Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 18, 1991 TAG: 9104180463
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JUSTINE ELIAS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Fuentes, a former Mexican ambassador to France and current member of Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights, visited Tech's Donaldson Brown Center as part of the university's Distinguished Speakers Series.
The author of "The Old Gringo" and other novels, Fuentes is a major political participant in the quest for peace and economic stability in Latin America.
Because of war in the Middle East and radical changes in Eastern Europe, Americans are paying less attention to political and economic issues in Latin America, Fuentes said.
U.S. policy-makers have long seen Latin America as a hotbed of communism and a potential victim of Soviet expansion, Fuentes said. The result has been military and economic domination of the region by the United States, which uses "condescension and scare tactics" to protect its interests, he said.
That type of relationship is doomed to failure, he said.
"You either put too much attention on an imaginary trouble spot while ignoring everything else, or you pay no attention at all," he said.
Fuentes favors a free trade agreement between the United States and Mexico, a measure under consideration by the U.S. Congress.
Free trade would benefit the United States by opening commerce with Mexico, one its largest trading partners, in a time when European nations are signing similar agreements, he said.
The United States and its neighbor to the south share problems with budget deficits, drugs and urbanization. Mexico "went very quickly from being an agrarian country to being an industrial country," Fuentes said. "We have neglected the problems of feeding ourselves and education."
But increased cooperation does not mean that United States and Latin America should become more alike.
"Central America shouldn't have to accept U.S. values as universal or superior," he said.
The son of a diplomat, Fuentes was born in Panama and grew up in Latin America. He was educated in Washington, D.C., and later studied international law in Switzerland.
Fuentes' best-known book is "The Old Gringo," the first novel by a Mexican author to become a best-seller in the United States. Other works include "The Hydra Head," "TerraNostra," "Aura," and "The Death of Artemio Cruz."
Despite his own interest in international relations, and the rise of such writers as Vaclav Havel and Mario Vargas Llosa as political leaders, Fuentes said the role of the artist in society does not have to be political.
"There is no obligation to be political. It depends on the person.
"We are entering an extraordinary period of the novel," Fuentes said. "The novel is now an international event. Authors can reach a worldwide audience because of the quality of their imagination."
by CNB