File No. 312.52/258.
The Secretary of State to Consul Letcher.
Washington, May 4, 1914.
Department learns through the Spanish Ambassador, who asks its good offices in his behalf, that Joaquin Armendaiz, a Spanish subject now at Alpine, Texas, has been called upon by Constitutionalists at Monterey to pay forty thousand pesos to avoid confiscation of his property. Armendaiz has already suffered greatly in his interests although he has never taken any part in the politics of Mexico. If this demand is enforced it means his financial ruin.
You will lay the above before General Carranza and express to him the Department’s sincere hope that he will direct that this Spanish subject be generously dealt with, as several of the women members of his family are dependent upon him for support, and also because it is understood that Armendaiz has complied with former demands to the extent of his ability.