Gabriel Garcia Marquez_ A Life Part 11

Snide editorials in El Tiempo El Tiempo like those that greeted like those that greeted The General in His Labyrinth The General in His Labyrinth would have been rather beside the point in the face of a work and a writer who had so patently taken symbolic possession of the country. So this time they were notable by their absence. Garcia Marquez had not shown it but from the time would have been rather beside the point in the face of a work and a writer who had so patently taken symbolic possession of the country. So this time they were notable by their absence. Garcia Marquez had not shown it but from the time The General The General was published he had waited seven years for his revenge, for the level of satisfaction which this book now gave him. There were no girlish interviews to the press expressing his "insecurity" about the new work, as there had been when was published he had waited seven years for his revenge, for the level of satisfaction which this book now gave him. There were no girlish interviews to the press expressing his "insecurity" about the new work, as there had been when Of Love and Other Demons Of Love and Other Demons was published. "Take that," said the was published. "Take that," said the torero. torero. Surprising as it may seem, Colombia at last belonged to Garcia Marquez, at the age of sixty-nine, in a way it never had before. Surprising as it may seem, Colombia at last belonged to Garcia Marquez, at the age of sixty-nine, in a way it never had before. One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude had made Latin America belong to him, even the world; but not Colombia. had made Latin America belong to him, even the world; but not Colombia. One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude was "Macondo," sure; but everyone in Bogota and the other great cities of the interior (Medellin, Cali) knew that Macondo was the Costa and they did not include themselves among its referents. Now they themselves were less confident and complacent; and now Garcia Marquez had finally taken in the whole of Colombia, not just the Costa. The backbiting would continue for ever-in the nature of political and social life-but with far less conviction. He was untouchable now. And he would be able to do almost anything he wanted. was "Macondo," sure; but everyone in Bogota and the other great cities of the interior (Medellin, Cali) knew that Macondo was the Costa and they did not include themselves among its referents. Now they themselves were less confident and complacent; and now Garcia Marquez had finally taken in the whole of Colombia, not just the Costa. The backbiting would continue for ever-in the nature of political and social life-but with far less conviction. He was untouchable now. And he would be able to do almost anything he wanted.

The question can still be repeated: in writing News of a Kidnapping News of a Kidnapping for the cachacos in part through cachaco eyes, did he, in effect, give in to them; did he undermine, at his moment of victory (or even because of the nature of that victory), his entire moral and political trajectory? Perhaps he had become conservative in that tired and depressing way that old men become conservative. Or perhaps he finally recognized "political reality" and in particular "political reality after the fall of the Wall." Or perhaps all he now wanted politically was to see Fidel and the Cuban Revolution symbolically resist the historical labyrinth until the great final labyrinth left them no further options. Or perhaps, still, he was refusing all those encircling realities, all those options and interpretations; perhaps, in the only way he knew how, Garcia Marquez was maintaining his own dream all the way to the end. Perhaps. Certainly this is the question. for the cachacos in part through cachaco eyes, did he, in effect, give in to them; did he undermine, at his moment of victory (or even because of the nature of that victory), his entire moral and political trajectory? Perhaps he had become conservative in that tired and depressing way that old men become conservative. Or perhaps he finally recognized "political reality" and in particular "political reality after the fall of the Wall." Or perhaps all he now wanted politically was to see Fidel and the Cuban Revolution symbolically resist the historical labyrinth until the great final labyrinth left them no further options. Or perhaps, still, he was refusing all those encircling realities, all those options and interpretations; perhaps, in the only way he knew how, Garcia Marquez was maintaining his own dream all the way to the end. Perhaps. Certainly this is the question.

Naturally the book went to number one in the best-seller lists as soon as it was published. Although the reviews were overwhelmingly positive there were a few extremely aggressive and even abusive demolitions, especially from the United States, quite different in tone from even the El Tiempo El Tiempo reviews of The General. reviews of The General.54 But Garcia Marquez had surveyed his options and he'd made his choice. We can be sure he was satisfied. But Garcia Marquez had surveyed his options and he'd made his choice. We can be sure he was satisfied.

24.

Garcia Marquez at Seventy and Beyond: Memoirs and Melancholy Wh.o.r.es 19962005 NOW WHAT WAS he to do? The sixty-nine-year-old writer was still full of energy, still full of plans, still fascinated by politics and committed to "making a difference," as Americans would say. But was he any longer a writer of fiction? he to do? The sixty-nine-year-old writer was still full of energy, still full of plans, still fascinated by politics and committed to "making a difference," as Americans would say. But was he any longer a writer of fiction? The General in His Labyrinth The General in His Labyrinth was a historical novel, brilliantly fictionalized but still a historical novel. was a historical novel, brilliantly fictionalized but still a historical novel. News of a Kidnapping News of a Kidnapping, similarly, was a doc.u.mentary novel, more doc.u.mentary, indeed, than novel. The General, obviously, was about "then," about how Colombia had started, two hundred years before; News was about "now," about what Colombia had become. Both had been written with undeniable verve. But did Garcia Marquez have within him another ambitious work of the creative imagination or was that great world-historical wellspring now effectively dry? The world was his oyster, no doubt about it, but it was no longer the world that had made him. Could he respond to this new world, this post-communist, post-utopian, postmodern universe that now lay before the weary planet on the threshold of the twenty-first century?

Truth to tell, hardly anyone had been responding fully to the new era. It was a lot for the world to ask of an old man, though Garcia Marquez was certainly asking it of himself. This was an age of good literature but not an age of great works. In fact, since as long ago as the Second World War, there had been few writers-indeed few artists in any genre-about whom the public and the critics had been able to agree in the way that they had agreed, and still agreed, about most of the great artists of the modernist period between the 1880s and the 1930s. Garcia Marquez was one of the few names, and One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude one of the few t.i.tles, on everyone's list of great writers and great works in the second half of the twentieth century. And he had added one of the few t.i.tles, on everyone's list of great writers and great works in the second half of the twentieth century. And he had added Love in the Time of Cholera Love in the Time of Cholera, which also regularly appeared in charts of the "top fifty" or "top hundred" novels of the twentieth century. Could he add another? Should he even try?

