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Larry McMurtry, a prolific nov-elist and screenwriter who demy-thologized the American Westwith his unromantic depictions oflife on the 19th-century frontierand in contemporary small-townTexas, died on Thursday at homein Archer City, Texas. He was 84.

The cause was congestive heartfailure, said Diana Ossana, hisfriend and writing partner.

Over more than five decades,Mr. McMurtry wrote more than 30novels and many books of essays,memoir and history. He also wrotemore than 30 screenplays, includ-ing the one for “Brokeback Moun-tain” (written with Ms. Ossana,based on a short story by AnnieProulx), for which he won anAcademy Award in 2006.

But he found his greatest com-mercial and critical success with“Lonesome Dove,” a sweeping843-page novel about two retiredTexas Rangers who drive a herd ofstolen cattle from the Rio Grandeto Montana in the 1870s. The book

won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 andwas made into a popular televi-sion mini-series.

Mr. McMurtry wrote “Lone-some Dove” as an anti-western, arebuke of sorts to the romantic no-tions of dime-store novels and anexorcism of the false ghosts in thework of writers like Louis L’Am-our. “I’m a critic of the myth of the

cowboy,’’ he told an interviewer in1988. “I don’t feel that it’s a myththat pertains, and since it’s a partof my heritage I feel it’s a legiti-mate task to criticize it.’’

But readers warmed to the viv-id characters in “LonesomeDove.” Mr. McMurtry himself ulti-mately likened it, in terms of its

Unromantic but Beloved Storyteller of the WestBy DWIGHT GARNER

LARRY MCMURTRY, 1936-2021

Continued on Page A21

Larry McMurtry in 1978. His “Lonesome Dove” won a Pulitzer.DIANA WALKER/THE LIFE IMAGES COLLECTION, VIA GETTY IMAGES

PUERTO CACHICAMO, Co-lombia — At 13, she left home tojoin the guerrillas. Now, at 15,Yeimi Sofía Vega lay in a coffin,killed during a military operationordered by her government.

Some of the youngest childrenin her town, Puerto Cachicamo,led her funeral procession, wavingsmall white flags as they woundpast the school, with its mildewedbooks and broken benches, pastthe shuttered health clinic andtheir small wooden houses.

“We don’t want bombs,” thechildren chanted, marching downa dusty road to the cemetery. “Wewant opportunities.”

Nearly five years after Co-lombia signed a historic peace ac-cord with its largest rebel group,the Revolutionary Armed Forcesof Colombia, the country’s inter-nal war is far from over.

Remote towns like PuertoCachicamo have yet to see theschools, clinics and jobs the gov-ernment promised in the agree-

ment. Thousands of dissidentFARC combatants have returnedto battle, or never laid down theirarms, and are fighting rivals forcontrol of illicit markets. Masskillings and forced displacementare again regular occurrences.

And young people — trappedbetween an often absent state, theaggressive recruitment of armedgroups and the firepower of themilitary — are once again the con-flict’s most vulnerable targets.

That was evident this month,when the government bombed arebel camp in an effort to take outa high-profile dissident FARCleader known by the alias GentilDuarte. The camp turned out to befull of young people who had beenrecruited by the group — and theoperation killed at least two mi-

Children Trapped in CrossfireAs War Drags On in Colombia

By JULIE TURKEWITZ and SOFÍA VILLAMIL

Nicol placed candles near the coffin of her sister Yeimi Sofía Vega, 15, who was killed this month by a Colombian military operation.FEDERICO RIOS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Broken Promises LeaveYoung at Risk 5 Years

After a Peace Deal

Continued on Page A12

WASHINGTON — Biden ad-ministration officials are antici-pating the supply of coronavirusvaccine to outstrip U.S. demandby mid-May if not sooner, and aregrappling with what to do withlooming surpluses when vaccinescarcity turns to glut.

President Biden has promisedenough doses by the end of May toimmunize all of the nation’sroughly 260 million adults. But be-tween then and the end of July, thegovernment has locked in com-mitments from manufacturers forenough vaccine to cover 400 mil-lion people — about 70 millionmore than the nation’s entire pop-ulation.

Whether to keep, modify or re-direct those orders is a questionwith significant implications, notjust for the nation’s efforts to con-tain the virus but also for howsoon the pandemic can be broughtto an end. Of the vaccine dosesgiven globally, about three-quar-ters have gone to only 10 coun-tries. At least 30 countries havenot yet injected a single person.

