Mayor Martin Chavez declared a new holiday in Albuquerque.
Oct. 30 is Carlos Fuentes Day. In a statement, Chavez declared the holiday in honor of “Mexico’s greatest living writer,” who visited UNM Friday.
Chavez did not attend the campus event.
Fuentes, whose most recent work is The Death of Artemio Cruz: A Novel, gave a speech titled “Mexico in a Nutshell” in the SUB Ballroom, and was available for book signing afterward.
Fuentes recounted the history of Mexico from the time of the Aztecs to present day. He said the history of Mexico stretches back so far that it is impossible to determine a specific date that the nation began.
“Old nations, such as Mexico and Greece, have foundation myths that are lost in the mists of time,” he said.
Fuentes said the arrival of the conquistadors, such as Hernan Cortés, who enslaved the indigenous civilizations of Mexico, marked the beginning of the creation of modern-day Mexico.
“To die terribly, as the Aztecs did, is not a wound that heals easily,” he said. “But it forced the Mexicans to create something new, something different.”
Since that time, several countries, including Spain and the U.S., have fought for control of Mexico, Fuentes said.
“Mexico — disorganized, rudderless — became open session for foreign intervention,” he said. “We lost one-half of our national territory in an unjust war by the United States of America in pursuit of its manifest destiny.”
Fuentes said that in the latter half of the 19th century, the leadership of Porfirio Díaz was counterproductive in Mexico’s development.
“The long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz in Mexico, from 1876-1910, sought to give us progress without freedom,” he said.
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Fuentes also spoke about recent developments in Mexican history, such as the government massacre of 500 students in 1968, and recent corruption charges against political parties PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) and PAN (National Action Party). He said Mexico has become more democratic in the last 100 years, but corruption is still a problem in the country.
“In Mexico, all political parties have shown that corruption was not the monopoly of the PRI,” he said. “I will not deny something that you americanos know well: Democracy does not suppress corruption.”
At the closing of his speech, Fuentes addressed the drug problems that have caused horrific violence throughout Mexico and the United States.
“Sometimes we say, ‘Oh, Mexico is guilty because it offers drugs,’ but it would not offer drugs if this country did not demand,” he said. “I personally am in favor of depenalizing or legalizing all drugs.”
Student César Colmenero said he found Fuentes’ lecture to be informative, especially because it related to classes he’s taking at UNM.
“He covered a lot. I heard a lot of names I’m hearing in other courses I’m taking,” he said. “It’s just interesting, like he said, in a nutshell.”
