In 1952, when President Miguel Alemán Valdés stepped down, the construction works he was promoting at Ciudad Universitaria (UNAM), in the southern part of Mexico City, had yet to be completed. The following year, David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) sent this long letter to the architect/ project manager, Carlos Lazo (1914-55), expressing surprise that his work had been postponed until 1954. After all, the budget for the project was in place. The painter himself was prepared to provide his own money for the research related to his mural and he had stated as much. Ciudad Universitaria was a huge project believed by the Mexican School of Painting to be committed to its own plan of educational construction through murals. Meanwhile, a new architectural and visual plan was under construction to the east of Ciudad Universitaria at Pedregal de San Ángel, where the same volcanic rock that blanketed the area would be used to execute a different vision. The other project, unrelated to the Mexican School, was designed by the architect, Luis Barragán (1902-88). This letter is published in Palabras de Siqueiros [The Words of Siqueiros], a selection from the preface and notes of Raquel Tibol (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1996), 367-70.