Following the announcement that the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature is to be awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa, Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle sent him the following letter of congratulation:

”Please accept my sincere congratulations on being awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature.

This distinction is in honour of your literary work, which is both outstandingly vivid and at the same time evidence of your profound political commitment to a free, democratic society. Time and again you have used the power of words to criticize repression, corruption and the arrogance of the mighty. Indeed, you have even dared to take direct action in seeking political responsibility. You have always said and written that culture must never stand aloof from politics and morality. Your committed statements on current issues have been effective pleas for peace, freedom and justice.

With your extensive writings you have been instrumental in expanding and enriching Europeans’ image of Latin American culture. This is highly valued, particularly here in Germany. As German foreign minister I am especially pleased that the Nobel Prize has been awarded to you, a Latin American writer who like almost no other stands for close relations between your continent and Germany.“