REPLY of
Don VENUSTIANO CARRANZA
to the
Chief of the Northern Division
The First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army, in charge of the
Executive Power, to
THE MEXICAN PEOPLE
REFUTATION OF THE MANIFEST OF
GENERAL FRANCISCO VILLA
El Liberal, Mexico D. F., Sunday, October 25th, 1914.
I have deliberately allowed the Manifest written for General
Villa in Chihuahua, and signed by him, to circulate freely, my object
in so doing being that the people might become familiar with the rea-
sons by which the authors of the "Manifest," pretend to justify this
man's rebellion, in refusing to recognize me as First Chief of the
Constitutionalist Army and in charge of the Executive Power of the
Union. Although the false statements and contradictions in this
document are apparent, I shall make it my duty to refute it with plain
facts.
Villa's Manifest begins : "When the democratic government of
Mr. Madero was overthrown, a great accomplishment of the revolu-
tionary movement of 1910, the Mexicans again set out to conquer
their freedom and their rights, thus proving to the Nation and to the
whole world, that imposition in Mexico has been banished forever and
that henceforth Mexicans will only be governed by rulers which they
themselves have placed in power.
Evidently, General Villa forgets something that he should always
remember to his shame: that on May 13th, 1911, immediately after
the victory of the taking of Ciudad Juarez, General Villa and his
partner, Pascual Orozco, seized the Provisional President of the
Republic, Don Francisco I. Madero, who after he had managed to
escape this first coup d'etat, looked upon Villa with contempt and gave
orders to shoot him, which orders were not carried out because as
everyone knows Mr. Madero's goodness had no bounds.
It is not surprising therefore, that the man who attempted to
overthrow by violence, the democratic government of Mr. Madero,
now declares it a wonderful accomplishment of the revolutionary
movement of 1910, and again resorts to violence, trying to impose
upon the people a government, while he states that they will only
respect governments which they themselves have placed in power."
Villa declares that "the Northern division, which had been the
object of my political intrigues, fearing more than any of the other
divisions that the revolutionary ideals would remain unaccomplished"
proposed, with the concurrence of the chiefs of the Northeastern
division in Torreon, to celebrate a Convention on a democratic basis,
and he further states that I refused to accept this arrangement. The
truth regarding the conferences of Torreon has never been told, but
it ought to be. The meeting in Torreon was held at the suggestion of
the Generals of the Northeastern division, and not of the Northern
division, as Villa asserts, and it was done to find a way out of the
difficulties brought on by one of the most grave disobediences of
General Villa.
These are the facts : General Natera, who was attacking Zacatecas
and had already taken possession of important positions in that
locality, was urgently asking for reinforcements I then gave orders
to Villa to send to Zacatecas in all possible haste, five thousand or
more men, under the command of whatever chief he rriight deem con-
venient. After offering many groundless excuses for not obeying this
order, he finally replied that he would either go with all his forces, or
I
resign his command of the Northern division. My answer to him was
to the effect that there was no cause for such an action on his part,
and repeated my order to him, that he was to go to the assistance
of General Natera, who found himself every moment in a more and
more embarrassing position. Villa then presented his resignation,
thinking that I would not accept it, which I did, but he nevertheless
continued at the head of the Northern division, and after rebelling
against me as First Chief, marched against Zacatecas.
The Generals of the Northeastern division seeing in the attitude
of General Villa a serious danger to all concerned, they arranged
with the Chiefs of the Northern division, to celebrate some confer-
ences in the State of Torreon. At these conferences, it was agreed
to submit to my approval, certain propositions, and I must hereby
state that I did not intervene or take any part whatsoever in these
conferences, and therefore was not bound to accept its decisions.
Nevertheless, when the different arrangements were put before me
for my consideration, I accepted some points and rejected others.
I agreed to have General Villa continue at the head of the Northern
Division, furnishing provisions for his men, and letting him have the
coal of the Coahuila coal-mines for his trains, and for the use of the
railroad traffic in the region occupied by him. On the other hand,
the Northern Division agreed to return to obedience and place itself
under my orders they also agreed to rescind their hold of the Rail-
roads, and place them at the disposition of the Department of Comuni-
caciones (that is, the Railroads traversing the territory occupied by the
Division of the North) also to hand over the National Treasury, the
Customs of Ciudad Juarez, the Tax-Stamp Office, the Department of
State and all the other federal offices which they had forcibly seized
at the time they revolted, and to hand over to their rightful owners
several millions dollars issued by the Constitutional Government and
which they were unlawfully retaining in their power.
