply critical of the scale and nature of Israeli military action in Gaza, referring to it as a "massacre".

In one of his final reflections on the region, Vargas Llosa wrote: "It's still the only place in the world where I feel of the Left."