Mexican Writer Carlos Monsiváis was Investigated by the FBI in the 70's

His affiliation to "inconvenient" organizations for the United States prompted the late Carlos Monsiváis, one of the most renowned Mexican intellectuals worldwide, to be under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to documents La Opinión had access to, during his stay in Los Angeles in the 70's, the notable writer, considered to be the father of the contemporary chronicle in Mexico for his superb work in journalism and social studies which led him to obtain international recognition, had caught the attention of the FBI over his alleged activities linked to the Chicano movement.

According to La Opinión, a 12-page report written between 1973 and 1974 by the FBI, declassified last November 13 by request under the Federal Information Law made by the same newspaper, revealed that the FBI investigated Monsiváis during his stay in the United States.

The report released on Monday tells of the issues the FBI had with Monsiváis for his alleged relation with the "Nueva Izquierda" group, which published a nameless magazine and distributed it in local universities.

The leftist activities of the Mexican intellectual during the 70's in Los Angeles worried the federal government, since it feared the writer would become involved in "radical" activities, mainly in favor of the Chicano movement which was getting stronger in the early 70's.

Besides this, the Mexican writer had been identified as one of the people that supported the international committee that defended Eldridge Cleaver, leader of the Black Panthers.

These worries finally led the Bureau to recommend that Monsiváis not be given a visa to participate in the Fourth International Congress of Mexican Studies, which took place in Santa Monica in October, 1973, a visa which was nevertheless provided by the American Embassy in Mexico City.

Monsiváis was not the only Mexican writer under FBI surveillance

Monsiváis was not the only Mexican writer under FBI surveillance. Last June, the FBI declassified a 170-page dossier on Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, which says it placed the writer under surveillance for almost 20 years.

According to Chilean newspaper La Tercera, like Monsiváis, Fuentes was referred to as a "prominent Marxist intellectual" with a "long history of subversive relationships".

Owing to his membership in the Mexican Communist Party, Fuentes was denied an American visa twice, in 1962 and 1969, and starting in 1970 when the Mexican writer taught literature in the Universities of New York and Columbia, the FBI created a network of informants to know of any activity that could be considered strange for the Mexican writer, reported then ABC.

The same source points out that until 1985, Fuentes was still an uncomfortable figure for the Bureau and the American government owing to his communist past.

The surveillance on Monsiváis was less strict. According to the report, the Bureau ended its activities against the writer in 1974.

Since the mid 70's, Monsiváis stood out for his alleged affiliation to radical groups in Mexico and in the United States; however, these accusations could never be proved beyond the leftist postures the writer always professed.

The same reported dated in 1974, says there is no certain link with Chicano groups, and the investigation against the writer was stopped.