One of the clauses of the agreement which I did not accept,
was that of conferring upon Villa the grade of General of Division,
as I did not deem it justified to recompense an insubordination with a
promotion. Another clause to which I would not agree was that pro-
viding that General Angeles (whom I had dismissed because I found
him unworthy of the position entrusted to him) should resume his
post as Assistant Secretary of War, with the understanding that im-
mediately after his reinstatement, he would make his resignation.
This did not seem to me to be a correct thing to do, it being too much
like the proceedings of Diaz, and his sham pardons, proceedings
which cannot be accepted by anyone with claims to self-respect.
Facts have been concealed and misrepresented, for the purpose
of accusing me of having violated agreements, which could in no sort
or manner be binding for me, and of having transgressed these same
agreements by summoning a Junta of Generals and Governors of the
States in the City of Mexico. This last mentioned, was an agreement
which I had voluntarily entered into, and which I was therefore bound
to comply with, which I did. But General Villa, who shields himself
behind the Northern Division, and speaks always in the name of this
Division, though he knows well that not all the Generals, Chiefs,
2
Officers and soldiers share his opinions, he asserts that "Since the
Northern Division had lost its faith in the First Chief, they natural-
ly could not put it in a Junta whose members were practically
chosen by me, as it was I who had the power to confer the grade of
General, and to appoint the Governors of the different States, which
at all times would give me an assured majority.
Grievous and insulting accusations, these that Villa hurls against
the Constitutionalist Army and its worthy chiefs! His desire to
harm me is so "great, that he audaciously makes the offense extensive
to all his comrades-in-arms ! Let General Villa know that, should I
have the majority in that Junta, it would be because the majority of
Constitutionalist Chiefs are true to their words, to themselves and to
their ideals, and not because I have made them Generals. I also made
Villa a General, and he betrayed his cause and did not fulfil his
promise.
As First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army, I protest with more
vigor than if I only were accused, against the charge of servility and
abjection made by General Villa, to dishonor through history the
names of all the generals who have followed me and the banner of
legality. They are all, according to Villa, unworthy, he alone is
honorable and deserving.
This majority of unconditional adherents and servile chiefs
would be, if we are to believe Villa's Manifest, the support which
would assist me "to remain in power an indefinite length of time,
and to govern with a despotism never before known in the history of
our country." Strange, is it not, that General Villa should still pre-
tend not to know that the Plan of Guadalupe, accepted by him, imposed
on me the obligation of assuming the Executive Power on entering
the capital of the Republic, and of retaining it until the country was
pacified, the elections taken place, and Constitutional order re-establish-
ed. General Villa also pretends to be ignorant of the fact that the
Plan of Guadalupe authorized me to fix a date for elections to take
place, and that if, moved by a democratic spirit, I declined to make
use of this authority, convoking instead a Junta of Generals and
Governors of the States, it was with the idea that among other things
they should also arrange this detail. I will also add that wishing to
give the Junta entire liberty of action, I made to them my resignation
of First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army and the Executive Power.
I can find no more convincing and effective refutation of the calum-
nious charges made by General Villa against me, than the exposition
of the facts I have just related. (It must be borne in mind that one
of his charges is that of my planning to remain in power an indefinite
length of time). General Villa can only answer my justification, by
another calumny: that I instructed all the chiefs beforehand, not to
accept my resignation, and that they, obeying my instructions, again
put the executive power in my hands, not by a voluntary and patriotic
act, which would have been to me a just source of pride and profound
gratefulness but that they did it supposedly through the abject
servility which General Villa attributes to them.
But according to Villa, I have not only the intention of remain-
ing indefinitely in power, but also of ruling for an indefinite length
of time, with a despotism never before equalled in the history of our
country. Villa pretends to found his assertions on several reasons.
He says I refused to accept the title of Provisional President, which
rightfully pertained to me according to the Plan of Guadalupe, placing
me under the restrictions of the Constitution, and that with second
intention I retained the title of First Chief of the Constitutionalist
Army and Charge of the Executive Power. To this charge I will only
say that: the title of Provisional President is in fact understood in
the Plan of Guadalupe, but not clearly precised, and therefore I
chose to adopt that which was clearly precised in the mentioned Plan,
i. e. Charge of the Executive Power. Moreover, the title of Provision-
al President could not place me, as Villa maintains, under Constitu-
tional restrictions, as I could not very well be held to a Constitutional
system which does not yet exist. The mere fact of my bearing the
title of Provisional President could not put into effect the Constitu-
tion of the Republic.
