Character Analysis
Ruben's an awfully nice guy. He also happens to be the vice president of the unnamed South American country where Bel Canto is set. That means the whole thing happens in his very own mansion. Sure, he doesn't actually own the house, but he lives there. It's like how the U.S. chief exec doesn't own the White House but it's still considered the president's home.
Ruben doesn't seem to be involved personally in the brutality and corruption of the country's political machine (see our character analysis of the terrorist generals for more on the country's politics). It seems a bit unlikely in the real world that someone could become vice president of a country with a government that shoots ten-year-olds without being part of the corruption, but Ruben's kindhearted manner and lack of involvement in political corruption fits into Bel Canto's fairy-tale style of storytelling.
In fact, Ruben is such a nice guy that Fyodorov, who is unimpressed with the host country, says, "A wonderful man, Ruben Iglesias. It almost makes me wish I was a citizen of this wretched country so that I could vote for him for President" (6.75). Isn't that nice?
Ruben is also pretty much the perfect host. Because they're in the vice presidential mansion, he feels an obligation to take care of the house and all the people in it. Even if it has been taken over by terrorists. In his usual life, the staff would take care of all that, but he's willing to do it himself to be a good host.
Ruben waxes the floor, irons people's shirts, and finds that he enjoys doing it (6.99). He even organizes a team to cook dinner for 58 people—which is the best he can really do, since he doesn't know how to cook himself (6.100-248). When he's finally let outside, he even starts weeding in the garden (9.91, 10.115). Seriously, if he ran a bed and breakfast, Ruben Iglesias would have five stars on TripAdvisor.
This is important to the story because it would be hard for the community forced to live in the house to enjoy all that transformative art if they were tripping on trash or eating raw chicken.
Ruben is also a very good vice president. Ruben's right on target early in the book, when he watches his wife and children go free and thinks:
He [Ruben] was a better man for the job than President Masuda. The President couldn't say anything unless it was written down. He was not a stupid man, but he lacked spontaneity. Besides, he had a temper and false pride and would not stand being ordered from the floor to the door and back again. He would say something unscripted and get himself shot, which would eventually lead to everyone getting shot. For the first time he [Ruben Iglesias] thought it was better that Masuda had stayed home to watch his soap opera because Ruben could be the servant, the straight man, and in doing so he could save the lives of his wife and his children and their pretty governess and the famous Roxane Coss. The particular job he had been given this time was in fact more suited to the talents of a Vice President. (2.193)
Ruben's willingness to do the second-in-command jobs makes him the best bet for keeping everyone alive in this scenario. He's used to negotiating and he doesn't need to prove himself at every turn, and that makes him way better at coping with this tough situation. Many of those qualities are also what let him be kind and charming to the other people in the book, something that helps to create a community out of a group of enemies.
Ruben also notices people others might not, like the teenage terrorist Ishmael, who is highly competent but not as imposing or athletic as the other boys around him. Ruben says he wants to adopt him, and he has every intention of signing adoption papers and welcoming the former terrorist into his house (9.146). Sure, the novel doesn't let that happen, but Ruben's intentions are what matter here.
Bel Canto is masterful at giving readers the chance to explore different people's perspectives, and while almost all those explorations show something moving and human, Ruben gives us someone to empathize with early on as he talks with Messner and the terrorists, experiences an injury, and receives treatment (1.60-63, 77-83; 2.28-98). Ruben's experiences help the reader connect to the action with empathy from the novel's start.