Evening Star Newspaper, July 1, 1936, Page 13

MODERN VILLAS PREY ON MEXICO Bandit Chiefs Ride High, Fighting “Sovietism,” En- dangerirg Cardenas. How 33 bandit bands, among them one led by a modern counter- part of the notorious Pancho Villa, hold sway in 19 of the 29 Mezican States, is told here in the third of @ series of six articles on the ehanging social order in Merico, written by @ veteran newspaper man who has had ertensive ezperience in that country. BY GORDON GORDON. GUADALAJARA, Mexico, July 1 (N.AN.A) —Another Pancho Villa is riding high in the mountains less thar 75 miles from this city of cathedral spires. He is as swaggering and daring as the first one and his reputation is as gory. The villagers report that he is just as murderous toward his enemies and just as kindly to the peons. Gen. Lauro Rocha knows all of the Villa and Sandino tricks in guer- rila warfare and he is typical of the 33 major bandit chieftains who today are terrorizing mountainous regions in 19 of the 29 Mexican states. He and the other rebel command- antes, who lead about 5.000 tattered and half-starved renegades, are ma- neuvering to catapult Mexico into such a chaos of murder and flames that the Cardenas administration will collapse. They, then, would ride into Mexico Ctiy and sit at the rigat hand of some less hardy successor who would rather have them on a fat pay roll than fight them. Politics of Gunpowder. Such is-Mexican politics—the poli- tics of gunpowder—and such is the keg of dynamite in the cart of the Cardenas administration So frequent have the raids become in fecent days that the United States Army has agents in Laredo, El Paso, Nogales and other border cities to watch for rebel activities which might endanger Americans along the Inter- national Line. The United States border patrol. too. has doubed its wigilance toward enforcing the American embargo on arms since a shipment of guns and ammunition was discovered recently at Laredo, Tex. destined presuma for Cuban rebels but probably nsurgent forces in Mexico. During the last few weeks, the rebel attacks have become more and more frequent until the daily cas- ualties, based on figures for the last two months, average four dead and @&s many wounded. President Cardenas today for is covering that the Mexican generals, with all of their thousands of sol- diers, bombing airplanes and machine guns, cannot, or will not, exterminate these rebel bands which never number more than 300 and seldom more than 40 or 50 each. Cardenas Arms Agrarians. That is one reason why the presi- pent armed the agrarians, the farmers. Besides giving him a powerful per- sonal army, in case of any defections on the part of generals, he expects the farmers to serve as rural police. Since this is their government, and they are either going to get or al- ready have received hacienda lands, they are personally interested in elim- inating dangerous bandit gangs. The army has not always shown itself eager to run down the rebels. It is commonly known here that regiment after regiment rides into the hills after Gen. Rocha and holds a picnic somewhere. The doughty little general, who is the slender, wiry type and clean shaven, visits this city every few weeks to meet his agents and take care of business matters. He doesn't wear any dis- | guises and he doesn't travel incognito | He sees his friends in the newspaper offices, chats with acquaintances in | hotel lobbies and is entertained at banquets by his wealthy admirers. Despite protests by city and state authorities that they are co-operating with the federal government in efforts to find him, they always look the other way on his sojourns here. It is good politics. Most of Jalisco decidedly likes him as a “war lord,” and he can ruin or break any politician who would dare oppose him. Helped Poor Peasants. Many legends are growing about | him, just as they did about Francisco | Villa. There is one that tells of a | poor peasant who appealed to him for help when a rich hacendado was about to seize his few acres because of money the peon had borrowed and | failed to pay back. Rocha called | upon the hacendado for a “tribute | payment,” took the money to the peasant, who passed it back to the hacienda owner. There was another occasion when the general found | a family starving and raided a bakery for supplies. | In other distric , too, the soldicrs SO % Millions everywhere acclaim | it the best cleaner for a// white | shoes. Absolutely removes | | spots. Restores new ncs;. | Will not rub off. "N\ Bestyou ever used N P ormoneyrefunded. BOTTLE or TUBE dis- THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 1936. never are able to locate the rebels. There was the time recently when Gen. Luis Ybarra was shooting mayors in Sonora. A detachment of his troops rode through Magdalena while the garrison soldiers continued with their siestas. For eight weeks, he played about the state—until Mexico City grew suspicious and dispatched another commander. | If a community is in sympathy | with the revolutionisis, the soldiers usually adopt a laissez-faire policy and let the rebels shoot a school teacher | or two. Unlike the other rebel leaders, Gen. Rocha commands a well-disciplined army of about 300 men. They are | equipped with late model American rifies and machine guns. Their amunition is smuggled here by ox | carts from the United States. | Invade Larger Cities. | The rebels confine their raids to towns of a few thousand, although now and then they slip into this city of 175,000 and into Mexico City to plaster the buildings—including the police stations and army bar- racks—with posters calling on the people to rise up against “sovietism.” Military authorities report that more than 100 have been slain within the last 10 weeks in this “revolution.” | The town of Atotonilo, south of here, looks like a battlefield. A few of the houses are spattered with blood and | any number are riddled with bullets Like most rebels, Rocha professes to | fight for “Christ and God” and promises to reopen the churches if he ever comes into power. In Durango, a new insurrectionist is terrorizing the state in a crusade against the socialistic schools. He is Gen. Francisco Garcia, also formerly | of the Mexican Army. His execution squad already has assassinated several instructors, In another part of Du- rango, Federico Vasquez, a hitherto | unknown Indian, has entered the | spotlight by sniping at school teach- | ers. | In Morelos, only some 70 miles | " EDUCATIONAL. south of Mexico City, the mysterious El Tallarin continues to hack off the ears of teachers. Operating either alone, or with only three or four men, he has evaded troops for almost a year and has spread as much consternation as a thousand rebels. He has suc- ceeded in closing most of the schools in Morelos, the teachers having fled in fright. Civil War Flares. Guanajuato and Aguascalientes are two other states where civil war has broken out recently, and a dozen rebel bands are vying with each other for supremacy. In Guanajuato, rebels are peppering trains carrying Amer- ican tourists, but no one has been in- jured in the raids to date. It is an obvious effort by the revolutionists to discourage the tourist trade which Mexico City merchants are welcoming | 50 eagerly. | Each rebel band in itself is a serious | problem only locally and little more than a nuisance to the national gov- ernment, but with 33 of them ravag« ing several states at the same time, they add to the tinder of dissatisfac- tion and encourage other ambitious Rochas to lead revolts. The rebels this year, though, are hampered by a lack of American money. Several have agents working along the American border, seeking capital, but the men and the big American concerns once interested in Mexican revolutions and willing to gamble money are gone, and it has | | Summer Camp; hiki water swimming. boating. | ing plano, voice and rhythm wor | write B. . BARNES. 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The new State Democratic Execu- tive Committee called the elections late yesterday after State-wide discus- sion of the legality of using public funds to hold the primaries. Repub- licans threatened to enjoin the elec- tions but Democratic leaders agreed yesterday to bring a test case them- selves. Florida Republicans will nominate their two candidaets for the Senate seats at a meeting of their State Exec- utive Committee in Orlando today. Democratic and Republican nominees meet in the November general election. Gov. Dave Sholtz, who previously announced he would be a candidate for Trammell's unexpired term, told the State Committee yesterday he | 7 Buy from an Electrical Dealer WESTINGHOUSE REFRIGERATORS JCiaRging §17 10th St. N.W. NA. 2160 t ent . | ; would not enter the race ‘because ofl Brazil Manufactures. previous commitments from which I | Manufactures of the industrial cannot now seek release.” | Gov. 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