Art Gives Life To What

Now The Masses Of Latin America Are Electing Governments They Feel Can Take Forward The Democratic Reforms Of The Last 20 Years, And Transform Them Into Social And Economic Reforms. This Is, I Think, Extremely Important, Because It Also Means That The Left Has Abandoned The Revolutionary Solution Proposed By Che Guevara And Has Taken The Democratic Path.

Things Have Changed In Latin America Now. We Mostly Have Democratic Governments In Latin America, So The Position Of The Writer Has Changed. It Is Not As Neruda Used To Say, That A Latin American Writer Walks Around With The Body Of His People On His Back. Now, We Have Citizens, We Have Public Means Of Expression, Political Parties, Congress, Unions. So, The Writer's Position Has Changed, We Now Consider Ourselves To Be Citizens - Not Spokespeople For Everybody - But Citizens That Participate In The Political And Social Process Of The Country.

In Latin America, Even Atheists Are Catholics.

Most Writers In Mexico Have Had Posts As Ambassadors, Secretaries - That Is No Longer The Case. Now A Writer Can Live Off Writing. He Has An Audience: There Are Publishing Houses, There Are Newspapers - So The Situation Is Not As Terrible As It Used To Be When There Were No Means And He Had To Go Into Government Service, Be An Ambassador Or A Cabinet Minister, Etc. So, Things Are Changing In The Sense That The Civil Society Is Now The Protagonist. The Writer Therefore Occupies A Different Position, But No Less Influential Than In The Past, In A New, Democratic Society.

Children Know How To Be Cruel, And The Cruelty Of Their Elders Is The Surest Residue Of The Malaise The Young Feel Toward Things Strange, Things Other, Things That Reveal Our Own Ignorance Or Insufficiency