File No. 812.00/15953.
The Brazilian Minister to Mexico to the Secretary of State.
Mexico City, July 22, 1915—4 p.m.
683. I regret to inform you that the situation is growing worse every minute because, contrary to what was expected, President [Page 728] Cházaro and his Government remained at Toluca leaving the city in the grasp of the band of Zapatistas which took possession of it after the evacuation. They are now indulging in violence, such as yesterday to have deposed and imprisoned all the members of the City Council. Last night they took possession of the Mexican Herald, an American property, and detained all its employees in the same building including its president, Mr. Paul Hudson; they used the machinery and supplies to publish their own paper, El Renovador. I immediately took every step to obtain the release of the Americans and the disoccupation of the offices but the Secretary of the Governor of the district, the only appropriate authority then available, answered that he had nothing to do with me or the American Government. I sent a telegram to President Cházaro at Toluca who answered immediately regretting the incident and stating that he had at once sent the necessary orders as desired. Up to now such orders have been quite disregarded and matters are in the same state as yesterday. This morning I sent a copy of Cházaro’s message to the Governor and he answered that he could not execute it because he received orders from the Minister of the Interior to do what he had done. I am now trying to communicate again with Cházaro but with little hope of success because I anticipate that notwithstanding his excellent disposition his orders will not be obeyed.
In the midst of such chaos I confess my inability, which is likewise true of my colleagues, to obtain redress for any wrongs against our nationals, the more so when it seems that such wrongs are deliberately committed in order to create friction with foreign governments and especially the United States.