Duly answering your note of the 26th of this month,
relative to the representation made to that Department
by Mr. William W. Canada under date of the 24, I have
the honor to inform you of the following facts: With
regard to the seven Spaniards who are said to have been
shot recently by Constitutionalist forces at the station
of Esperanza, on the Mexican Railroad, the Government
under my charge has no notice whatsoever beyond that of
seven Spanish subjects who were expelled from the
country during the last days of October of last year, as
prescribed by Article 33 of the Constitution. It is to
be believed that this notice is the one which has given
rise to the report received by the Department of State
in Washington, as erroneous as it is maliciously
distorted. With regard to the case of another Spaniard
who is said to have lost his life at the station of San
Marcos, as well as that of the fifty Spaniards
imprisoned in Puebla, as affirmed in the note to which I
refer, this (State) Government is without any data,
since said places belong to a federal division outside
of that which I represent. I should make special mention
of the statement in the note alluded to relative to the
properties and lives of Spaniards in the State of
Veracruz being menaced, inasmuch as by every means at my
command I have striven to give the most ample guaranties
compatible with the present state of affairs, and I can
assure you that, notwithstanding this state of affairs,
Spanish subjects, with the exception of entirely
accidental cases, have enjoyed all manner of safety, and
are going about their business the same, as in normal
times. At the same time, I take the liberty of
communicating to you that the (State) Government under
my charge has decreed, in some cases, the expulsion of
Spanish subjects because of having duly proved that
their activity is very far removed from that in which
every foreigner should engage in a country where he
receives hospitality and facilities for prospering in
his business, and further that it is proposed to
continue applying the same penalty to all foreigners who
perniciously mix in the politics of our country. Lastly,
I beg to inform you, in order that you may kindly
transmit it to his excellency the Consul of the United
States at this port, that whenever it is proved that any
civil or military authority fails to extend the
necessary guaranties to any foreign subject, I shall
energetically proceed to remedy the evil, duly punishing
those responsible.
I have the honor to transcribe the above to you, answering your
note of January 24th last, with the understanding that we are
awaiting information that is to be rendered by the Governor of
Tlaxcala and Puebla.
