Mao meets Colombian leftists

Mao Zedong, Chinese statesman (1893-1976). Diary leaf signed, together with a passport issued to a South American Communist.

€ 120,000.00

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.