Villa also charges me with having changed the form of the Con-
stitutional oath. This charge is hardly worth a reply, it being such an
insignificant detail when one considers that no public functionary or
employe can be obliged to obey and enforce on others obedience to a
Constitution which is not yet effective. Naturally the only thing that
can be demanded just now of public functionnaries and employes, is
the promise that they will work for the re-establishment of Con-
stitutional order, in accordance with the Plan of Guadalupe, that
being the final goal of the present lawful revolution. General Villa,
who accuses me of such an insignificant detail as that of having
changed the form of the oath : Did he not accept as a necessity brought
on by the Revolution, the enforcement of the law of the 25th of
January? Did he by chance obey the Constitution which he now so
ardently defends, when he disposed of the haciendas in Chihuahua,
when he has shot men without giving any consideration to Constitu-
tional guarantees, when he has not even respected the decrees of the
First Chief, when to end with, regardless of international policy and
regardless of the Law which he so often invokes, he proceeded as he
did in the case of the Englishman, Benton.
He accuses me of not having chosen my Cabinet in accordance
to the regulations of the Constitution, because I have left the Secre-
taries of my Cabinet with the title of Superior Officials. Although
this charge, like the preceding one, is almost too insignificant to be
noticed, I will say that, outside of the fact that I am not obliged to act in
accordance with Constitutional regulations which do not exist as yet,
General Villa should know, and also those who have made his Manifest
for him, that the offices of Cabinet Secretaries can be served by
Assistant Secretaries or Superior Officials, as legally as by regular
Secretaries.
General Villa says that "I assumed the three Constitutional
Powers while I suppressed Judicial Authorities, and that I left the
lives and interests of the Mexicans at the mercy of the Military Chiefs,
without legal restrictions of any sort." This recourse was made
necessary by the Revolution itself, and it could not be otherwise. The
Plan of Guadalupe, which was seconded and maintained by General
Villa, clearly and finally denied recognition to the three powers : Exe-
cutive, Legislative and Judicial. In these circumstances, brought about
by the very nature of the revolution, the First Chief and the Governors
of the States, with a view to catering to the most urgent needs of the
public, have prescribed legislative regulations on the one hand, and on
the other, have had to appoint temporary judicial authorities, giving
them special faculties, for the protection of the lives and interests of
the inhabitants of the country.
Unfortunately the lives and interests of Mexicans and foreign
residents in the State of Chihuahua, have been exposed to danger in
the hands of Villa, who being entirely devoid of the most elementary
administrative notions, and completely ignorant of the meaning of
order, is only a tool of the interests which surround him, for he has
had the knack of bringing to his side many men who, consciously or
unconsciously, were instrumental in bringing about Mr. Madero's ruin.
Among his adherents is also a Federal General who has had a demora-
lizing influence on General Villa. This man, after accepting a certain
commission in Europe for the usurper Huerta, came to me with cre-
dentials as to his honesty and uprightness, from some members of the
Madero family.
I must also confirm a fact which however is well-known to every-
one, and that is, that Villa, without previous authority from the Exe-
cutive power, drove out all the Spaniards of the Laguna District,
without taking the trouble to investigate whether these foreigners had
in any way been implicated in the struggle we had had with the dictator.
He also confiscated a great many of their properties, seizing the
products of their farm-lands, without stopping to think of the inter-
national complications which would result, nor of the indemnifications
the Government would have to pay for all the damages sustained by
the foreigners.
I am also accused of having decreed Constitutional reforms
"which only the Congress and House have the exclusive right to do"
such as the suppression of the Territory of Quintana Roo. It is true
that I decreed the incorporation of the Territory of Quintana Roo to
the State of Yucatan, but this I did as a political and military measure,
in order to strengthen the revolution in the case that Yucatan should
support our cause, and this could not have been done without the
incorporation of Quintana Roo, because as a Territory, it lacked suf-
ficient importance. Moreover this measure, as all others of a similar
nature taken by me during my administration, are only of a temporary
character, for they are subject to the approval or rejection of the
Legislative bodies, once Constitutional order is restored.
