Political and intellectual networks between Mario Vargas Llosa and Octavio Paz.

Abstract

This article reconstructs and analyzes the political-intellectual relationship between Mario Vargas Llosa and Octavio Paz, two of the most influential Latin American thinkers of the twentieth century. Methodologically, it is a historical-documentary study that draws on correspondence, essays, interviews, public statements, periodicals and critical works in order to identify ideological convergences, disagreements and key moments of their intellectual evolution. The main objective is to identify the pivotal events that brought the two authors closer or pushed them apart, particularly the Padilla Affair (1971), which reshaped the relationship between Latin American intellectuals and the Cuban Revolution. The study shows how, after this episode, both writers gravitated toward critical liberal positions, engaging each other through dedications, debates, public interventions and intertextual references found in works such as El ogro filantrópico, Contra viento y marea, and El pez en el agua. The scope of the article lies in explaining how their interactions helped build a transnational intellectual network, influencing political thought, cultural criticism and theoretical discussions about liberalism in Latin America. The analysis also examines the tensions provoked by Vargas Llosa’s famous statement—“the perfect dictatorship”—and Paz’s response, as well as their respective stances on democracy, the State and individual freedom. Overall, the article provides a nuanced understanding of the evolving dialogue—sometimes collaborative, sometimes contentious—between these two major intellectual figures.