File No. 312.52/77.

The Spanish Ambassador to the Counselor of the Department of State.

My dear Mr. Counselor: I have just received a telegram saying that the British Consul, who had received instructions from Mexico City to protect Spanish residents in Chihuahua, has notified our colony that Villa has ordered all the Spaniards to abandon their property and leave the district in ten days’ time, and that unless these orders are obeyed they will be shot.

I venture to bring the matter to your consideration and to request that urgent telegraphic instructions be sent to the American Consul at Chihuahua for the protection of the lives and property of my compatriots which appear to be in grave danger.

Believe me [etc.]

Juan Riaño.