Show 12 A The Salt lake Tribune Sunday November Centuries-Ol- d 20 1988 2 Writers Provide Mexico With Food for Thought can be regarded as a search for our own selves which have been deformed by alien institutions and a form that will express them" Paz says In Fuentes' best known novel “The Death of Artemio Cruz" the reader listens in on the thoughts of the dying hero who reflects on the 12 most important days of his life and the events that brought on the corruption of the revolution's ideals Paz was born March 31 1914 and ved in exile in the United States for a time as a teen-age- r because of his father's revolutionary activities While still a law student he became a protege of the Chilean Nobel poet Pablo Neruda who helped him publish his first book of poems inspired him with Marxist ideals and sent him to Spain at the height of that councivil war try's 1936-3Paz joined Spain’s leftist Republican forces insisted on being sent to the front but was not considered “reliable” enough to be given a rifle Within a few years he became disillusioned with Marxism and had a falling out with Neruda then the Chilean ambassador Paz joined the Mexican foreign service but quit in 1968 when he was ambassador to India to protest the suppression of the student riots He turned against the Institutional Revolutionary Party in power for the past 59 years which he has often called "corrupt" He also raised hackles by equating Cuba's Fidel Castro with o Chile's rightist dictator Gen Pinochet claiming that both are equally repressive Four years ago he caused a furor by calling Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista revolution — which Mexico supports — inconsequential The son of a career diplomat Fuentes was born on Nov 11 1928 has lived most of his life abroad and is fluent in English He is currently a professor of literature at Harvard University Fuentes too joined the diplomatic service but resigned in 1977 while he was ambassador to z France because Gustavo Diaz was named ambassador to Spain Diaz Ordaz had been president in 1968 and Fuentes said he did not want to be in the same service with the man who ordered the Mexico City massacre that left at least 36 dead By Isaac A Levi Associated Press Writer MEXICO CITY — Mexico's foremost living writers Octavio Paz and Carlos Puentes are among the sharpest critics of Mexico’s system of government under which the same party been in power for six decades Paz charges the Institutional Revolutionary Party which emerged from the 1910-2revolution has become corrupt Puentes maintains the revolution itself was betrayed and corrupted even before it was over Both writers were born in Mexico City and are recipients of the prestigious Miguel Cervantes prize the foremost literary award for Spanish writers Both lived abroad for many years and served as Mexican diplomats and both resigned for the same reason — the bloody suppression of student riots in Mexico City in 1968 Although they no longer have any direct influence on government their works and statements provoke thought and sometimes acrimonicus debate among their countrymen Paz once an admirer of Marxism now calls himself a “Europe-an-styl- e social democrat" and says he has little use for Marxist ideology Fuentes has been called a ‘‘liberal” but so far has not committed himself to any ideology he has been criticized by Paz's fans on grounds that he has spent so much time abroad that he doesn’t know Mexico anymore Even so his influence was demonstrated after the US presidential election when his long analysis of the American outcome was published on the front page of one of Mexico's leading newspapers Excelsior Fuentes credited George Bush’s aide James Baker with running a brilliant cynical and pragmatic campaign and said Baker's appointment as Secretary of State was a good sign for relations because of what he called Baker's pragmatic turn of mind Paz’s most influential work the 1950 essay “The Labyrinth of Solitude" attacks the notion that the Mexican has developed a philosophy of his own Instead he says the Mexican has isolated himself from the world and should seek to break that pathological solitude “The whole history of Mexico long-domina- 1 Prize-winnin- 9 Au-gust- o book-lengt- g h Or-da- Tradition Peru Hopeful Joins Ranks of Writer Politicians By Monte Hayes Associated Press Writer LIMA Peru — It came as no surprise to anyone in Latin America that a novelist poet and essayist Mario Vargas Llosa would seek to become president of Peru For Vargas Llosa frequently mentioned as a future winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature is following a centuries-ol- d tradition of an area where cultural figures both classical and pop have also played important political roles Peru's Vice President Luis Alberto Sanchez himself a writer and educator as well as politician says that in Latin America individuals who have distinguished themselves in literature and art can carry their prestige into politics because they live in “half finished" societies that value men of multiple talents "In societies that have not evolved greatly there is little specialization" Sanchez who is 88 and has written more than 100 books said in an interview "The politician can be a writer a priest a military man many things" Vargas Llos- - who once described himself as a “specialist in fantasies in dreams” stands in sharp contrast to the professional politicians and technocrats in many other parts of the world “This is definitely not my calling" the writer said recently “If my