SIR, — The great Mexican painter, David Alfaro Siqueiros, has been sentenced
to eight years' im- prisonment by a Mexican court, on specious
charges and without conclusive evidence—a sentence which in the circumstances may amount to life im- prisonment. Siqueiros, who is sixty-five, was arrested in August, 1960, with eighty-four-year-old journalist Filomena Mata, and charged among other things with 'social dissolution,' an offence under the Mexican Penal Code which many consider is in violation of the Constitution and contrary to the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
A Committee has been set up in Britain to work for the release of Siqueiros and other political prisoners in Mexico and is arranging activities to draw attention to his plight. In particular an appeal to the President of Mexico, of which the sponsors to date are Peter Benenson, John Berger, Henry Moore, C. Day Lewis, John Osborne, Kenneth Tynan, Arnold Wesker, Hon. Nicholas Ridley, MP, Barnett Stross, MP, Sir Leslie Plummer, MP, Sir Hamilton Kerr, MP, Harvey Rhodes, MP, has been set on foot and will be presented in due course to the Mexican Ambassador. It is also intended in the near future to hold a film show and at a later date an exhibition of Siqueiros's recent work. (He was working on a mural in Chapultepec Castle— Mexico's History Museum—at the time of his arrest.) The Committee, if it is to succeed in its urgent mission, needs assistance in any of the following forms: (i) donations (the Committee has already spent a substantial sum and fairly heavy expense will be incurred in connection with the Appeal and Exhibition) (ii) help in furthering the Appeal (iii) offers of secretarial assistance.
GODFREY RUBENS
Secretary, The Committee for the Release of Siqueiros 76 Lavington Road, W13
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