REVOLT IN MEXICO

Otago Witness, Issue 3113, 12 November 1913, Page 27

REVOLT IN MEXICO

UNITED STATES’ ULTIMATUM. EXCITING STREET INCIDENT. PRESIDENT HUERTA’S POSITION. MEXICO CITY, November 3. The Government has temporarily tided over the financial chaos by compelling the National Bank and the Catholic party each to advance £200,000. When this amount is exhausted it intends drawing on the State treasuries. Wholesale political arrests are proceeding. The policy of appointing political opponents as diplomatists abroad has been abandoned. November 4. An ultimatum has been received from Washington ordering President Huerta 10 resign from the presidency immediately and not allow General Blanquet to succeed him, but instead to allow' a free election. President Huerta has conferred with all the foreign diplomats regarding the United States’ ultimatum, -but the result of the conference is not known. November 6. President Huerta is reported to have decided that ho will refuse to consider the United States’ proposals. He is also said to have ordered an active conscription throughout Mexico. All able-bodied men found in the streets are being pressed into service. The augmentation of the American fleet in Mexican waters is regarded as a naval demonstration. There are nine American warships at Yera Cruz. November 7. While driving in the streets an unidentified man seized one of President Huerta’s carriage horses and flourished an automatic pistol. The frightened animal reared and struck and stunned him. The President’s assailant was arrested, and taken to the hospital in a dying state. November 8. General Carranza is gaining much headway in Northern Mexico, and is appealing to Washington to recognise him instead of President Huerta. So far, the appeal has been ignored, but the State Department has asked for full particulars of the strength of his followers and the growth of the revolutionary movement. The war fever at Vera Cruz has been augmented by' the arrival of the Sincere, an American battleship, from Rhode Island. The vessel is anchored inside the harbour commanding the fortress. November 9. The British Minister conferred with the Unted States’ special envoy' (Mr Lind), but it is considered unlikely that they will agree upon a method of dealing with the situation. It is understood that Lord Cowdray’s interests have secured the introduction of considerable British capital, with which President Huerta w'ill beable to carry on his government for some time. It is persistently rumoured that President Huerta is fully prepared to take the risk of w>ar rather than submit to American dictation. Some circles would welcome war with the United States, as tending to unite all Mexicans against a foreign invader. HAVANA, November 6. Senor Manuel Calero, a presidential excandidate, has arrived here. It is believed that he fled from Mexico, but ats declares that he merely' intends visiting the United States. He announces that he has retired from politics. Senator Dominguez is also a refugee. His brother attacked Huerta in a speech in the Senate, and he mysteriously disappeared. Dominguez alleges that Huerta caused his death. November 9General Felix Diaz, with a fellowrefugee, was listening to the band when a group of Mexicans, including Guerrero, passed. It is asserted that Diaz made an unpleasant remark about the followers of the rebel leader Carranza. Guerrero departed, but returned with a number of Mexicans. Hot words were exchanged, and suddenly Guerrero sprang at Diaz and stabbed him from behind in the ear and neck. Thereupon somebody discharged a revolver, seriously wounding Guerrero. WASHINGTON, November 4. Chief .Secretary of State Bry r an denies that any ultimatum has yet been sent, to Mexico, but refuses to state what the American Note really' contained. It was first intended that the four American warships now en route for Mexico should relieve those at Vera Cruz, but it has been decided that the whole seven shall remain at Vera Cruz for the present. The New York Sun reclares that the general feeling among Congressmen, army' and naval officers, and diplomatists is that forcible intervention is inevitable. The United States has half a million men ready to take action at a moment’s notice. November 6. The United States Government is waiting for a reply' from President Heurta, but none has yet been received. The Chief Secretary of State (Mr Bryan) has refused to comment on the latest development in Mexico beyond stating that the position is too delicate to discuss. The battleships of the second division of I the Atlantic fleet have been ordered to I remain at Vera Cruz, in view of eventu- j alitiea.

President Huerta asked France to intervene, but the latter declined pending a declaration of United States’ policy. President Wilson reiterates his statement that military intervention is not contemplated in Mexico, but he refuses to state whether President Huerta has replied to his latest Note. It is known thajt the President fears that the Jingoistic attitude of the newspapers may possibly force matted to a head. The Note he has sent—described as a penultimatum, threatening an ultimatum in the event of Huerta not eliminating himself from Mexican politics. BOSTON, November 6. Sir C. A. Spring-Rice’s health is improving, and he is able to return to Washington. It is understood that Sir C. A. Spring-Rice will immediately take up the Mexican question with Mr Bryan. SAN FRANCISCO. November 5. It is reported here that the United States Government is massing troops on the Mexican border. November 9Official Federal messages wjiich have been received at El Paso (Texas) state that the Mexican Federal troops trapped 1200 rebels who were hurrying to Chihuahua to participate in several assaults on the town. The rebels were practically annihilated, f evf escaping. BERLIN, November 5. The German press generally is hostile to the United States’ Mexican policy. LONDON, November 3. The Mexican correspondent of The Times says that all news distributed through American channels is untrustworthy, owing to the Yellow Press being often paid by the rebels for sympathetic reports. He had personally investigated the matter, and had found that both the rebels and President Huerta expelled any correspondent who had been sending news unfavourable to their particular ends. The Times correspondent instances the Governors’ reports from all the States that they are free from fighting, whereas he personally found that four of the railways running from the United States were blocked by fighting. The rebel troops are mostly uneducated peons, and quite uncontrollable by their officers. The men plunder rich and poor alike, and arc not content with killing, but mutilate the bodies of the Federals. The better class of citizen only answer their requisitions when compelled to do so. November 4. The newspapers give prominence to Senator Bacon’s declaration that nothing is further from the thoughts of the United States than the conquest or acquisition of Mexican territory. The Times’e Mexico correspondent has been informed by' an American general that the number of Americans killed in Mexico exceeds 200, while the financial losses inflicted on the United States is £40,000,000. November 7. President Huerta’s decree suspending specie payments and declaring bank notes legal tender is sharply criticised in London as being likely to disorganise foreign trade and seriously affect British and other railway companies, since they will be forced to receive payment in a depreciated currency, while their dividends must be paid in gold.