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The journalist Elvira Vargas informs, in a short note, that there had been several mentions of Jaime García Terrés, director de Difusión Cultural de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [director of cultural information at the UNAM], appointing the “Hungarian” [sic] Mathias Goeritz to be in charge of the section of visual arts. Vargas confesses being unaware of Goeritz’s merits. She mentions, however, that even if she did know him, the journalist considers that there are Mexican artists who deserve to occupy that position. It is not because Vargas is against foreigners, she writes. It is her knowledge about Goeritz’s behavior in Guadalajara, in which he proved to be José Clemente Orozco’s enemy. Besides, in her opinion, Goeritz has always attacked Mexican painting. Vargas calls him a mediocre artist who lacks sympathy for the country and serves foreign interests.
Jaime García Terrés (1924-1996) was the director of the Department of Cultural Information of the UNAM during the 1960s. It is worth remembering that when Mathias Goeritz arrived in Mexico, he lived in Guadalajara, Jalisco, where he taught Visual Education at the Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Guadalajara. Besides, he produced a sculpture and homage to José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), information that the journalist seems to be unaware of. Elvira Vargas is obviously echoing the attacks and ill-intentioned comments about Goeritz, joining what many Mexican artists did, particularly Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. The purpose was to misinform the public about the artistic and teaching activities of the artist of German origin. Goeritz’s reply to Vargas’s comments were published in the same section on March 15, 1954, where the journalist also informs that the university authorities decided not to contract with the “Hungarian” artist to head the Artes Plásticas section of the UNAM.