Lastly, General Villa accuses me of having "authorized the viola-
tion of rights given by the Constitution, among others, liberty of
thought, allowing many of the Governors to abolish religious worship,
and impose penalties for the observation of religious practices, which
the law of the country authorizes, thus deeply wounding the religious
sentiments of the people, by acts which civilization and the common
law condemn, and all this only because of an exaggeration of the
otherwise just resentment of the Constitutionalists against the Catholic
Clergy, for having assisted in the military mutiny and supported the
dictatorship.
If General Villa were only able to fathom the meaning of what
they write for him to sign, he would not have placed himself in such
an unfavorable light by making this accusation, it being he, who exag-
gerated this just resentment of the Constitutionalists against the mem-
bers of the Catholic clergy who supported the dictatorship, carrying
his exaggeration to such an extreme that he caused great alarm and
indignation in all classes of society. General Villa, who is now making
friendly advances to the clergy with much outward respect for religion
and its practices, used to drive out all the priests and close the churches,
in every city and village that he took during his campaign. In Zacate-
cas he crowned his anti-religious frenzy (which so greatly contrasts
to his Christian mildness of the present time) by driving out eleven
priests of different Nationalities. Of this number, three were French,
and their whereabouts are still unknown. This would be a good op-
portunity to remind General Villa of the warm congratulations he sent
to General Antonio I. Villareal, Governor of Nuevo Leon, when
Villareal issued a restrictive decree prohibiting the Catholic practice
of confession. General Villa's congratulation was expressed in the
following terms :
Chihuahua, July 29th, 1914.
General Antonio I. Villareal:
Please accept my most cordial and enthusiastic con-
gratulations for your decree putting restrictions on the Clergy
of the State which you govern with such ability. I am taking
the necessary measures to follow your wise example, for like
yourself, I am of the opinion that one of the greatest enemies
of our freedom and progress, has been the corrupted clergy
which for so long has repressed our people.
Kindest regards, etc.
General Francisco Villa.
Villa also finds fault in that I authorized the issue of Thirty
Million Pesos, without funds to guarantee it. To this I can say that,
it being urgently necessary to defray the expenses of the army and
to give a uniform value to the paper money circulated by the Con-
stitutionalists, I resorted to the only way out of it: a new issue of
paper money, which was to be used to replace the paper money issued
during the civil war, by some of the Governors and Military Chiefs,
to whom circumstances made it impossible for me to send them the
necessary remittances to cover the actual wants of their soldiers. The
paper of this new issue can be used to pay importation duties, all kinds
of contributions, and to pay for the purchase of lands and real estate
in the cities and in the country and when peace is once more
established, measures will be adopted to properly guarantee this money.
While on the subject of paper money, I will state that having
authorized General Villa to issue Six Million Pesos with which to
exchange the paper money issued by him and which was being counter-
feited on a big scale, he issued the Six Million as instructed, but did
not exchange it gradually destroying the other issue, so that the six
million previously issued staid in circulation, and six more million
began to circulate. He has now issued in Chihuahua, without my
authority, paper money amounting nearly to Thirty Million, so that
the Division under his command is costing the Nation : the millions
j ust mentioned ; about ten million more which headquarters gave him
at different times for the maintaining of his forces ; the proceeds of
cotton, mineral, skins, cattle and cereal sales ; the proceeds of the
Railroads, compulsory contributions exacted by him, proceeds of lot-
teries and gambling houses licensed by him, etc. etc. If Villa has
put any part of all this money to good uses, I know not, but I can
state with all certainty that the armies of the Northeast and Northwest
together, which outnumber Villa's more than twice over, have not spent
anything like the enormous amounts inverted by Villa. This was one
of the principal reasons I had, when I accepted Villa's resignation of
the command of the Northern Division after the incident of Zacatecas.
I wanted to impose discipline in that division, and to put a stop to this
useless squandering of money by Villa, which in the end would have
to be paid by the people.
Referring to the charge made against me for having suspended
traffic between Aguascalientes and Zacatecas, I must here confirm my
reasons for having done it. When General Obregon went to Chihua-
hua as per my instructions, to make efforts to settle peaceably the
misunderstandings between General Arrieta, of the forces under my
command, and General Calixto Contreras of the North, and the forces
in Sonora, I was informed of what now everybody knows : that Villa
tried to do away with General Obregon, who was his guest. Then,
doing what I considered was my duty, I asked General Villa to give
an explanation for his unseemly conduct towards General Obregon.
