Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gabriel García Márquez

have a lot of friends, but we didn’t stay because we’re more of a novelty there, whereas in Barcelona our presence has become quite commonplace. In Madrid, the word spreads to the journalists, the singers, the movie people, it turns into a constant celebration.”
    Gabo continues trying to avoid the spotlight. He believes subtlety is always more effective, even in politics. He’s maintained his friendship with Fidel Castro, but has distanced himself “through silence” from his more dogmatic stances, and has been instrumental in influencing the Cuban government to free political prisoners and soften their stances on certain issues. He’s been politically active in many countries,in everything from the liberation of bankers kidnapped in El Salvador to getting dictators to allow family members of dissidents to leave the country. In the course of this, he’s had several experiences worthy of a James Bond movie or one of the novels written by his friend Graham Greene. For example, in 1995, Juan Carlos Gaviria’s kidnappers demanded that he assume the presidency of Colombia. § (The writer’s response was: “Why would anyone choose to take on the responsibility of being the worst president of the Republic? … Let Gaviria go, take off your masks, and start promoting your ideas for change under the protection of the constitution.”) “I have always been more of a conspirator than a ‘signer,’ ” he points out. “I’ve always achieved many more things by trying to straighten them out from the bottom up than by signing protest manifestos.”
    One example of this covert diplomacy is that he now acts as a mediator for peace in Colombia, attempting to bring about some sort of agreement between the members of President Uribe’s government and those leading the guerrilla group of the National Liberation Army (ELN). “Maybe we shouldn’t talk too much about this, since it’s still being worked out. It’s not good to make declarations when you’re in the middle of something. From the moment I was born, I’ve been hearingtalk of attempts to create peace in Colombia. Now, after much painstaking negotiation, they’ve finally agreed to have a conversation. I’ve participated in some of the first conversations in La Habana, and they went very well. I’m on good terms with both sides. These affairs, for a writer who’s gotten used to success like me, are always very humbling, because in them so many different issues intersect.
    â€œViolence has existed forever, and it’s an ancient resident of Colombia,” he recalls. “What’s at the root of it all is an economic situation that only increases the gap between the very rich and the very poor. And there’s so much money in the cocaine business, tons of money! The day they stop that drug from being sold, everything will get much better, because that’s what made everything get so much worse. The biggest producers in the world are all there. So much so that now they’re not fighting for political power, like before, but instead for control of the drug. And the United States too is completely wrapped up in the whole thing.”
    While posing for some pictures in the garden with his wife, Gabo says to her, laughing, “Now you see why I never give interviews, Mercedes. They start out seeming meek, and then they never leave. Now they’re telling me to kiss you, what next? I bet they’d even ask me to say that I love you.” It’d be a superfluous statement, considering that they met when she was a thirteen-year-old girl and are still there before us, sharing their lives.
    Before we leave, García Márquez asks us which Nobel laureates will be appearing in this series of interviews: “Ah, I seethat you’ve only chosen the good ones.” Confidently, every once in a while he grabs hold of his interviewer and