Certainly he wanted to go on. He had said he had "come out completely empty" after two of his books, One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude and and Love in the Time of Cholera. Love in the Time of Cholera.1 Somehow he had always found the determination, and eventually the inspiration, to find new topics and new forms and come up with the next project, a book that first he wanted to write, then needed to write, then absolutely had to write. Now was no different; he was still looking. Indeed, he told his interviewers that he wanted to "go back to fiction." As usual he had a project. He had three short novels which together, he thought, might make an interesting book, another book about love; love and women. He told Somehow he had always found the determination, and eventually the inspiration, to find new topics and new forms and come up with the next project, a book that first he wanted to write, then needed to write, then absolutely had to write. Now was no different; he was still looking. Indeed, he told his interviewers that he wanted to "go back to fiction." As usual he had a project. He had three short novels which together, he thought, might make an interesting book, another book about love; love and women. He told El Pais: El Pais: "I'm surrounded by women. My friends are mainly women, and Mercedes has had to learn that that's my way of being, that all my relationships with them are just harmless flirtations. Everyone knows by now what I'm like." "I'm surrounded by women. My friends are mainly women, and Mercedes has had to learn that that's my way of being, that all my relationships with them are just harmless flirtations. Everyone knows by now what I'm like."2 He added that he was beginning to lose his memory, on which his entire life and work had been founded. (This had happened to the autobiographically inspired protagonist of The Autumn of the Patriarch The Autumn of the Patriarch.) Yet ironically the shredder was the machine most used in his house. Lately, though, he had retrieved the drafts of Of Love and Other Demons Of Love and Other Demons and given them to Mercedes as a present. He seemed unaware that drafts had lost much of their magic-including financial-in the age of the computer because the computer conceals most genetic traces. Indeed, the evolution from handwriting to typewriting to computer production was one part of the explanation for the fading of the authorial aura in the mind of readers, and perhaps even for a loss of conviction in the mind of authors themselves. Garcia Marquez had resisted this process better than most. And the destruction of most of his preparatory or unfinished works fitted his own strong conviction that it was the job of the artist to produce fully finished works on the cla.s.sical model, though he would not have wanted to put it that way. and given them to Mercedes as a present. He seemed unaware that drafts had lost much of their magic-including financial-in the age of the computer because the computer conceals most genetic traces. Indeed, the evolution from handwriting to typewriting to computer production was one part of the explanation for the fading of the authorial aura in the mind of readers, and perhaps even for a loss of conviction in the mind of authors themselves. Garcia Marquez had resisted this process better than most. And the destruction of most of his preparatory or unfinished works fitted his own strong conviction that it was the job of the artist to produce fully finished works on the cla.s.sical model, though he would not have wanted to put it that way.

Retirement was a topic that was in the air and the omens were all bad. It was the autumn of all the patriarchs. Samper was obdurately refusing to resign, even though millions wanted him to do so. Carlos Andres Perez had been forcibly retired. Carlos Salinas had managed to see his term of office through but had been obliged to leave the country, threatened with jail or worse. No one had been able to force Fidel Castro into retirement but he would shortly be reaching three score and ten; the revolution itself was growing old and who could possibly replace him? Tellingly, Garcia Marquez, instead of attending the launch of his book in Bogota, went to visit another reluctant retiree, Felipe Gonzalez, who, beset by allegations and scandals, had been voted out of office in Spain after thirteen years in the presidential Moncloa Palace in Madrid. Garcia Marquez hastened to the Moncloa as soon as he arrived but the President was not at home and the writer found him alone with his bodyguards in the national park of Monfrague, like one more Garcia Marquez character bereft of his power and glory.3 The last time they had met Gonzalez had said, as they embraced: "Heavens, man, I think you are the only person in Spain who wants to embrace the President." Now he declared himself relieved to be out of the job and on his way to retirement. He was about to be replaced by right-wing leader Jose Maria Aznar. The last time they had met Gonzalez had said, as they embraced: "Heavens, man, I think you are the only person in Spain who wants to embrace the President." Now he declared himself relieved to be out of the job and on his way to retirement. He was about to be replaced by right-wing leader Jose Maria Aznar.

After an extended stay in Spain Garcia Marquez travelled to Cuba to celebrate Fidel Castro's seventieth birthday with him. It was another autumnal event, not dissimilar to the visit to Felipe Gonzalez. Fidel was not thinking of retiring but he was in an unusually reflective mood. He, who lived so much in the future and so, in order to get there, had to conquer the present minute by minute, was for once thinking about the past, his own past. He had said he wanted no special celebrations but Gabo had declared that he and Mercedes would travel to Cuba anyway. Prompted by this insistence Fidel, who could not celebrate his birthday officially on the actual day-13 August-due to pressure of work, nevertheless turned up at Garcia Marquez's house that evening and was given his present, a copy of the new dictionary produced by Colombia's linguistic inst.i.tute, the Inst.i.tuto Caro y Cuervo. Then, two weeks later, Fidel revealed a surprise of his own: he took Gabo and Mercedes, a few close a.s.sociates, a journalist and a cameraman to Biran, the tiny town where he was born, "a journey into his past, his memories, the place where he had learned to speak, to shoot, to breed fighting c.o.c.ks, to fish, to box, where he had been educated and formed, where he had not been since 1969 and where, for the first time in his life, he could stand in front of the graves of his parents and offer them some flowers and a posthumous homage which until that moment he had been unable to carry out." Fidel escorted his guests around the town, went back to the old schoolhouse (he sat in his old desk), remembered his boyhood activities ("I was a cowboy, much more than Reagan because he was just a movie cowboy and I was a real one"), recalled his mother's and father's characters and eccentricities, and then, satisfied, declared: "I have not confused dreams with reality. My memories are free of fantasy."4 Garcia Marquez, who had been writing up his own memories lately-and in particular his return with his mother almost half a century before to the place where he was born-must have been given much food for thought. Garcia Marquez, who had been writing up his own memories lately-and in particular his return with his mother almost half a century before to the place where he was born-must have been given much food for thought.

In September, back in Cartagena, Garcia Marquez spent some time at his new house. By now it was an open secret that he did not feel at home there, and not only because he and Mercedes were overlooked by the Hotel Santa Clara: they just didn't feel comfortable; in fact, they just didn't like it. An Argentinian journalist, Rodolfo Braceli, who had interviewed Maruja Pachon about her experiences in 199091 and about their representation in News of a Kidnapping News of a Kidnapping, used his contact with her to find his way to an irritated but nonetheless forthcoming Garcia Marquez, who was becoming increasingly reflective and philosophical in his interviews these days, like an old soldier out on a limb and at a bit of a loss: interesting and informative, even a.n.a.lytical but no longer focused on the one campaign that excluded all others-the next one-no longer as single-minded as in the past.5 He mentioned again that he was beginning to forget things, especially phone numbers, even though he has always been a "professional of the memory." His mother now sometimes said to him, "And whose son are you?" Then other days she would get her memory back almost entirely and he would ask her about her recollections of his childhood. He mentioned again that he was beginning to forget things, especially phone numbers, even though he has always been a "professional of the memory." His mother now sometimes said to him, "And whose son are you?" Then other days she would get her memory back almost entirely and he would ask her about her recollections of his childhood.6 "And now they come out more because she's not hiding them, she's forgotten her prejudices." "And now they come out more because she's not hiding them, she's forgotten her prejudices."

