R.I.P. Carlos Fuentes: Mexico's Gentleman of Letters

“There must be something beyond slaughter and barbarism to support the existence of mankind and we must all help search for it.” ― Carlos Fuentes

Carlos Fuentes died Tuesday at age 83 in Mexico City. A man of letters and a patriotic Mexican he was a difficult man to pin down in anyone ideological camp. Early on he supported the revolution in Cuba but broke with it when he experienced first hand its Stalinist nature:

"Since 1966, when Pablo Neruda and I went to a PEN Writers Conference in New York. Arthur Miller had obtained visas for writers and intellectuals from the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc. Neruda and I celebrated this as a triumph. Immediately the Cuban union of writers published a ferocious letter denouncing Neruda and myself as enemies of socialism, signed by a long list of Cuban writers. It was absolutely dirty, because later we found out that they had not been consulted. In Cuba, there was a kind of tropical Stalinism in the realm of culture and literature. So I never went back to the island."

Full excerpts here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2004/05/16/carlos-fuentes.html

"Desde 1966, cuando Pablo Neruda y yo fuimos a la Conferencia del PEN Club en Nueva York. Arthur Miller había obtenido visas para escritores e intelectuales de la Unión Soviética y el bloque oriental. Neruda y yo lo celebramos como un triunfo. De inmediato el sindicato cubano de escritores publicó una carta feroz denunciándonos a Neruda y a mí como enemigos del socialismo, firmada por una larga lista de escritores cubanos. Fue absolutamente sucio, porque más tarde averiguamos que no habían sido consultados. En Cuba, había una suerte de stalinismo tropical en el ámbito de la cultura y la literatura. Por eso nunca volví a la isla."

Traducción tomado de:  http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y04/may04/19o9.htm