Dominican Republic’s kudos for Nobel winner compared it to Nazi Germany

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic’s 19th annualInternational Book Fair Santo Domingo will on Monday bestow its literature prizeon Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, criticized by conservative groups for comparingthe country with Nazi Germany for its handling of undocumented Haitianimmigrants.

The choice of Peruvian literature Nobel is "a veryunjust act against the country," said Monday Pelegrin Castillo, formerdeputy and former presidential candidate for the nationalist party NationalProgressive Force.

Castillo and other leaders of his party and the groupSovereign Pole on Monday delivered a document to Culture minister Pedro Verges statingtheir rebuke for selecting Vargas as winner of the Pedro Henriquez UreñaInternational Award.

The Peruvian writer "has devoted his great talent, inthis case, to denigrate and discredit our country," said Castillo, whosefather the prominent attorney Marino Vinicio Castillo (Vincho) for decades haswarned of alleged plans by international powers to try to “fuse” the DominicanRepublic and Haiti.

But Verges stressed that independently of Vargas’ personalpositions, he "deserves all prizes that have to do with literature; That’sbeyond dispute."

An independent panel of Dominican and foreign intellectualsselected Vargas to receive the Prize in February. The award celebrates"literary productivity, and critical and creative thinking in the work ofa lifetime."