Descripción

70 x 110 mm. 1 page of a day planner, with notes on the reverse. Signed in blue ballpoint ink. [With:] 1 black and white albumen photograph (58 x 70) and and a Chinese visa, printed with handwritten entry of name and date (150 x 206). The autograph of Chairman Mao Zedong, given to a visiting Colombian communist, Jaime Velásquez Toro (d. ca. 2000), who worked as a leftist member of the Colombian Liberal Party and as a representative of the labour union of the Frontino Gold Mines. Velásquez visited China in 1959 as part of a presidential visit by Alberto Lleras Camargo (1906-90), which allowed him to encounter Mao in person. Included along with the autograph is Velásquez's Chinese entry visa, and a snapshot of Velásquez (to the far right in a white shirt and tie, jacket slung over one arm) and his party in front of the Great Wall with a mix of Chinese and Colombian dignitaries, including Alfonso López Michelsen (second from left), later president of Columbia. The photograph is dated to 1 October 1959, shortly after the entry date of the Chinese visa, and the signature is dated in the same ink "Oct. 7/59". - Signatures by the Great Chairman Mao are extremely rare. - Paper a touch toned, with very slight remnants of glue-stains to reverse due to previous framing. Signature bright and clean. - By descent to the Velásquez heirs.