He told Braceli he had a lot of friends suddenly turning seventy and it had come as a surprise: "I'd never asked them how old they were." His personal feeling towards death, he said, was: "fury." He had never seriously thought about his own death until he was sixty. "I remember it exactly: one night I was reading a book and suddenly I thought, h.e.l.l, it's going to happen to me, it's inevitable. I'd never had time to think about it. And suddenly, bang, h.e.l.l, there's no escaping it. And I felt a kind of shiver... Sixty years of pure irresponsibility. And I solved it by killing off characters." Death, he said, was just like the light going off. Or being anaesthetized.

Clearly he was in a meditative, autobiographical mood-though the tendency had been evident, at least incipiently, since the end of Alternativa Alternativa and the beginning of his weekly column in and the beginning of his weekly column in El Espectador El Espectador and and El Pais El Pais. Although he had destroyed most of the written traces of his private life and even of his professional literary activity, he had increasingly been thinking more about two particular aspects of his work. First, the how and the when, the technique and the timing. Clearly he was a master craftsman and increasingly aware that not everyone could tell stories the way that he or Hemingway could tell stories. Hence his script-writing "workshops" in Havana and Mexico City and now his journalism workshops in Madrid and Cartagena. Both were about story-telling: how to break reality down into stories, how to break stories down into their const.i.tuent elements, how to narrate them so that each detail leads on naturally to the next, and how to frame them in such a way that the reader or viewer feels unable to stop reading or watching. Second, the what and the why: he was averse, through his sense of "shame and embarra.s.sment," to emoting and introspection. But for some years now he had been taking more interest in identifying the lived raw materials of his own experience, which had been processed in different ways and for different literary and aesthetic purposes in his works down the years. It was, in part, a way of controlling his own story, of making sure that no one else could shape it without accepting most of his own interpretation. He had been controlling his image for thirty years; now he wanted to control his story.

In October Garcia Marquez travelled to Pasadena, California, for the 52nd a.s.sembly of the Inter-American Press a.s.sociation (SIP), where there were two hundred newspaper owners present, together with Central American n.o.bel Peace Prize winners Rigoberta Menchu and Oscar Arias, as well as Henry Kissinger. Luis Gabriel Cano of El Espectador El Espectador was elected next president of the organization and it was agreed that the next meeting would be held in Guadalajara. Garcia Marquez, very concerned to front his new journalism foundation, gave a keynote speech declaring that "journalists have become lost in the labyrinth of technology": teamwork had become undervalued and compet.i.tion for scoops was damaging serious professional work. There were three key areas that needed attention: "Priority to be given to talent and vocation; that investigative journalism should not be considered a specialist activity because all journalism should be investigative; and ethics should not be an occasional matter but should always accompany the journalist as the buzz accompanies the fly." was elected next president of the organization and it was agreed that the next meeting would be held in Guadalajara. Garcia Marquez, very concerned to front his new journalism foundation, gave a keynote speech declaring that "journalists have become lost in the labyrinth of technology": teamwork had become undervalued and compet.i.tion for scoops was damaging serious professional work. There were three key areas that needed attention: "Priority to be given to talent and vocation; that investigative journalism should not be considered a specialist activity because all journalism should be investigative; and ethics should not be an occasional matter but should always accompany the journalist as the buzz accompanies the fly."7 (This last phrase would become the motto of his journalism foundation, the FNPI. Its key slogan would be: "Not just to be the best but to be known to be the best." Very GGM.) Garcia Marquez's speech, like his new foundation, was mainly concerned with what individual journalists should do to improve their professional and ethical standards, whereas in the 1970s he would have been concerned in the first instance with the ownership of the press. But he was moving now in a different world. Probably only he would have even tried to carry off this double life whereby he debated the problems of the bourgeois press in formally democratic countries whilst loyally supporting the one country in the hemisphere, Cuba, where there had never been a free press and never would be while Castro was in power. And Garcia Marquez's syndicated articles were regularly reproduced in Havana in (This last phrase would become the motto of his journalism foundation, the FNPI. Its key slogan would be: "Not just to be the best but to be known to be the best." Very GGM.) Garcia Marquez's speech, like his new foundation, was mainly concerned with what individual journalists should do to improve their professional and ethical standards, whereas in the 1970s he would have been concerned in the first instance with the ownership of the press. But he was moving now in a different world. Probably only he would have even tried to carry off this double life whereby he debated the problems of the bourgeois press in formally democratic countries whilst loyally supporting the one country in the hemisphere, Cuba, where there had never been a free press and never would be while Castro was in power. And Garcia Marquez's syndicated articles were regularly reproduced in Havana in Granma and Juventud Rebelde. Granma and Juventud Rebelde. It was all much more difficult in an era in which he could no longer use the excuse of socialist objectives and the need to build a socialist economy. But if he had still been talking about all that, even supposing he had wanted to, he would not have been able to mix with magnates-one of his biggest donors would be Lorenzo Zambrano, a cement monarch from Monterrey-and would not have been able to persuade them to lay out their money. It was all much more difficult in an era in which he could no longer use the excuse of socialist objectives and the need to build a socialist economy. But if he had still been talking about all that, even supposing he had wanted to, he would not have been able to mix with magnates-one of his biggest donors would be Lorenzo Zambrano, a cement monarch from Monterrey-and would not have been able to persuade them to lay out their money.

