A Colombia author known for his reportedly crude novel about homosexuality in Colombia has finished a new book that interweaves storylines about the ‘parapolitics’ scandal and the guerrilla struggle.
Alfonso Sánchez Baute sees his new work, “Líbranos del bien”, or “Free us from the good”, as related to his previous effort, “La maldita primavera”.
“They even look alike, because they show the reality that many refuse to recognize: the violence in Colombia has become a daily reality and it already does not affect or sensitize anyone because it is something normal,” he told El Heraldo.
Although the work revolves around two men of the village Valledupar, the capital of the northern department of Cesár, Sánchez Baute said hat his intention was not to produce a novel about the lives of two men, rather to follow the tragedy of two families, with a nod to celebrated Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, for his novel also takes place over 100 years.
“Such violence, along with the guerrillas or the paramilitaries, we must begin to delegitimize, to disassemble, to confront. This is a country in which to live in peace means accepting violence,” the author said.