The Prison Report Of The Day A Former President Visited The Great Muralist Siqueiros

The visit of Cárdenas to Lecumberri Prison took place on December 6 around 10:15am, accompanied by his son Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and his assistant, the engineer Rivera. The three were received by the then director of the penitentiary, Carlos Martin del Campo, who would take them to the office of public defenders where Siqueiros and the journalist Filomeno Mata were already awaiting their arrival.

Mata expressed his thanks for the visit and his discontent for being imprisoned without a valid legal basis. He argued that him and the muralist Siqueiros had only raised their voices in support of those who fought for their cause. He also asked Cárdenas to be do something for their cause, as they planned to go on a hunger strike that would put pressure on the authorities and to push for a positive ruling in favor of the political prisoners.

For his part, Siqueiros expressed his disappointment in the country's politics, as he viewed Mexico to be the only democracy that upheld an article that repressed syndicates and workers and their efforts to improve their unions. He also mentioned that he would put a stop to the strike that was planned for January of the next year only because a figure like Lázaro Cárdenas had requested it, but that it didn't mean that the struggles and injustices liberal minded people lived though in the country should be ignored.

Cárdenas said goodbye to Mata and Siqueiros and after embracing them, he immediately went to the prison polygon where he would meet other representatives of the social movements, such as the leaders, Demetrio Vallejo and Valentín Campa Salazar, who formed part of railroad movement. The former president expressed his support for the situation and presented the actions he would take to shine a light on the injustices made against political prisoners.

A view of what the prison used to look like

Upon finishing his speech, the former president was assailed by those present, who raised their voices expressing the injustice of being detained. In the case of Demetrio Vallejo, he said he was arrested for voicing his disagreement on the management of the railroad administration and that many of the accusations made against him and his movement were invented by the authorities.

Valentín Campa emphasized that from the presidential mandate of the General Plutarco Elías Calles to the current mandate he had been imprisoned for his ideals, with the exception of Cárdenas' period. He said that while Lázaro Cárdenas had been president, he had never stepped foot on any jail, and while he felt he had a habit of living behind bars, he maintained that he would never stop fighting for his dreams of freedom and the respect for human rights.

General Cárdenas left the prison around 2:00 p.m, and at the door he came across the wife of Siqueiros, Angelica Arenas de Alfaro and his lawyer, Mr. Juan José Ortega.

This report was drafted days after the event by an agent of the now defunct Federal Directorate of Security. The report also mentioned that there was a division between the railroad union that didn't recognize Demetrio Vallejo as their leader. Mata and Siqueiros requested a space where they could carry out a meeting with other political prisoners to organize the hunger strike. In addition, it was reported that the daughter of Valentin Campa was found with a manifesto supporting the political prisoners in the San de Dios prison in Puebla.

This report and other documents related to the Federal Security Directorate fund can be found in the exhibition "Siqueiros, imprison the flare", which is permanently displayed in the General Archive of the Nation.