Gabo … Gabito … El Nobel ...

“In Colombia, he is ‘The Nobel.’ They actually call him ‘El Nobel.’ They don’t even need to say what his name is. They just say El Nobel, ” Jon Lee Anderson – biographer, author, investigative reporter and staff writer at The New Yorker – told Hollywood on the Potomac at a private screening of Gabo: The Creation of Gabriel García Márquez hosted by T.H. Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO MPAA and H.E. Juan Carlos Pinzon, Ambassador of Colombia to the Unites States. “He’s a source of real pride for a country that has been at war and associated with violent crime for over fifty years. He made them proud in a way no other figure really does. I know Colombia well, and I understand the way they feel about things. It’s been a source of real humiliation for them that most of the rest of the world associate them with crime. They’re proud. ‘Gabo’ gave them a reason to be really proud.” Anderson was raised and educated in many countries, including Colombia. He is the author of the article “The Power of García Márquez” and has been an adviser to the Peace Corps and USAID.