The United States has a proud tradition of denying famous authors entry to the country, from Graham Greene (signing up for the Communist party for a couple of weeks in his teens was apparently sufficient to get him blackballed) to (to name just a few) Gabriel García Márquez, Doris Lessing, Abe Kobo, Pablo Neruda, Dario Fo -- and Carlos Fuentes.
Thanks to the efforts of the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism's New York City News Service, who requested Fuentes' FBI file under the Freedom of Information Act, we can now see what some of the Fuentesian fuss was about -- see Graham Kates' report, FBI Foiled and Followed Author, and, of course, the FBI file itself.
Fuentes did make it to the US (even after his childhood schooldays in Washington DC ...), though for quite a while not always with much government approval -- apparently slipping into the country by train in 1965, obtaining diplomatic visas at other times -- but as late as 1969 he was: "removed from a transatlantic cruise ship" when it docked in Puerto Rico, and the FBI continued to keep tabs on him even after he was regularly being allowed into the country.
In these days when state-surveillance is being much discussed, it's always good to be reminded of how silly the state can get in its handling of 'information' ..... (Note, however, that Fuentes and the other excluded authors mentioned above were/are not US citizens, and thus have basically no rights (in and from the United States) re. privacy, surveillance, etc.; even in the current debate(s), everyone seems to be just fine with foreigners continuing to be fair game, as far as any and all of their personal information and communication goes .....)
Thanks to the efforts of the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism's New York City News Service, who requested Fuentes' FBI file under the Freedom of Information Act, we can now see what some of the Fuentesian fuss was about -- see Graham Kates' report, FBI Foiled and Followed Author, and, of course, the FBI file itself.
Fuentes did make it to the US (even after his childhood schooldays in Washington DC ...), though for quite a while not always with much government approval -- apparently slipping into the country by train in 1965, obtaining diplomatic visas at other times -- but as late as 1969 he was: "removed from a transatlantic cruise ship" when it docked in Puerto Rico, and the FBI continued to keep tabs on him even after he was regularly being allowed into the country.
In these days when state-surveillance is being much discussed, it's always good to be reminded of how silly the state can get in its handling of 'information' ..... (Note, however, that Fuentes and the other excluded authors mentioned above were/are not US citizens, and thus have basically no rights (in and from the United States) re. privacy, surveillance, etc.; even in the current debate(s), everyone seems to be just fine with foreigners continuing to be fair game, as far as any and all of their personal information and communication goes .....)