Samper had announced before Christmas that he was bringing in a new television law which would set up a commission to decide whether channels were fulfilling their remit to be impartial. Everyone supposed that before long he would be cancelling QAP's licence to broadcast-QAP was one of Samper's most ferocious critics-and Garcia Marquez would therefore be at the mercy of power for the first time since 1981. He went out of his way to announce that he would not be celebrating his seventieth birthday in Colombia. On 6 March he, Mercedes, Rodrigo and Gonzalo and their families would spend the day at a secret location away from the country.8 Inevitably his seventieth birthday had been registered in all the Hispanic newspapers. Now Inevitably his seventieth birthday had been registered in all the Hispanic newspapers. Now One Hundred Years of Solitude's One Hundred Years of Solitude's thirtieth birthday was also registered. Any excuse to get the name Garcia Marquez in the newspapers; because he sold newspapers just as he sold books. Now it turned out that despite his insistence that he did not want "posthumous homages while I'm still alive," he was intending to emphasize his absence from Colombia even more spectacularly by accepting a multiple anniversary celebration in Washington-of all places-in September, using the fiftieth anniversary of his first published story as the point of reference. Normally such celebrations in Washington would require cooperation, organization and ratification from the honoree's national emba.s.sy. But Garcia Marquez not only had an ongoing relationship with the man in the White House down the road but was also a close friend of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, an inst.i.tution in which even the USA, however hegemonic, was only thirtieth birthday was also registered. Any excuse to get the name Garcia Marquez in the newspapers; because he sold newspapers just as he sold books. Now it turned out that despite his insistence that he did not want "posthumous homages while I'm still alive," he was intending to emphasize his absence from Colombia even more spectacularly by accepting a multiple anniversary celebration in Washington-of all places-in September, using the fiftieth anniversary of his first published story as the point of reference. Normally such celebrations in Washington would require cooperation, organization and ratification from the honoree's national emba.s.sy. But Garcia Marquez not only had an ongoing relationship with the man in the White House down the road but was also a close friend of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, an inst.i.tution in which even the USA, however hegemonic, was only primus inter pares. primus inter pares. And it was Gaviria, by now disgusted with what he considered to be the embarra.s.sment of Samper's government and infuriated at what he considered to be Samper's frittering of the inheritance that he, Gaviria, had left him, who used his contacts to arrange a series of events in honour of Garcia Marquez which would culminate in a party at his own residence and a dinner at Georgetown University, with Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, another n.o.bel Prize-winning novelist, as twin guests of the university Rector Father Leo Donovan. And it was Gaviria, by now disgusted with what he considered to be the embarra.s.sment of Samper's government and infuriated at what he considered to be Samper's frittering of the inheritance that he, Gaviria, had left him, who used his contacts to arrange a series of events in honour of Garcia Marquez which would culminate in a party at his own residence and a dinner at Georgetown University, with Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, another n.o.bel Prize-winning novelist, as twin guests of the university Rector Father Leo Donovan.

The anniversary tendency had been developing down the years in Western culture as the great millennium approached. 1492, 1776, 1789: in the conditions of postmodernity these dates were becoming the temporal equivalents of theme parks. And in this sphere of things, Garcia Marquez was well on his way to becoming a theme park all of his own, a monument without parallel in the literary world since Cervantes, Shakespeare or Tolstoy. He had become aware of it himself very soon after the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude One Hundred Years of Solitude, a book which had changed the world for all those who read it inside Latin America, as well as for many outside. Little by little he became aware that it was he who was the golden goose; the "frenzy of renown" that surrounded him was so furious, so contagious that in the end, for all his plans and stratagems and manoeuvres, it really didn't matter what he did: he had entered the spirit of the age and he had also risen above and beyond the spirit of the age, into immortality, eternity. Marketing could work at the margins to increase it or diminish it but his magic was autonomous. He would be hard pressed to prevent the rest of his life from being one permanent celebration of his life, one long happy anniversary. How could he escape from this labyrinth? Did he any longer want to?

On 11 September he visited Bill Clinton for lunch at the White House. Clinton had already read News of a Kidnapping News of a Kidnapping in ma.n.u.script but now Garcia Marquez presented him with his personalized leather-bound copy of the English edition, "so it won't hurt so much." (Clinton had sent Garcia Marquez a note when his publisher sent him the ma.n.u.script copy of News, "Last night I read your book from start to finish." One of Garcia Marquez's publishers wanted to use this priceless puff on the cover when the book was eventually published. Garcia Marquez responded, "Yes, I'm sure he'd agree; but he'd never write me another note.") The two men discussed the Colombian political situation and, more generally, the problem of drug production in Latin America and drug consumption in the United States. in ma.n.u.script but now Garcia Marquez presented him with his personalized leather-bound copy of the English edition, "so it won't hurt so much." (Clinton had sent Garcia Marquez a note when his publisher sent him the ma.n.u.script copy of News, "Last night I read your book from start to finish." One of Garcia Marquez's publishers wanted to use this priceless puff on the cover when the book was eventually published. Garcia Marquez responded, "Yes, I'm sure he'd agree; but he'd never write me another note.") The two men discussed the Colombian political situation and, more generally, the problem of drug production in Latin America and drug consumption in the United States.9 And still Samper would not budge. A few weeks before the jamboree in Washington Garcia Marquez had met up with the rising politician in the Santos family, Juan Manuel, to discuss the still-deteriorating Colombian situation. Santos had declared that he would be putting himself forward as a Liberal candidate for the next presidential elections in 1997. Whether they were conspiring, separately or together, to bring Samper down, only they could know, but they produced a "peace plan"-Santos, under pressure, would eventually say it was Garcia Marquez's idea ("We have to do something daring, we've got to get everyone talking so as to share out the defeat, because we are all of us losing this war")-which would involve negotiations between all sectors of Colombian society: except the Samper government! Yet Santos denied, when the plan was unveiled in the second week of October, that he was trying to bring the government down. He and Garcia Marquez flew to Spain-Garcia Marquez went straight from Washington to Madrid-to talk to ex-President Felipe Gonzalez (thereby snubbing the new right-wing President Jose Maria Aznar). However, Felipe Gonzalez effectively killed the initiative by saying that he would only back it if Samper agreed to the negotiations and the United States and other powers gave their support.

In January 1998 Pope John Paul II, now old and sick, made his long-heralded visit to Castro's Cuba, the result of arduous and difficult negotiations. (Garcia Marquez had a.s.sured me in 1997 that the Pope was "a great man" whose biography I should read.) It was of course Fidel's way of showing that Cuba, while maintaining its revolutionary principles, was capable of flexibility-he had even allowed Christmas to be reintroduced, on a one-off basis-and might be prepared to negotiate with the powerful of the earth. And who should be sitting at Castro's side during the events involved in the visit but Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Despite his long and extremely successful record of anti-communist activism, the Pope was also known to be anti-capitalist in many respects and firmly against the decadent aspects of the new consumer societies, which made his visit seem a risk worth taking. Unfortunately for Cuba and Castro, the event, which looked as if it might give Cuba huge amounts of favourable publicity, not least in the United States, was blown off the world's television screens by the breaking scandal of Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. It was a double disaster: disastrous because the Pope's visit never did make the global impact it might have done; and disastrous because Clinton, Garcia Marquez's friend, would be hugely weakened politically by the scandal and the subsequent moves to impeach him. Clinton would have to sit out the rest of his term, almost helpless, in just the way that Samper was doing. The ironies were unmistakable.

