Diego Rivera states that he is completely within his rights to respond to statements made by students at the School of Architecture against him. In spite of the threats received from students, he has no intention of retracting or withdrawing a single word of what he said in his speech, which does not insult anyone. Instead, he presents a set of truths on the field of aesthetics and society. Rivera gives his reason for referring to his speech on the School of Architecture’s opposition to a new Escuela de Artes Plásticas curriculum (presented by him and approved by the University’s Board of Trustees). The purpose of the reference was only public acknowledgement; he wished to acknowledge the board’s approval. The new plan would provide the opportunity to construct an art school that would meet the professional and social needs of art workers, as well as other workers, in Mexico. The painter states that the curriculum is not designed to train architects, rather to teach painters and sculptors about architecture as the structural background for their professional development. He also points out that its main goal is to make art accessible to a greater number of workers, thus providing material and intellectual improvement in their lives. Finally, Rivera clarifies some aspects of his personal finances as a response to comments published about his private life. These comments dubbed him a puppet, a fraud, a false revolutionary, prosperous and bourgeois, among other names. Moreover, Rivera states the amount he received for the murals at the Secretaría de Educación Pública [SEP, Ministry of Public Education], comparing it with amounts he received for works sold in the United States and Europe, where, in his opinion, his painting was more appreciated.
