Renovating Revolution. Carlos Fuentes, Mexico, and Cuba in the Long 1960s

Authors

  • Kate Reed Princeton University

Keywords:

Mexican Revolution, Carlos Fuentes, Cuban Revolution, Cold War, Imperialism

Abstract

Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes led a remarkable political life, in capacities both official and unofficial. This paper considers Fuentes’s relationship to the Mexican state and Cuban Revolution during the long 1960s, from his initial radical support for the Cuban Revolution through his break with Cuba and turn to support the presidency of the hegemonic Partido Revolucionario Institucional’s Luis Echeverría. Yet, despite what seems a trajectory from critical intellectual to intellectual “in the shadow of the state,” this paper argues that Fuentes was actually more consistent in his political positions than appears at first glance, and that his (dis)alignment with different administrations had less to do with changes in his ideology and more to do with his appraisal of the changing political context. Perhaps the most important continuity in Fuentes’ thought was his conviction in the latent potential of the Mexican Revolution: while unafraid to attack the shortcomings of the Revolution or the party that sought to institutionalize it, Fuentes never lost faith in the possibility that the goals of the Revolution—diminished inequality, social and economic inclusion, agrarian reform, nationalization of natural resources—be realized peacefully, through the existing governmental apparatus.

Author Biography

Kate Reed, Princeton University

Kate Reed is an undergraduate History major at Princeton University, focusing on 20th century Mexican history.

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Published

2020-05-08

How to Cite

Reed, K. (2020). Renovating Revolution. Carlos Fuentes, Mexico, and Cuba in the Long 1960s. A Contracorriente: Una Revista De Estudios Latinoamericanos, 17(3), 63–93. Retrieved from https://acontracorriente.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/acontracorriente/article/view/1777

Issue

Section

Articles / Artículos