Garcia Marquez decided not to return to Colombia for the first round of the elections in May. But he did send a televised message from his house in Mexico City explaining why he was supporting second-time Conservative candidate Andres Pastrana and committing himself to "camellar con Andres" ("slog with Andres"). Garcia Marquez supporting a Conservative! What would Colonel Marquez have said! The living members of his family viewed his gesture with disapproval and indeed stupefaction. But Pastrana was said to be close to the Miami Cubans and perhaps Garcia Marquez thought that, in this and other ways, he might help with the Cuban situation. In return, Garcia Marquez was supposed to be helping with education, officially Pastrana's princ.i.p.al policy concern after concern number one, a peace process with the guerrillas. con Andres" ("slog with Andres"). Garcia Marquez supporting a Conservative! What would Colonel Marquez have said! The living members of his family viewed his gesture with disapproval and indeed stupefaction. But Pastrana was said to be close to the Miami Cubans and perhaps Garcia Marquez thought that, in this and other ways, he might help with the Cuban situation. In return, Garcia Marquez was supposed to be helping with education, officially Pastrana's princ.i.p.al policy concern after concern number one, a peace process with the guerrillas.

Garcia Marquez was savagely though reluctantly criticized by the Liberal press. "D'Artagnan" wrote a coruscating piece in El Tiempo El Tiempo which was evidently intended as an epitaph to the Garcia Marquez who had intervened in Colombian politics up to this moment but was now apparently deceased. How much influence he would really have upon Pastrana's administration is questionable. Neither he nor Andres were seen "slogging," whether together or separately. which was evidently intended as an epitaph to the Garcia Marquez who had intervened in Colombian politics up to this moment but was now apparently deceased. How much influence he would really have upon Pastrana's administration is questionable. Neither he nor Andres were seen "slogging," whether together or separately.10 Gaviria, ever the clear-eyed pragmatist, tried to get Cuba voted back into the Organization of American States after a thirty-four-year absence but the resolution was vetoed, predictably enough, by the United States. This stymied Pastrana in advance-he was probably immensely relieved-and meant that Garcia Marquez's strategy for Andres's time in office was dead in the water before he even began, which no doubt explains why he would show such little interest in Colombian affairs over the next four years despite his promises of commitment. Clinton was interested not in improving relations with Cuba but in Pastrana's "peace process," with its promise of an end to the drugs trade, and in the autumn the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, a frequent visitor to Garcia Marquez's house in Mexico City, made a huge loan to Colombia to produce "peace through development." Gaviria, ever the clear-eyed pragmatist, tried to get Cuba voted back into the Organization of American States after a thirty-four-year absence but the resolution was vetoed, predictably enough, by the United States. This stymied Pastrana in advance-he was probably immensely relieved-and meant that Garcia Marquez's strategy for Andres's time in office was dead in the water before he even began, which no doubt explains why he would show such little interest in Colombian affairs over the next four years despite his promises of commitment. Clinton was interested not in improving relations with Cuba but in Pastrana's "peace process," with its promise of an end to the drugs trade, and in the autumn the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, a frequent visitor to Garcia Marquez's house in Mexico City, made a huge loan to Colombia to produce "peace through development."11 Over the next four years, in the midst of all the local and international dramas, Pastrana would be one of the most honoured and feted guests in Washington. On 27 October he made the first state visit by a Colombian president in twenty-three years, with Garcia Marquez in attendance, surrounded by an eclectic collection of American "Hispanics" and "Latinos," mostly musicians and actors. Over the next four years, in the midst of all the local and international dramas, Pastrana would be one of the most honoured and feted guests in Washington. On 27 October he made the first state visit by a Colombian president in twenty-three years, with Garcia Marquez in attendance, surrounded by an eclectic collection of American "Hispanics" and "Latinos," mostly musicians and actors.12 Such ceremonial would be Pastrana's reward for his prior agreement to Clinton's "Plan Colombia," an anti-subversion policy reminiscent of Cold War strategies, a topic on which Garcia Marquez made no explicit public statement at this time, though he must have been deeply embarra.s.sed by it. Such ceremonial would be Pastrana's reward for his prior agreement to Clinton's "Plan Colombia," an anti-subversion policy reminiscent of Cold War strategies, a topic on which Garcia Marquez made no explicit public statement at this time, though he must have been deeply embarra.s.sed by it.

