Fuentes: `Import Of Culture Is Fundamental'

In California, residents have banded together to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the border. In Germany, Neo-Nazi youths pelter immigrants with rocks and burn everything in sight.

Nationalism, ethnic identity and regionalism have come back with a vengeance after the fall of the Berlin Wall, says Carlos Fuentes, one of Latin America's most distinguished novelists.

To Fuentes, these cultural clashes are an aberration, a fear of "cross-pollination" gone awry. And they are the leftovers of the so-called new-world order following the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

It could be said that the the fall of communism has led to the rise of fascism, he said.

Fuentes, who was in Seattle last night to participate in Bumbershoot's International Literary Arts Festival, has little patience with ethnocentrics.

A Mexican citizen, he speaks like a man without borders. His world view has earned him respect and criticism, notably from some of his Mexican colleagues who don't think he is Mexican enough.

The topic of last night's round table, "Cultural Boundaries: Breaking or Reformulating," seemed to be tailored to Fuentes, whose books often have tried to define a Mexican national character as well as Mexican culture and its strong Aztec ties.

Also on the panel, were short-story writer Grace Paley, Chicano poet Juan Felipe Herrera, San Antonio poet/publisher Ray Gonzalez and Argentine author Luisa Valenzuela.

For Fuentes, a better world order would be inclusive, where cultural identity can co-exist with social justice.

No where else in the world is the challenge to cultural boundaries greater than in the United States, a country of immigrants.

Others may see the new wave of immigrants coming into the U.S. as a fearful development in the ever-growing melting pot, but to Fuentes, they represent a "vigorous import" of ideas and culture that strengthen, rather than weaken, the country.

"The U.S. should not fear Latin (American) culture. The vigorous import of culture and ideas is fundamental," said Fuentes, in an interview before his readings at the Bagley Wright Theatre.

"What would this country be without those contributions?" he asked, acknowledging that fear of immigration has always been part of U.S. history.

"Benjamin Franklin feared German immigration. (Americans) forget that they all were immigrants.

"Only in a dead culture there are fixed borders," said Fuentes, who at 63 walks and talks with the energy of someone 30 years younger.

Nor is he concerned about the "Americanization" of Spanish America, whose peoples could be called "Indo-Afro-Ibero-Americans" to reflect their cultural and ethnic heritage, Fuentes said.

"Culture is our strength . . . but we haven't made any ground in politics and the economy," said Fuentes, who has often come under fire for his left-of-center politics. Yet, he is encouraged by the political changes in Latin America.

"There are no assurances. Our political institutions are weak, social unrest high. It is more urgent than ever to propose what we have never proposed in Latin America: economic development, democracy and social justice," he said.

It is something the U.S. should keep in mind as well. In the midst of global economic integration, there's an emergence of a Third World within the First World, he said.

"We are sharing more and more of our problems with the U.S.," he said, mentioning a growing underclass, drug abuse, pollution and other social problems this country has in common with Latin America.

Fuentes has been busy the past year and has just finished another book, "The Orange Tree," that is awaiting publication.

It is a volume in four parts. The first explores the Spanish arrival in the Americas, but it also takes another twist, with Fuentes fantasizing about what would have happened if the Mayans had conquered Spain.

Most recently, he also has published "The Campaign and The Buried Mirror," a book about Hispanic people based on a BBC-TV series he developed.

Fuentes said Hispanics in the U.S. are helping create a new mestizo culture, despite attempts by the David Dukes and Pat Buchanans of the world to stop this ethnic fusion.

Indeed, "It is us who have family values," said Fuentes. "It's something very deep . . . solidarity, the concept of respect for your parents, for your grandparents."