The state of health of Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa has been commented on by various international media outlets following a video that was published on the Spanish program “Espejo público” on Antena 3, where the winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature can be seen walking through the streets of Madrid, wearing a cap and sports jacket, escorted by a service worker, who covers the writer with an umbrella so that he is not captured by the media.
Although neither the writer nor his family had responded since the video was released, his son, journalist Álvaro Vargas Llosa, posted an image today on his official X account (@AlvaroVargasLl) showing the writer, under the sun, swimming in a pool. “A week ago, oblivious to the noise of the fools who try to surprise the good faith of people like you,” reads above the image, which also served as a response to the Literland account, @literlandweb1, a literature portal from which they wished “the best to Mario Vargas Llosa and his family, whose physical deterioration in recent weeks has raised the level of concern for his state of health.”
The video, which aired on August 1, has sparked speculation about the health of the author of “The City and the Dogs”: a series of photographs, taken at different times – in some cases, walking around Greece – leaning on a cane and wearing a jacket, have been reproduced on news portals around the world and on social networks.
It is worth remembering that in July 2023, the writer, who turned 88 in March, was hospitalized after having contracted Covid-19.