Having been deprived of his television slot at the end of 1997,13 Garcia Marquez made an almost immediate decision to purchase Garcia Marquez made an almost immediate decision to purchase Cambio Cambio, a magazine originally connected to the Spanish magazine Cambio Cambio 16, so influential during the Spanish transition in the 1980s. 16, so influential during the Spanish transition in the 1980s. Cambio Cambio ("Change"-which happened to be Andres Pastrana's only slogan during his election campaign) was in direct compet.i.tion with Colombia's most influential weekly political magazine, ("Change"-which happened to be Andres Pastrana's only slogan during his election campaign) was in direct compet.i.tion with Colombia's most influential weekly political magazine, Semana Semana; it was something like the compet.i.tion between Time and Newsweek. Garcia Marquez heard that Patricia Lara, a good friend and colleague of his brother Eligio, was prepared to sell the magazine and he and Maria Elvira Samper, ex-director of QAP, Mauricio Vargas, German Vargas's son (an ex-member of Gaviria's government and a known critic of Samper), Roberto Pombo, a journalist on Semana Semana, and others decided to make a bid (one which included Mercedes in her own right). By Christmas the deal was done-the new company was called Abrenuncio S.A. after the sceptical enlightened doctor in Of Love and Other Demons-and by late January Garcia Marquez was beginning to write long headline articles-mainly about big-name personalities like himself (Chavez, Clinton, Wesley Clark, Javier Solana)-in order to boost sales. Larry Rohter of the New York Times talked to him the following year and recorded that "the night in late January 1999 that Cambio Cambio held a party to celebrate its rebirth, he stayed at the event until midnight, greeting two thousand invited guests. He then returned to the office, working through the night to write a long article about Venezuela's new President, Hugo Chavez, which he finished as the sun was rising, just ahead of deadline. 'It's been forty years since I've done that,' he said, delight in his voice. 'It was wonderful.'" held a party to celebrate its rebirth, he stayed at the event until midnight, greeting two thousand invited guests. He then returned to the office, working through the night to write a long article about Venezuela's new President, Hugo Chavez, which he finished as the sun was rising, just ahead of deadline. 'It's been forty years since I've done that,' he said, delight in his voice. 'It was wonderful.'"14 The Chavez issue of the magazine was particularly revealing. Colonel Hugo Chavez was the soldier who had tried to overthrow Garcia Marquez's friend Carlos Andres Perez. But he was also the man who, after coming to power in Venezuela, would come to the rescue of Castro's Cuba in the new millennium by holding Fidel's head above water through the sale of reliable cheap oil. Moreover he was a "Bolivarian" who argued for the independence and unity of Latin America and he was prepared to put Venezuela's money where his mouth was. Since Garcia Marquez was also working behind the scenes to help Cuba and unify Latin America, Chavez might have been expected to receive his full, albeit discreet support. But Garcia Marquez was never more than lukewarm about Chavez, perhaps because he was compromised by his prior relationship with Pastrana and Clinton-whereas Chavez's anti-Americanism was both permanent and virulent. Garcia Marquez had met up with Chavez in Havana in January 1999 and had flown to Venezuela with him on his way back to Mexico. Afterwards he wrote a long article which was syndicated all over the world-making a lot of money for Cambio Cambio-and became very influential. It ended: Our plane landed in Caracas at about three a.m. I looked out of the window at that unforgettable city, a sea of light. The President took his leave with a Caribbean embrace. As I watched him walk away, surrounded by his guards with all their military decorations, I had the odd feeling that I had travelled and talked with two quite separate men. One was a man to whom obstinate good fortune had given the opportunity to save his country; the other was an illusionist who could well go down in history as yet another despot.15 In fact Garcia Marquez had been in Cuba with Castro-and the now equally ubiquitous Jose Saramago, a n.o.bel Prize winner who had remained a communist and an outspoken revolutionary-celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Fidel, wearing gla.s.ses, read out a speech saying that the world, in the era of multinational capitalism (for the magnates) and consumer capitalism (for their customers) was now "a gigantic casino" and the next forty years would be decisive and could go either way, depending on whether people realized that the only hope for the planet to survive was to end the capitalist system.16 Who knows what Garcia Marquez thought of this, but his eyes looked those of a sick man, distant and distracted. Nevertheless he was putting in a huge effort to try to increase Who knows what Garcia Marquez thought of this, but his eyes looked those of a sick man, distant and distracted. Nevertheless he was putting in a huge effort to try to increase Cambio Cambio's disappointing sales. An article even more widely distributed than the one on Chavez was "Why My Friend Bill Had to Lie," which dismayed feminists around the world since instead of concentrating on the malign aspects of the Republican conspiracy to impeach Clinton, it cast him as just a typical guy pursuing s.e.xual adventures-as all typical guys evidently did-and trying to conceal them from his wife and everyone else.

In Havana Garcia Marquez had listened to Fidel calling for an end to capitalism, which was, he had said, entering the final stages of its devastation of the planet. Yet now, back in Europe in the last year of the twentieth century to meet yet another clutch of commitments and interview celebrities for his Cambio Cambio pieces, Garcia Marquez became involved in a new organization, a strange melange of intellectuals and magnates, which would be known as Foro Iberoamerica, whose ostensible purpose was to think about world development problems "outside of the box." A kind of preliminary meeting was organized by Unesco, the Inter-American Development Bank and the new Spanish government in Madrid. It was in part a continuation of the Garcia Marquez-Saramago show. In his brief contribution Garcia Marquez declared that Latin Americans had lived an inauthentic destiny: "We ended up as a laboratory of failed illusions. Our main virtue is creativity, and yet we have not done much more than live off reheated doctrines and alien wars, heirs of a hapless Christopher Columbus who found us by chance when he was looking for the Indies." He again mentioned Bolivar as a symbol of failure and repeated what he had said in his n.o.bel speech: "Let us get on quietly with our Middle Ages." Later he read out one of his new stories, "I'll See You in August," a tale about adultery surely quite inappropriate for such a forum. pieces, Garcia Marquez became involved in a new organization, a strange melange of intellectuals and magnates, which would be known as Foro Iberoamerica, whose ostensible purpose was to think about world development problems "outside of the box." A kind of preliminary meeting was organized by Unesco, the Inter-American Development Bank and the new Spanish government in Madrid. It was in part a continuation of the Garcia Marquez-Saramago show. In his brief contribution Garcia Marquez declared that Latin Americans had lived an inauthentic destiny: "We ended up as a laboratory of failed illusions. Our main virtue is creativity, and yet we have not done much more than live off reheated doctrines and alien wars, heirs of a hapless Christopher Columbus who found us by chance when he was looking for the Indies." He again mentioned Bolivar as a symbol of failure and repeated what he had said in his n.o.bel speech: "Let us get on quietly with our Middle Ages." Later he read out one of his new stories, "I'll See You in August," a tale about adultery surely quite inappropriate for such a forum.17 Saramago, playing the role Garcia Marquez used to play, proposed that everyone in the world "should become mulattos" and then there would be no need to argue about culture. Saramago, playing the role Garcia Marquez used to play, proposed that everyone in the world "should become mulattos" and then there would be no need to argue about culture.

Weeks later Garcia Marquez would find himself back in Bogota attending the honorary enrolment of Carlos Fuentes and El Pais's El Pais's owner Jesus de Polanco in Colombia's Caro y Cuervo Inst.i.tute of Philology. He sat on the platform looking older than he had ever looked before, but said nothing. And then, just as in 1992, he found that the Bogota alt.i.tude had triggered a level of tiredness he had not been aware of in Europe. And he collapsed. He disappeared from the public radar for some weeks, while Mercedes denied rumours of cancer and asked the press to be "patient" for a while. At first it was reported that he had some bizarre malady called "general exhaustion syndrome." But everyone feared the worst. In the event the diagnosis was lymphoma, or cancer of the immune system. owner Jesus de Polanco in Colombia's Caro y Cuervo Inst.i.tute of Philology. He sat on the platform looking older than he had ever looked before, but said nothing. And then, just as in 1992, he found that the Bogota alt.i.tude had triggered a level of tiredness he had not been aware of in Europe. And he collapsed. He disappeared from the public radar for some weeks, while Mercedes denied rumours of cancer and asked the press to be "patient" for a while. At first it was reported that he had some bizarre malady called "general exhaustion syndrome." But everyone feared the worst. In the event the diagnosis was lymphoma, or cancer of the immune system.

