He said many of his works are derived from stories told to him by his grandmothers.
"[The] novel was about paying attention," he said.
Fuentes, who was the Mexican ambassador to France from 1975 to 1977, said he has seen Mexico grow immensely and faces problems of pollution, dirt, and traffic.
"We love it because it's our city, it's all the ills in the world…but we go back to it," he said.
He said he saw civic activism as a positive force in Mexican society. For instance, he said, after an earthquake in 1995, ordinary citizens helped locate missing people and clean up the damage.
"I have faith in citizens and civil society to organize itself," he said.
Fuentes said some American culture had been a positive influence on Mexico.
He said that Mexico has accepted the "great culture" such as Faulkner and that "Kentucky Fried Chicken is secondary."
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