File No. 812.00/15567.
The Confidential Agent of the Provisional Government of Mexico to the Secretary of State .
Excellency: I consider it my duty to invite the Department’s attention to the circumstances attending the capture of Naco, Sonora, by a large military force composed of partisans of Carranza led by General Elias Calles, in direct violation of the agreement entered into, at the instance of Brigadier General Hugh L. Scott, U. S. A., between Governor Maytorena and General Calles, provided [providing] that the place should be thereafter regarded as neutral by both parties. To this agreement the forces under Governor Maytorena have given absolute adherence.
When, however, Governor Maytorena recently despatched a portion of his troops to the south for the purpose of affording protection to foreign residents in the locality from violence at the hands of the hostile Yaqui Indians, General Calles took advantage of the fact to march on Naco with a large force and to occupy it after a brief resistance in which several civilians lost their lives. The crime committed by Calles in killing these men, whose lives were rendered sacred by the agreement above referred to, is nothing short of murder of the worst character. The town, by virtue of the neutrality border stipulations, was practically without military defenses and depended entirely for its safety on the obligations contracted by both parties concerned.
In view of this act of duplicity, by which General Calles will now seek to profit by using Naco as a base for the accumulation of munitions of war and as a rendezvous for the concentration of recruits, I respectfully suggest that the exportation of munitions of war from the American side of Naco be for the time being prohibited, authority for which can be found in the Joint Resolution of Congress, approved March 14, 1912. Such, I am sure, will serve to discourage military operations near the border towns, which my Government, like that of the United States, is so anxious to see avoided.
In expressing the hope that the Department will give to this matter its prompt consideration, I beg your excellency to accept [etc.]