Why FBI Had Been Spying On Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel García Márquez For 24 Years

According to declassified documents (requested by The Washington Post), the FBI spied on Gabriel García Márquez since February 1961. At the time, director of the agency, Edgar J. Hoover, requested the Colombian writer to be flagged so that the agency would be notified immediately if he entered the United States. The petition came from the fact that Hoover knew García Marquez was about to embark on a journey to New York, with his wife Mercedes Barcha, and their infant son, Rodrigo, to establish a Cuban government news service, Prensa Latina. Although the agency’s main motivation to keep an eye on the author, in later year, he was considered a high-profile leftist and became friends with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Although the family had no idea the FBI was spying on the famous writer, his son, Rodrigo García, was not surprised to fin out. In fact, he says it would’ve been unusual if he hadn’t been spied on, given the circumstances. “Considering the fact that this Colombian guy was in New York opening a Cuban press agency,” he explained. He said his father did mention being followed by two men, on his way back to the house from work, but didn’t think much of it.

García Márquez was not famous at the time, since he released his first well-known novel, “El Amor en Tiempos del Cólera” until 1967. Ironically, the Colombian author was in fact fired from Prensa Latina, after a few months because he was considered insufficiently radical.