Congratulations to Mario Vargas Llosa on Receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature

The 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to my father, Mario Vargas Llosa, is great news for those of us who value freedom.

His work, as the Swedish Academy recognized in its public statement, explores the oppressive structures of power and the plight of the individual who rebels against them. His novels examine this theme through the potent means of literary creation, of course. His journalism, public speaking and non-fiction writing do it in more direct form; 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.