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Novels were forbidden in the Spanish colonies by the Inquisition. The literary genre of novels was seen as dangerous. Reading a novel could warrant one jail time and humiliation. Novels weren't published until after independence at the beginning if the 19th century. This ban on fiction was part of the inquisitions goal to rid the "fictional disease" that plagued them.
Information from Latin America: Fiction and Reality by Mario Vargas Llosa.
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