Cultural Exchange: Colombian authors consider their country's violence

[Judi Lynn]

Cultural Exchange: Colombian authors consider their country's violence
Juan Gabriel Vasquez and Hector Abad Faciolince are asked about Colombia's violence and 'literature of conflict.'
By Chris Kraul, Special to the Los Angeles Times

June 19, 2011
Reporting from Bogota, Colombia —— Who better than a pair of Colombian writers whose books have spurred talk of an emerging "literature of conflict" to answer the country's perpetual riddle: Why is Colombia so violent? And will the four-decades-long bloodletting that has exacted tens of thousands of victims ever end?

The question was first posed to Juan Gabriel Vasquez, a 38-year-old Bogotá native, who has just published his third novel, "The Sound of Things Falling," a taut yarn about a professor's chance and nearly fatal encounter with a drug trafficker. Last month it won the prestigious Alfaguara Prize, a top honor in Latino publishing.

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Abad sees hopeful signs, including the 90% reduction in homicides in his hometown Medellín over the last decade. But nearly half the nation suffers from poverty and poor education, the fuel that fires lawlessness. So do weak legal institutions and what he says is many Colombians' inherent intolerance.

"Any popular movement is considered dangerous. If you stand up for the poor and lead marches as my father did, you're trying to turn them into communists. If you fight for the minimum of human rights like clean drinking water, vaccinations and a roof over your head, you're a threat to public order," said the voluble Abad, interviewed in his apartment in Medellín. He is known as a bonachon — Spanish for easygoing and good-natured — and taught Spanish in Italy, edited a Medellín literary magazine and cranked out business correspondence for his mother, a property manager, before finding success as an author.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-culture-colombia-20110619,0,2024844.story