The Mexican Embassy in France held a major conference and placed a plaque on its façade in honor of Carlos Fuentes, one of the most prominent and prolific Mexican writers of his generation. He was also a diplomat in the Foreign Ministry and ambassador to France.
The Mexican embassy and the Cervantes Institute organized a “Conference on the Mexican writer, diplomat and political thinker Carlos Fuentes” with four specialists who discussed the author’s time in Mexico and Paris. Also present was Silvia Lemus, the writer’s widow.
The roundtable consisted of Jean d’Ormesson, French author, philosopher and member of the Académie française; Florence Olivier, Professor of Comparative Literature at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3 and creator of the “Carlos Fuentes in Paris” Cervantes Trail; Alan Riding, journalist and writer; and Carlos de Icaza, former Ambassador of Mexico in France and current Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs.
Undersecretary Carlos de Icaza said that as a diplomat Carlos Fuentes was highly respected in France. “With more than 40 books translated into French, diplomatic experience and well-known in French literary circles, journalism and public opinion, Carlos Fuentes was one of the most outstanding cultural ambassadors of Mexico in France and of France in Mexico. He exemplified Mexico’s culture abroad and helped define Mexican and Latin American literature, giving them great international exposure.”
The journalist Silvia Lemus de Fuentes unveiled a commemorative plaque on the facade of the residence of the Mexican embassy in France. The act was witnessed by French officials, Ambassador Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo and friends close to the couple.
The inscription on the marble plaque reads: “Carlos Fuentes, 1928-2012. Mexican writer and ambassador in France, lived in this house between 1975 and 1977. The ultimate homeland of a Latin American is France.”