AFFAIRS IN MEXICO.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 281, 28 March 1929, Page 3

AFFAIRS IN MEXICO.

ELECTION METHODS. When President Carranza lay ridI died with bullets .n a bamboo hut in I the wilds cf Mexro some n ne years j ago, the scene was set for another | vicious circ:e of bloodshed and revo--1 lotion. To-day we read the climax of

jii me news Irom Mexico, j No sooner was Carranaa eliminated j than Obregon, Huerta and Calles ■ took over control, agreeing to hold I the presidency in rotation till death parted them. For th's .reason, and for | many others, these three became I known locally as the Triumvirate, i Thqy sprang from a fairly rough sec- j 1 ticn of the community, Calles in parj ticular, coming from the roughest of | frontier society. Obregon having J ! taken up the duties of President, Cal- I | les was apolnted to the next important j posit on, Minister of the Interior. Ho j immediately got busy preparing the I way for his own term of Presidency, j Dangerous competitors abruptly dis-

appeared, and he established in Yucatan the first communistic Government in the American hemisphere, | Under the guidance of Calles, and helped by the other members of the j Triumvirate, assassination, ruthless I confiscation, and exile became the preI dominating political features. Over 300,000 terrified inhabitants of Mexico emigrated the first year. Mexican refugees were even kidnapped over the frontier under the eyes of the United States. General Blanco, for instance, was dragged from his hotel ! in Texas, chloroformed and driven to Rio Grande. He was then manacled, beaten and thrown into the river. In 1923, the Triumvirate became quarrelsome, particularly regarding the oilfields. The coffers were empty, and by now most of the known competitors for the Presidency had been el.minated. In order to prevent Huerta controlling the oilfields, to obtain mere money for the continuance of ruthless elimination, the United States decided to embark on a policy of interference in Mexico. Unfortunately this foreign intervention was regarded as an indication that the United States were determined to assist the Triumvirate. Calles and Huerta thereupon proceeded to murder two or three thousand budding politicians, including General Flores, who had the brazenness to stand for the Presidency at the election in 1924.

r „ However, Calles was duly “elected” I and immediately repudiated existing I pledges with the United States, and J proceeded to nationalise the oilfields, j Not content with this, he started a I secondary revolution in Nicaragua. Led by one called Sacasa, the revolu- ■ tionists even threatened the Nicaragu- I jan capital. By now matters kere get- ! tng sufficiently troublesome to at- !

tract the attention of foreign Powers. ' I Britain sent a warship to those parts : I and other countries appealed to the i United States for help. By this time, ! Calles was widely hated; he had been I elected on a wave of murder, and now I he was in power he spared no pains ! i to see to it that his authority was not I undermined fer lack of a few sudden { deaths. He was indeed desperate. Once | again the coffers were empty, and revolutions were springing up everywhere, quite out of control. At this j juncture a bomb was thrown at Obregon but failed to harm him. The two assailants, however, were executed in the full glare of press photographers and special writers The photographs of the actual execution created a scandal when they were published in the United States.

To divert public opinion, Lindberg was invited to fly to Mexico. This ! master stroke of pidomacy quietened things down and saved the oilfields. I However, in 1928, Obregon, as is well | known, was assassinated. Calles then becamed the virtual leader of a political machine that was in reality nothing more than practical communism. There were scores of “bosses” and the workers were forced to act according to directions for fear of reprisals. In all, there was something like seven classes of “bosses,” who all lined their pockets at the expense of the workers. Farms were divided and given to favourites, and the original peasants were left with nothing but useless land. Since 1925, over 3,000,000 people have emigrated, and it is calculated that at this rate the entire country would be depopulated by 1934, with Calles as sole survivor. Murder was everywhere. No less than 10 per cent of the Senate were killed in Parliamentary disputes. Since the assassination of Carranza, no less than eight would-be Presidents have been murdered, and hundreds of minor officials. The murder of Obregon upset the equilibrium of the Triumvirate, and the new competitors do not now see in Calles a poular favourite. It is not surprising, therefore, that a section of Mexico is now demand.ng his removal.