Mexican literary giant Carlos Fuentes Macías, a writer equally acclaimed at home and abroad for more than half a century, died today in Mexico City. He was 83.
Fuentes felt light headed and lost consciousness at home after what was first a normal morning routine, his wife told doctors. He died about an hour after being admitted to a local hospital. His funeral services will begin this evening.
Fuentes, who most agree profoundly influenced modern Latin American literature, was a harsh critic of his country's contemporary political landscape, especially in recent months as Mexico prepared to select a new president. In New York last November to promote La Gran Novela Latinoamericana (The Great Latin American Novel), Fuentes said he would probably sit out the 2012 election because of the uninspiring choices.
"I'm gong to abstain, unless PAN delivers a sensational candidate, and I don't know who that would be," said Fuentes. He had apparently ruled out all three of the announced PAN primary contenders, the ultimate winner of which was Josefina Vázquez Mota.
Fuentes offered a mixed appraisal of president Felipe Calderón while on his New York trip. He told a press conference that criminals are responsible for the violence in Mexico, not the military strategy employed by Calderón to fight them. "The president has discharged his duties as he saw them," said Fuentes, but he added that he believed the strategy has failed. The author also said that the war against drug trafficking is a responsibility which must be shouldered equally by the United States and Mexico. In a clear reference to U.S. secret arms sales to Mexican drug cartels, and the continuing high level of demand for drugs north of the border, Fuentes said that the U.S. "cannot officially have a public policy against drugs, while actually empowering and encouraging traffickers" through its conduct.
Later that same month, PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto attended a Guadalajara book fair to promote a slim volume of his political thoughts for 2012 (all of the candidates write such books). The PRI nominee committed an intellectual faux pas when he was asked at the fair to name some literary works which had significantly impacted his life. He confused the author of a book which he had identified as one of his favorites. The author is actually Fuentes, but Peña Nieto got it wrong, which stirred Fuentes to suggest that perhaps the candidate needs to take some literature courses. The Mexican press had a field day.
A few days later Carlos Fuentes said that Peña Nieto has the right not to read his books, but "he doesn't have the right be be president of Mexico from a perspective of ignorance. Problems today demand a man who can converse on the same par with Barack Obama, Angela Merkel (the German Chancellor) and Nicholas Sarkozy (then president of France, although defeated last week). Peña Nieto is incapable of that," Fuentes contended.
"I want intelligent candidates, who understand the reality of this country and what is happening here, who understand the world," Fuentes told CNN in a separate interview. "Mexico's problems are immense: crime and insecurity, migrant workers, the lack of jobs and real security for many workers, the need to update our communications networks and infrastructure, education, health -- all of these are enormous challenges. The issues today present great challenges, but the candidates are poorly qualified," he added.
In January Fuentes told an interviewer, "What alarms me so much this year is that I see the problems we have here and the candidates we have here. Between the challenges we're facing and the politicians there is an enormous gap. We're trapped in a terrible situation, with tremendous difficulties and very mediocre candidates." In the same interview he called Peña Nieto a "lightweight" not prepared to be president of Mexico.
But the writer didn't spare Mexico's National Action Party, either. "Nobody wants to re-elect PAN," said Fuentes. "I have the sense that everyone's worn out with PAN and its style of government. I don't believe people will elect another one of their candidates this year."
Fuentes was generally regarded as having leftist political views. Referring to the country's left wing Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), and its 2012 nominee with whom Fuentes was plainly less than satisfied, he said in January, "The only possibility of changing things would be if some of the best minds in Mexico decide to support (Andrés Manue) López Obrador, and get together with him, then there would be hope." Fuentes supported AMLO in the 2006 presidential election, which the candidate lost by a scant one-half percent.
The 83 year old author, who worked as a diplomat in many foreign capitals, once served as Mexico's ambassador to France. He is survived by second wife Silvia Lemus, a Mexican journalist. A biography characterizes the young Carlos Fuentes as an habitual philanderer whose endless affairs led his first wife to despair. A 25 year old son passed away from illness in 1999 and a 30 year old daughter died from an apparent drug overdose in 2005, while another son, 40, survives.
"My whole reason for living is to preserve the language," Fuentes told CNN in an interview last December. "Writing demands much, but for me it's not laborious. It's a great pleasure, and I'll take advantage of every day that's been given to me to do it." "Mi razón de ser es mantener el lenguaje", decía Carlos Fuentes: http://mexico.cnn.com/entretenimiento/2012/05/15/mi-razon-de-ser-es-mantener-el-lenguaje-decia-carlos-fuentes.
MGRR articles about Carlos Fuentes
Mexico facing "tremendous problems with mediocre candidates," says writer: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/01/mexico-facing-tremendous-problems-with.html.
Squabble over Peña Nieto's literary gaff focuses attention on his qualifications: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2011/12/squabble-over-candidates-literary-gaff.html.
Renowned Mexican novelist offers harsh assessment of all the candidates: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2011/11/renowned-mexican-novelist-offers-harsh.html.
Mexico's presidential campaign begins: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.mx/2012/03/mexicos-presidential-campaign-opens.html#more.
Mexican Nobel Prize winner endorses Vázquez Mota: "struggle must continue": http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/03/mexican-nobel-prize-winner-endorses.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment