The writer Martín Caparrós doubled down on his criticism against President Javier Milei, whom he described as "a cruel man", but also reproached the Kirchnerist government of Alberto Fernández, his predecessor in the office.
"He is a cruel man, I have no explanations," Caparrós said. To his credit, he has the digital interactive novel 'Vidas de J.M.' (Lives of J.M.), in which he creates a rare character who could be considered the alter ego of the current Argentine president. Beyond his criticism of the president and that work, Caparrós, who is also a journalist, recently released his novel 'BUE', in which he portrays Buenos Aires, his hometown, where he was born 68 years ago.
"I suppose Argentina, which sees itself as a supportive country, is not the country we think it is," Caparrós said. In this sense, he stated that "Those who had governed before were catastrophic, something different was needed. The question is why, unfortunately, the novelty has been Milei."
When talking about politics, he also referred to Zohran Mamdani's victory: "He spoke to the workers, the marginalized, the women, the migrants, the young people, why are you surprised that they voted for him as mayor of New York?" A metropolis that "aimed very high and missed the mark," according to his acid-tongued view. "But we write as Balzac, Hugo or Baudelaire did, we are anchored in things from 200 years ago," he said.
On the other hand, he referred to ALS, the disease he currently suffers from and which forces him to move around in a wheelchair at his home in Madrid: "It doesn't tire me if I can help other people affected by this very rare disease and against which nothing can be done. These last weeks it was time to talk about the ALS law, which is not being applied. Sometimes old political habits work. One thing I know about the future, at least, is that the next day there will be an obituary," he said jokingly.
Although he has received innumerable distinctions and recognitions during his extensive career, Caparrós emphasized that one of the things that comforts him the most is "to finish a sentence well." He recently released 'La verdadera vida de José Hernández', with his friend the illustrator Rep: the story of the author of Martín Fierro, told in verse by Martín Fierro himself.
"But I also like to talk about all the things I have done in my life: it is not my greatest merit to have ALS." "It is strange to think that in a few years, hopefully, I will not be here anymore, I will not be." "I, who have traveled so much, always thought that what was really difficult was to describe the apple of my house, because that is where you have to learn to see the everyday. Now it is the 5,000 apples of my city," he stated in an interview with the newspaper El País, and added that "we have come to think that literature is limited to telling a story."
Caparrós pointed out that "Other arts have moved: music is no longer like Liszt or Chopin, nobody paints like Delacroix." In addition, he is preparing an essay about this era, the Western Era, where everyone is governed by the hegemony of one part of the world. "Even if an Eastern Era comes, it will be led by the Chinese Communist Party, which is based on an idea, communism, created in the West," indicated Caparrós.
"Now my health does not allow me to do many things like walking around or traveling too much, but there are few things I like more than writing, and I am lucky that I can continue to do so," he concluded.