Once again he had fallen ill in Bogota and once again Bogota had diagnosed his illness. This time however, given the gravity of the diagnosis, he went to Los Angeles, where his son Rodrigo lived, for a second opinion. Lymphoma it was. The family resolved that the treatment should take place in Los Angeles and Garcia Marquez rented, first an apartment, then a bungalow in the hospital grounds. New treatments for lymphoma were constantly emerging and the prospects were quite different from the time when Alvaro Cepeda had to confront a similar challenge in New York. Garcia Marquez and Mercedes called on Cepeda's daughter Patricia, a translator and interpreter who had already helped them on previous visits to the United States, most notably for the meetings with Bill Clinton. Patricia was married to John O'Leary, a Clinton a.s.sociate and fellow lawyer who was a former amba.s.sador to Chile. Each month Garcia Marquez, following his treatments and subsequent tests, would, as he later said to me, "go off to see the doctor to find out whether I was going to live or die." But each month the reports were good and by the autumn he was back in Mexico City and making monthly visits to Los Angeles for check-ups.

In late November 1999 I flew to Mexico City to visit Garcia Marquez. He was thinner than I had ever seen him and very short of hair. But he was full of vigour. I reflected again that throughout his life he had said that he feared death and yet he had shown himself one of the great fighters when the chips were really down. The meeting was emotionally charged because he knew that I had fallen sick with lymphoma four years before and survived.18 He had done nothing for months, he told me, but now he was looking again at his notes for his memoirs, and he read out to me the narrative of his birth. Mercedes exuded calm and determination but I could see that the effort was straining even her resources. Still, she was made for this situation and was clearly surrounding her husband with normality, including the normality of not making a fuss. Gonzalo and his children visited, and Grandfather behaved just as he always did. He had done nothing for months, he told me, but now he was looking again at his notes for his memoirs, and he read out to me the narrative of his birth. Mercedes exuded calm and determination but I could see that the effort was straining even her resources. Still, she was made for this situation and was clearly surrounding her husband with normality, including the normality of not making a fuss. Gonzalo and his children visited, and Grandfather behaved just as he always did.

Garcia Marquez had recently told The New Yorker's The New Yorker's Jon Lee Anderson that "Plan Colombia," agreed between Clinton and Pastrana, "could not work" and that the USA seemed to be moving back to an "imperial model." Jon Lee Anderson that "Plan Colombia," agreed between Clinton and Pastrana, "could not work" and that the USA seemed to be moving back to an "imperial model."19 In September he had threatened to sue the news agency EFE for 10 million dollars for reporting that he had "helped to negotiate U.S. military aid to Colombia." In September he had threatened to sue the news agency EFE for 10 million dollars for reporting that he had "helped to negotiate U.S. military aid to Colombia."20 Presumably this was his way of signalling his public separation from Pastrana and Clinton and their fateful "Plan." Presumably this was his way of signalling his public separation from Pastrana and Clinton and their fateful "Plan."21 Now he said to me: "As for Colombia, I think I've finally got used to it. I think you just have to accept it. Things are getting perceptibly better just at this moment, even the paramilitaries have realized that this can't go on. But the country will always be the same. There has always been civil war, there have always been guerrillas, and there always will be. It's a way of life there. Take Sucre. Guerrillas actually live in houses there, yet everyone knows they're guerrillas. Colombians come and visit me here or in Bogota and they say, 'I'm with the FARC, how about a coffee?' It's normal." I took this to mean that he was finally renouncing the effort to change this incorrigible country through direct political activity, not to mention an implicit recognition that to place his own reputation in the hands of political conservatives-in this case Pastrana and the American Republicans who had taken Clinton as their political prisoner-had been a step too far, as most of his family and many of his friends could have told him. Ironically the illness now provided a cover for a discreet withdrawal from these unhappy alliances. Time to turn back to his memoirs, perhaps. Now he said to me: "As for Colombia, I think I've finally got used to it. I think you just have to accept it. Things are getting perceptibly better just at this moment, even the paramilitaries have realized that this can't go on. But the country will always be the same. There has always been civil war, there have always been guerrillas, and there always will be. It's a way of life there. Take Sucre. Guerrillas actually live in houses there, yet everyone knows they're guerrillas. Colombians come and visit me here or in Bogota and they say, 'I'm with the FARC, how about a coffee?' It's normal." I took this to mean that he was finally renouncing the effort to change this incorrigible country through direct political activity, not to mention an implicit recognition that to place his own reputation in the hands of political conservatives-in this case Pastrana and the American Republicans who had taken Clinton as their political prisoner-had been a step too far, as most of his family and many of his friends could have told him. Ironically the illness now provided a cover for a discreet withdrawal from these unhappy alliances. Time to turn back to his memoirs, perhaps.

He wrote occasional articles and kept in contact with Cambio Cambio and the Cartagena journalism foundation but mainly he stayed in Mexico City, kept out of the limelight and concentrated on his recovery and his visits to Los Angeles, where he and Mercedes were able to spend more time with Rodrigo and his family. Gabo and Mercedes also developed a close relationship with and the Cartagena journalism foundation but mainly he stayed in Mexico City, kept out of the limelight and concentrated on his recovery and his visits to Los Angeles, where he and Mercedes were able to spend more time with Rodrigo and his family. Gabo and Mercedes also developed a close relationship with Cambio Cambio journalist and investor Roberto Pombo, who had married into the journalist and investor Roberto Pombo, who had married into the El Tiempo El Tiempo dynasty and was currently posted in Mexico City. He would be like a third son to Gabo and Mercedes over the coming decade. Garcia Marquez would write increasingly autobiographical articles for the magazine-as well as an interview with Shakira-and would have a "Gabo Replies" section where he would compose an article inspired by readers' questions. These articles would then be repeatedly advertised in the magazine and offered on a permanent basis to those who browsed the elecronic version on the Internet. dynasty and was currently posted in Mexico City. He would be like a third son to Gabo and Mercedes over the coming decade. Garcia Marquez would write increasingly autobiographical articles for the magazine-as well as an interview with Shakira-and would have a "Gabo Replies" section where he would compose an article inspired by readers' questions. These articles would then be repeatedly advertised in the magazine and offered on a permanent basis to those who browsed the elecronic version on the Internet.

But of course his main activity would be the memoirs. He had often joked that by the time people got round to writing their memoirs they were usually too old to remember anything; but he had not mentioned that some people died before they even started the job. Completing the memoirs, now known as Living to Tell It (Vivir para contarlo) Living to Tell It (Vivir para contarlo), became his princ.i.p.al objective. Perhaps he remembered Bolivar's dilemma near the end of The General in His Labyrinth: The General in His Labyrinth: "He was shaken by the overwhelming revelation that the headlong race between his misfortunes and his dreams was at that moment reaching the finish line. The rest was darkness. 'd.a.m.n it,' he sighed. 'How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!'" "He was shaken by the overwhelming revelation that the headlong race between his misfortunes and his dreams was at that moment reaching the finish line. The rest was darkness. 'd.a.m.n it,' he sighed. 'How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!'"