And global scarcity threatens togrow more acute as nations andregions clamp down on vaccineexports. With infections soaring,India, which had been a majorvaccine distributor, is now holdingback nearly all of the 2.4 milliondoses manufactured daily by aprivate company there. That ac-tion follows the European Union’sdecision this week to move emer-gency legislation that would curbvaccine exports for the next sixweeks.

Biden administration officialswho are inclined to hold on to thecoming U.S. surplus point to un-met need and rising uncertainty:Children and adolescents are stillunvaccinated, and no one is cer-tain if or when immunity couldwear off, which could requirescores of millions of booster shots.

“We want to, largely, be a part ofthe global solution here,” JenPsaki, the White House press sec-retary, said this week. But sheadded, “There are still a numberof factors that are unpredictablethat we need to plan for to the bestof our ability, including the vari-

U.S. TO CONFRONTA GLUT OF VACCINE

AS EARLY AS MAY

NEW PANDEMIC DILEMMA

Weighing Global ScarcityVersus Reaching Herd

Immunity at Home

By SHARON LaFRANIEREand NOAH WEILAND

Continued on Page A8

A series of deadly and destructivetornadoes came a week after a severeoutbreak of storms. PAGE A15

NATIONAL A15-20

Another Blow to SoutheastNeta Elkayam plumbs the rich cultureof the Moroccan Jews she’s descendedfrom. The Saturday Profile. PAGE A14

INTERNATIONAL A9-14

Bridging Time With Music

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Connecticut’sPaige Bueckers, among the nation’s topplayers, will oppose each other for thefirst time since middle school in a roundof 16 tournament game. PAGE B9

SPORTSSATURDAY B9-12

Freshman Stars Face OffCoinbase, set to be the first major cryp-tocurrency company to go public, hasbeen hit on customer service. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-7

A Hack, and Then Little Help

As scores of people were without heat,vast amounts of natural gas had to beburned off into the atmosphere. PAGE A18

As Texas Froze, Gas Flared

After last year’s experiment with thedesignated hitter, National Leaguepitchers will again be batting and run-ning the bases. Expect plenty of inju-ries, Tyler Kepner writes. PAGE B12

Back in the Box, and in PainDominion Voting Systems says thenetwork’s election lies devastated itsreputation and business. PAGE B1

Fox News Is Sued Again

Maps of the five boroughs of New YorkCity show the significant disparities invaccination rates across neighborhoodsand demographics. PAGE A6

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-8

Who’s Gotten Their Shots?

Kara Swisher PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

The fight over voting rights isemerging as one of the definingconflicts of the Biden era, andGeorgia fired the opening shotwith a set of new restrictions un-derscoring the political, legal andfinancial clashes that will influ-ence whether Republicans retakeCongress and the White House.

President Biden on Fridaycalled Georgia’s new law an “at-tack on the Constitution” and saidthe Justice Department was “tak-ing a look” at Republican votingefforts in the state, without offer-ing any specifics.

“This is Jim Crow in the 21stcentury, it must end,” Mr. Bidensaid, a day after Gov. Brian Kempsigned the bill into law. “I will takemy case to the American people —including Republicans who joinedthe broadest coalition of votersever in this past election to putcountry before party.

“If you have the best ideas, youhave nothing to hide. Let the peo-ple vote.”

Civil rights groups immediatelychallenged the Georgia law in fed-eral court, backed by prominentDemocratic voting rights lawyers.Several Black leaders describedthe legal skirmishes to come as anexistential fight for representa-tion, saying the law clearly puts atarget on Black and brown voters.Protests against voting restric-tions unfolded this week in statecapitols like Austin, Texas, and At-lanta, and more lawsuits are ex-pected.

In more than 24 states, Republi-can-led legislatures are advanc-ing bills in a broad political effortthat is the most aggressive attackon the right to vote since the civilrights movement of the 1960s. Itfollows months of Republican ef-forts to tarnish Mr. Biden’s presi-dential victory, which scores ofhigh-level G.O.P. officials stillrefuse to acknowledge as legiti-mate.

