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The Nobel prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa’s latest novel revolves around the lies, schemes and vested interests that infected the development of Latin America. In Harsh Times (translated by Adrian Nathan West) a CIA-supported military coup topples the government of Guatemala, but the idea that the country was a Soviet satellite is shown up as manipulated fiction. Llosa tells Tom Sutcliffe about the murky tales of Cold War conspiracies that dominated at the time, and their legacy today. Natalia Sobrevilla Perea is Professor of Latin American History at the University of Kent and looks at the impact of the Cold War proxy battles on countries like Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala and El Salvador. She highlights the power of the drug barons and the current Peruvian government’s war on corruption. Her research focuses on how historical events have set the stage for contemporary debates about how Andean nations should be governed and how to define citizenship.But what of the land before outside interference? Peru