He tried to keep out of politics but occasionally Cambio Cambio dragged him back in. It was edging perceptibly to the right in his absence, but so, the young journalists might have retorted, was he. Chavez was going from strength to strength as a populist leader of the Third World but Garcia Marquez told me, "It's impossible to talk to him." Evidently Castro did not agree, since he and Chavez met and talked frequently. When I put this to him, Garcia Marquez said, "Fidel's trying to control his excesses." Chavez would say in late 2002 that Garcia Marquez had never made any contact with him since their meeting early in 1999 and that he much regretted this. Since Chavez was not so very different from Omar Torrijos of Panama-except that Chavez was much more powerful because he had oil and was democratically elected-it seems likely that beyond personal questions (including his friendships with Carlos Andres Perez and Teodoro Petkoff) Garcia Marquez considered him too much of a loose cannon for the new era and for the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that he himself had been engaged in for the last decade. dragged him back in. It was edging perceptibly to the right in his absence, but so, the young journalists might have retorted, was he. Chavez was going from strength to strength as a populist leader of the Third World but Garcia Marquez told me, "It's impossible to talk to him." Evidently Castro did not agree, since he and Chavez met and talked frequently. When I put this to him, Garcia Marquez said, "Fidel's trying to control his excesses." Chavez would say in late 2002 that Garcia Marquez had never made any contact with him since their meeting early in 1999 and that he much regretted this. Since Chavez was not so very different from Omar Torrijos of Panama-except that Chavez was much more powerful because he had oil and was democratically elected-it seems likely that beyond personal questions (including his friendships with Carlos Andres Perez and Teodoro Petkoff) Garcia Marquez considered him too much of a loose cannon for the new era and for the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that he himself had been engaged in for the last decade.

One example of this was the news in November 2000 that the Mexican industrialist Lorenzo Zambrano of Monterrey, the king of Mexican cement (CEMEX), was to donate $100,000 for prizes to be awarded to winners of compet.i.tions organized by the Foundation for a New Ibero-American Journalism in Cartagena.22 Weeks later it was announced that media giant Televisa was to work with Weeks later it was announced that media giant Televisa was to work with Cambio Cambio to produce a Mexican edition directed by Roberto Pombo. This was Garcia Marquez's world now. The inauguration of Mexico's new right-wing President Vicente Fox coincided with a meeting of the Foro Iberoamerica, which this time involved not only Garcia Marquez and Carlos Fuentes again, as resident intellectuals, but also Felipe Gonzalez, ex-President of Spain; Jesus de Polanco, the owner of to produce a Mexican edition directed by Roberto Pombo. This was Garcia Marquez's world now. The inauguration of Mexico's new right-wing President Vicente Fox coincided with a meeting of the Foro Iberoamerica, which this time involved not only Garcia Marquez and Carlos Fuentes again, as resident intellectuals, but also Felipe Gonzalez, ex-President of Spain; Jesus de Polanco, the owner of El Pais El Pais; international banker Ana Botin; Carlos Slim, the richest man in Mexico and destined to be the richest man in the world, for a while, by mid-2007, another personal friend of Garcia Marquez; and Julio Mario Santo Domingo, the richest man in Colombia, yet another friend of Garcia Marquez, now the owner of El Espectador El Espectador and another generous donor to the Cartagena foundation. Whether Garcia Marquez, as the president of an independent journalism foundation, should really have been hobn.o.bbing with monopoly capitalists who happened to own great newspapers and television stations as part of their other holdings was not clear and has certainly never been publicly addressed by him. He now normally refused all comment to the press but remarked that he'd had no idea what he or anyone else was doing at the forum until he heard Carlos Fuentes's excellent speech explaining the importance of an interface between the world of business and the world of ideas! As for Mexico, he hadn't the faintest notion what was going on. He further entertained journalists by declaring that he was now just "the husband of Mercedes," which some took as recognition of his new dependence on her and his grat.i.tude for the way she had seen him through his recent and ongoing trials. and another generous donor to the Cartagena foundation. Whether Garcia Marquez, as the president of an independent journalism foundation, should really have been hobn.o.bbing with monopoly capitalists who happened to own great newspapers and television stations as part of their other holdings was not clear and has certainly never been publicly addressed by him. He now normally refused all comment to the press but remarked that he'd had no idea what he or anyone else was doing at the forum until he heard Carlos Fuentes's excellent speech explaining the importance of an interface between the world of business and the world of ideas! As for Mexico, he hadn't the faintest notion what was going on. He further entertained journalists by declaring that he was now just "the husband of Mercedes," which some took as recognition of his new dependence on her and his grat.i.tude for the way she had seen him through his recent and ongoing trials.23 He had recovered most of his hair and fifteen of the twenty kilos he had lost, though observers whispered that he had not recovered his sharp wits and full powers of expression. Perhaps the chemotherapy had accelerated the process of memory loss which he himself had been complaining about for some years. He had recovered most of his hair and fifteen of the twenty kilos he had lost, though observers whispered that he had not recovered his sharp wits and full powers of expression. Perhaps the chemotherapy had accelerated the process of memory loss which he himself had been complaining about for some years.

He was well out of Colombia. His old friend Guillermo Angulo had been kidnapped by the FARC on the way to his country house outside Bogota. Angulo, a man in his seventies, would be released months later; he told me he was sure Garcia Marquez had something to do with his release, which was an exceptional event: most FARC hostages remained in captivity for years, like presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.24 By the end of 2000 it was widely agreed that Andres Pastrana was perhaps the weakest Colombian President of the post-1948 era. When an open letter was sent to Pastrana and George W Bush in February 2001 by luminaries such as Eric Hobsbawm, Ernesto Sabato and Enrique Santos Calderon, requesting that any joint Colombian-U.S. activity in Colombia should involve the United Nations and the European Community, the name of Garcia Marquez was attached. By the end of 2000 it was widely agreed that Andres Pastrana was perhaps the weakest Colombian President of the post-1948 era. When an open letter was sent to Pastrana and George W Bush in February 2001 by luminaries such as Eric Hobsbawm, Ernesto Sabato and Enrique Santos Calderon, requesting that any joint Colombian-U.S. activity in Colombia should involve the United Nations and