Democrats, who have limitedpower in many state capitols, arelooking to Mr. Biden and congres-sional Democrats for a new fed-eral law to protect voting. Many inthe party see the fight over voting

IN GEORGIA, G.O.P.FIRES FIRST SHOTSOF VOTING BATTLE

AN EMERGING STRUGGLE

Biden Calls New Hurdlesto Polls ‘Jim Crow in

the 21st Century’

By NICK CORASANITIand REID J. EPSTEIN

Continued on Page A16

Adherents of far-right groupswho cluster online have turned re-peatedly to one particular websitein recent weeks — the federaldatabase showing deaths and ad-verse reactions nationwideamong people who have receivedCovid-19 vaccinations.

Although negative reactionshave been relatively rare, thenumbers are used by many extre-mist groups to try to bolster a rashof false and alarmist disinforma-tion in articles and videos with ti-tles like “Covid-19 Vaccines AreWeapons of Mass Destruction —and Could Wipe out the HumanRace” or “Doctors and NursesGiving the Covid-19 Vaccine Willbe Tried as War Criminals.”

If the so-called Stop the Stealmovement appeared to be chasinga lost cause once President Bidenwas inaugurated, its supportersamong extremist organizationsare now adopting a new agendafrom the anti-vaccination cam-paign to try to undermine the gov-ernment.

Bashing of the safety and effica-

cy of vaccines is occurring in chatrooms frequented by all mannerof right-wing groups including theProud Boys; the Boogaloo move-ment, a loose affiliation known forwanting to instigate a second CivilWar; and various paramilitary or-ganizations.

These groups tend to portrayvaccines as a symbol of excessivegovernment control. “If less peo-ple get vaccinated then the sys-tem will have to use more ag-gressive force on the rest of us tomake us get the shot,” read a re-cent post on the Telegram socialmedia platform, in a channellinked to members of the ProudBoys charged in storming theCapitol.

The marked focus on vaccinesis particularly striking on discus-

Moving On From ‘Stop the Steal,’Far Right Now Vilifies VaccinesBy NEIL MacFARQUHAR Exploiting a New Angle

to Sow Distrust of theU.S. Government

Continued on Page A8

Beverly Cleary, who enthralledtens of millions of young readerswith the adventures and mishapsof Henry Huggins and his dogRibsy, the bratty Ramona Quimbyand her older sister Beezus, andother residents of Klickitat Street,died on Thursday in Carmel, Calif.She was 104.

The death was announced byHarperCollins, her publisher.

With “Henry Huggins,” pub-lished in 1950, Ms. Cleary, a librari-an by trade, introduced a contem-porary note into children’s litera-ture. In a humorous, lively style,she made compelling drama out ofthe everyday problems, small in-justices and perplexing mysteries— adults chief among them — thatdefine middle-class Americanchildhood.

Always sympathetic, nevercondescending, she presented herreaders with characters theyknew and understood, the 20th-century equivalents of Huck Finnor Louisa May Alcott’s little wom-

en, and every bit as popular: Herbooks sold more than 85 millioncopies, according to HarperCol-lins. To this gallery of human char-acters she added an animal coun-terpart: the motorcycle-ridingRalph S. Mouse, resident of theMountain View Inn in the SierraNevada.

“Cleary is funny in a very so-

phisticated way,” Roger Sutton,editor of The Horn Book, told TheNew York Times in April 2011.“She gets very close to satire,which I think is why adults likeher, but she’s still deeply respect-ful of her characters — nobodygets a laugh at the expense of an-other. I think kids appreciate that

Charmer of Young Readers, via Ramona and PalsBy WILLIAM GRIMES

BEVERLY CLEARY, 1916-2021

Beverly Cleary in 1999. Her first book was published in 1950.PETER DASILVA

Continued on Page B13

American analysts warned that Afghan-istan could fall to the Taliban if U.S.troops were to exit too early. PAGE A13

Concern on Afghan Pullout

The Gwangju Biennale, which had beendelayed and is now scheduled to starton April 1, is the most closely watchedart event in Asia. Its curators are deter-mined to press on. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

A Must-Open Art Show

A scholar dared to complete violinsonata fragments that were left by thegreat composer. They’re featured on anew album. PAGE C1

Hints of Mozart’s Music

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . No. 59,010 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2021

Today, plenty of sunshine, mild, lesswind, high 66. Tonight, turningcloudy, late showers, low 50. Tomor-row, cloudy, rain, some heavy, high60. Weather map is on Page B8.

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