Former contender for the presidency of Belarus, ex-head of Belgazprombank Viktor Babariko, compared the situation in the country with the plot of the novel by Gabriel García Márquez “Autumn of the Patriarch”. He gave Deutsche Welle an interview from the KGB detention center.
Babariko was asked what the most important thing he learned from the meeting with President Alexander Lukashenko in the pre-trial detention center in October last year.
“I always try to adhere to a simple principle: to judge by deeds, not by words. Therefore, I can say that the scenario set out in the novel” Autumn of the Patriarch “is being implemented very close to the text,” the oppositionist replied.
According to Babariko, he was once again convinced that elective posts should be occupied by people who “have somewhere to return after losing power,” otherwise “there is a sign of equality between office and happiness in life.”
“And sometimes there is such equality: power is equal to life. In this case, the struggle for power turns into a struggle for life – and in such a battle no prisoners are taken,” said the ex-head of Belgazprombank.
In an interview, he also named the “extreme point” of the political crisis in Belarus.
Babariko was considered Lukashenko’s main rival in the presidential race. He collected more than 400 thousand signatures in his support, but in June 2020 he was arrested on charges of transferring hundreds of millions of dollars abroad.
The elections took place on August 9. The CEC announced that Lukashenko won 80 percent of the vote. This triggered massive protests across the country that have been going on for six months now.
The novel “Autumn of the Patriarch” describes the life and rule of a dictator in a certain Latin American country in a grotesque manner.