country were not what it is politics would probably be a very secondary concern in my life” Instead the author of such books as “The Green House" and “Conversation in a Cathedral" finds himself leading a center-righ- t political movement that seeks to prevent the election in 1990 of Alfonso Barrantes a declared Communist now favored to win the presidency “I am fundamentally a writer but at the same time I am a person concerned about the reality of his country and above all its future" said Vargas Llosa Peru is wracked by its worst economic crisis of the century with the annual inflation rate surpassing 1200 percent It also is bloodied by a savage leftist insurgency that has claimed more than 12000 lives Vargas Llosa has been traveling into Peru’s remote backlands climbing down mine shafts high in the Andes and visiting isolated Indian villages in the Amazon forests to spread his message of the dangers that await Peru if the next presidential election is won by Communists “They would impoverish us even more than we are now and little by little just as has occurred with other Marxist regimes they would totally trample our political freedoms” he declared at a recent rally —Auocwted Preii Loietphoto Peruvian presidential hopeful Vargas Llosa has trekked nation’s backlands vis Elsewhere Jose Luis Rodriguez Latin America's most popular ballad singer speaks seriously of running for president of Venezuela Ruben Blades one of the region's top singers and composers of salsa music talks of one day seeking the presidency of Panama Although writers and artists participate actively in politics throughout the region only a few have been successful in their bids for the presidency of a country Romulo Gallegos Venezuela's greatest novelist was elected president in 1947 Juan Bosch regarded as the Dominican Republic’s finest short story writer was elected president of that Caribbean country in 1962 Both men were overthrown after only months in office by their countries’ armed forces which viewed them as arrogant and soft on leftists “Gallegos had a lot of Communists around him and they began to flatter him — and that is a writer’s great weakness his vanity We are all vain" said Sanchez a founder of Peru’s populist Aprista Party Bosch’s ouster led to a 1965 popular rebellion that ended after US troops invaded the Dominican Republic At 79 Bosch is still active in politics He received 18 percent of the vote in 1986 but polls indicate that if the elections were held today he would win against conservative President Joaquin Balaguer a lawyer and also a writer In Brazil where the national language is Portuguese President Jose Samey has written collections of po iting Indians in Amazon forests and down mineshafts in Andes to deliver message i I etry and short stories some of which have been translated into English Spanish French and Russian Sarney has called his election to the prestigious Brazilian Academy of Letters "the greatest moment of pure happiness in my life" The list of distinguished Latin American writers and artists who have sought public office or influenced public policy through their political activism is long Chile’s most famed literary figure the poet Pablo Neruda winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971 was the Chilean Communist Party's candidate for president in 1970 But he withdrew to give his support to a coalition candidate Salvador Allen-d- e a Marxist who went on to win and was overthrown in a military coup three years later The region’s best known writer Colombia's Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a vigorous defender of Fidel Castro's Cuba In Mexico the late muralists David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera were leadworld-renowne- ing members d of the Mexican Communist Party Mexico's poet and essayist Octavio Paz and novelist Carlos Fuentes have both won the Miguel de Cervantes prize the most important literary honor for Spanish-languag- e writers and are perennial candidates for the Nobel Prize Both have served in the Mexican diplomatic service and have been outspoken in their political views Fuentes currently a professor of literature at Harvard University has been a strong critic of US policy in Central America Octavio Paz going against the current of leftist sympathy among Latin American intellectuals says he has little use for Marxism Mexico's leftist intellectuals say they have little use for Paz Although he never served in public office Argentina's most distinguished writer Jorge Luis Borges was known not for what he did in the political arena but what he wrote and said about it He frequently expressed his scorn for elected governments in Argentina and other Latin American nations “You Americans are worthy of democracy but we are not" Borges said in an interview before his death last year “In this country we always find some rascal to vote for" Nicaragua's leading poet is the Rev Ernesto Cardenal a Roman Catholic priest who served for years as culture minister in the leftist Sandinista government An immediately' recognizable figure for his black be- ret Cardenal has been criticized for using his international prestige to defend the regime But Vice President Sergio Ramirez of Nicaragua who just published his third novel is considered the most influential intellectual within the Sandinista government The Venezuelan writer Carlos Rangel has sharply criticized the role of intellectuals in Latin American public life in a controversial book 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