Caracas - Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa was temporarily detained Wednesday on arrival at Maiquetia airport near Caracas. The man who wrote The Green House (1965), Conversation in the Cathedral (1969) and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977) is an outspoken critic of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and was in Venezuela to participate in a forum on freedom and democracy.
According to forum organizers, immigration officials took Vargas Llosa's passport and interrogated him for more than an hour. He was eventually released and allowed to continue his itinerary.
The writer and liberal politician, 73, had issued renewed criticism of Chavez just before travelling to Caracas, describing the Venezuelan's governing style as "populist" and accusing Chavez of using oil money to bribe democratic countries.
Venezuelan Culture Minister Hector Soto rejected Vargas Llosa's comments as "disrespectful."