Instead of giving the satisfaction demanded of him, Villa addressed
me a message (which I have already made public) telling me that the
Northern Division would not attend the Junta of Generals and Gover-
nors convoked by me, and that he did not recognize me any longer as
"First Chief of the Republic." I must here call attention to the
fact that this message disowning me both as Head of the Army and
Chief Executive of the Union, was not the work of all the Generals
of the Northern Division, most of them not having had any knowledge
of same until after it had been sent by Villa. In the face of these
facts, who is it that began to make trouble? Was it I, who sent
General Obregon so that he might confer with Villa and solve the
difficulties which had come up in the North or was it Villa who took
advantage of this occasion and almost did away with the Chief of the
Northeastern Division, just because he remained loyal to me? In
view of these unwarranted proceedings, I had to take the necessary
precautions which the case required, and it was with this idea that I
cut off all communications with the Northern Division. .
The marked persistence with which the Manifest alludes to the
Constitution, to the re-establishment of the Constitutional Government,
and to the guarantee of a Supreme Law, etc. etc. is an evident proof
' that the politicians who wrote the Manifest for General Villa, and
7
Villa himself, far from understanding and wishing the realization of
the aspirations of the Mexican people, are on the contrary reaction-
aries. Ah obvious proof of this is Villa's conciliatory attitude towards
the Conservative element of the old regime, including ex-federal army
officers protected by Felipe Angeles, and the clerical party, whose
privileges Villa openly defends in his Manifest. A further proof of
his reactionary spirit is his persistently repeated desire of inaugurating
a Constitutional System of Government, before the revolution has
had time to effect the social reforms demanded by the Nation. He
insists on the immediate re-establishment of the Constitutional system,
so that in the regular routine of the three Federal Powers, the radical
and social reforms for whose prompt adoption we have been struggling,
may be presented, studied, discussed and resolved. Useless to say
that this would be a postponement of these reforms to such a far-off
time, that the result would be null. Those who clamor for this are the
enemies of the revolution.
It is true that the word "Constitutionalism" is engraved on the
colors of our flag it is true that our final aim is the re-establishment
of a Constitutionalist order which will allow the normal operating of
institutions which protect and warrant individual rights, and we shall
not lay down our arms until we have obtained the sovereignty of the
Law, and that is why we are proud to call ourselves Constitutionalists.
But in order to obtain this end, it is necessary to satisfy the economical
and social reforms which the people demand, putting into practice
without loss of time and without legislative delays, the reforms which
along these lines should be made.
General Villa closes his Manifest declaring that he will not accept
the office of President or Vice-President, either provisional or Con-
stitutional, of the Republic, which candidacies nobody has offered to
him, and he adds that he has no ambition to rule. We shall soon be
able to ascertain whether or not he has this ambition.
National Palace in Mexico City, 24th of October, 1914.
V. CARRANZA.
NOTE The extent of Sr. Carranza's understanding of the underlying
motives which caused Pancho Villa to forsake the true cause of the
people and join the banner of the Cientificos and reactionaries, may be
judged by his foreshadowing of certain events in Villa's camp. More
than three months before Villa proclaimed himself as the "President of
Mexico," Carranza predicted that that was the real aim and ambition of
the shattered idol, Pancho Villa. He was fighting to realize his own per-
sonal whims and to obtain the control of the country for a number of
wealthy reactionaries- He wanted to rule and dictate; he was aspiring to
be the chief tyrant of the land beyond the Rio Grande and Sr. Carranza
knew it better, perhaps, than any one else in Mexico. But that the people
of the United States could not be fooled by his "Green Book" is evident
by the editorial which appeared in the N. Y. Evening Sun, of January
7. Here is part of the editorial : "The narrative does not come down to
the Aguascalientes convention, which Villa dominated and which first
named Antonio Villareal and the Hulalio Gutierres as provisional presi-
dent- Villareal, like Obregon, is now in arms against Villa. It is the
avoidance of all that happened since the Torreon conference that im-
pairs the value of the Green Book as a partisan document,"
Issued by
MEXICAN BUREAU OF INFORMATION
834 WHITEHALL BUILDING
NKW YORK ciry
Gaylord Bros.
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W.JAN. 21, 1908
