Causes of the Revolution Against Carranza
"In this brief period of time I made the acquaintance of a Government that looked strong and seemed destined to reach the end of its constitutional days peacefully..."
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From Mexico in Revolution by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, 1920.
The Cause of the Revolution
I am just back from Mexico, where I spent a month and a half. In this brief period of time I made the acquaintance of a Government that looked strong and seemed destined to reach the end of its constitutional days peacefully; I witnessed the outbreak of a revolution that in its early stages led a languid life; I saw the decisive triumph of this revolution, brought about by the unexpected assistance of political elements that had seemed out of sympathy with it; and I observed, finally, the flight of President Carranza, the present uncertainty concerning his fate, and the still greater uncertainty regarding the probable future of the new Government in process of formation.
After all, there is nothing extraordinary in this vertiginous movement of events. Of all things Mexican, revolutions move with the greatest velocity.
I went to Mexico to gather material for a novel that I intend to entitle ''The Eagle and the Snake." Among my notes there is a statistical table showing the number of governments that Mexico has had since it secured its independence. In less than a hundred years — beginning with 1821 — the Republic of Mexico has been served by seventy-two different governments. Now, with the fall of the Carranza regime, the record stands at seventy-three, with time to spare before the century closes. Leaving aside the thirty years of Porfirio Diaz's rule we find that the average life of each government has been approximately one year.
In this series of articles I am going to tell what I saw and what I heard in Mexico. I am going to give the American public, in advance, a small portion of the observations I made for "The Eagle and the Snake.'' These will be simply the impressions of a novelist, of an impartial observer. I had ample opportunity to talk to Carranza, as well as to his bitterest enemies, and I was able to get their conflicting views. I am grateful to both sides for many courtesies received, but I hold no brief for either party. If there is any group that has won my sympathy it is the Mexican people, the eternal victim of a tragi-comedy that never ends, the poor slave whom all pretend to redeem and whose lot has remained unchanged for centuries, the everlasting dupe whom the redeemers shower with fine phrases, never telling him the truth because the truth is frequently cruel.
Carranza's Craft Inspired District
I had several fairly intimate talks with President Carranza and I am in a position to state what the underlying motive of his policy was in the last days of his regime. I am fully aware of the fact that Carranza is not one of those men who can be easily probed. Accustomed to the politics of a country where dissimulation is one of the best practical virtues, it is no easy task to sound him. Suffice it to say that when Don Venustiano receives a visitor, the first thing he does, by instinct, is to back his chair against the nearest window. By this simple maneuver he places himself in a semi-darkness so that his body becomes a silhouette from which the face stands out like a faint white spot. In this posture he cannot be observed closely, while he, on the other hand, can scrutinize at pleasure the face of his visitor which remains exposed to the full flood of light streaming through the window.
When something arrests his attention, Carranza has a way of peering over the rim of his light blue spectacles. It was this very trick which made the rustic Pancho Villa suspicious of Carranza and led the former to exclaim on one occasion: ''There's nothing the matter with Carranza's eyes. He has very good sight and doesn't need spectacles. He wears them to shade his eyes and hide his thoughts better.”
But the reader must not infer from this that Carranza is a sort of shrewd tyrant of awesome aspect. Don Venustiano is an old country gentleman, a ranchman, with all the cunning of rural landowners and all the shrewdness of county politicians, but he is simpatico and has a noble bearing. Despite his apparent reserve, at times he waxes loquacious, "feels like a student" — as he puts it — and then he talks freely; he even laughs.
His Hostility to Militarism
Carranza's fall was due to his stubborn attempt to pursue an anti-military policy.
This old chieftain of the revolutionary armies, who, though bom in the country, is more warlike than many of his Generals bred in the cities, would never permit any one to give him the title of General. Knowing, undoubtedly, that the chief trouble with Mexico is the incurable eruption of Generals with which the republic is afflicted, he did not care to add another boil to the diseased body of the nation by assuming the title of General.
His followers always referred to him as the ''First Chief"; they never called him General. During his campaigns Carranza wore the uniform of a buck private.
Now, on the eve of his retirement from office, he took part more or less directly in the Presidential campaign and he used his influence to bring about the election of a civilian.
"The trouble with Mexico," he told me in an interview, ''has always been, and still is, militarism. Few of our Presidents have been men drawn from civil life; always Generals. And what Generals! . . . No, this thing has got to stop for the good of Mexico. My successor ought to be a civilian, a man of modern views and progressive ideas, capable of preserving domestic peace and directing the economic development of the nation. It is time that my country should begin to live the healthy, normal life which other nations enjoy."
The ideal cherished by Carranza could not be more praiseworthy, but at the same time nothing could be more absurd and dangerous than the means employed by him to carry out his plan. Therefore, while I applaud his views on militarism, I applaud also his downfall.
For President, the Unknown Bonillas
To invest the Presidency of the republic with the civil character that befits it, it would have been necessary to choose a candidate of eminent qualities, a man with a long record of distinguished public service, a man of unquestioned popularity. And what did Carranza do ? He did precisely the very opposite thing. He selected one of the most obscure of Mexicans. He hit upon Senor Bonillas, his Ambassador at Washington, a man who has spent most of his life away from his native land and who even married abroad.
There is another important factor in the situation: the character of the Carranza government in the closing days of its regime.
I am well aware of the fact that when a revolutionary party triumphs in a country like Mexico dissensions are bound to occur in its ranks eventually; these dissensions are inevitable. The ''deserving patriots” are legion! They all want their reward, and the country does not have enough wealth to go around and satisfy every appetite. The lucrative offices are few in number and there are dozens of candidates who consider themselves competent to fill them.
There is, moreover, a situation peculiar to Mexico. In every country one can find the disinterested revolutionary type, the ascetic agitator who expects to get from revolution only the ideal satisfaction of victory. Of course, in every revolutionary movement there are shameless self-seekers, but together with these there are noble and disinterested visionaries who sacrifice themselves for the common good and who, after the triumph of their doctrines, continue to live like real saints, feeding on the bread and water of their enthusiasm.
Among the Mexicans who occupied the highest public offices after the revolution I searched in vain for the Don Quixote, for the type that appeared in the French and Russian revolutions, the disinterested patriot who thinks only of the common weal without regard to his own advantage. I failed to find him. Those I met are men of hard practical sense who never lose sight of personal profit.
Revolutionaries Usually Rich
I was surprised to see the large number of rich revolutionaries in Mexico. There may be some poor revolutionaries in Mexico — I hope there are some, for in my own country I was once a poor revolutionary — but if there are any such in Mexico their number is so scarce that they can be counted on the fingers of one hand, with some fingers to spare.
The majority of those revolutionaries are undoubtedly the sons of millionaires. They claim that before the revolution they were simple peons, ambulant vendors, subordinate employees, or mere vagabonds. Such claims must be forced attempts on their part to hide their influential origin and so to flatter the popular masses. If what they say were true, their present wealth could be explained only by some unexpected inheritance recently received from relatives who had heretofore ignored them. Otherwise it would be utterly impossible to understand how men who six or seven years ago were ambulant milk dealers, vendors of dry vegetables or Mexican hats, hungry rural school teachers or mail carriers, can honestly have acquired fortunes estimated at several millions of dollars, especially since these men have wasted considerable time in revolution.
It is equally difficult to explain how so many wives of Generals and Colonels who half a dozen years ago were poor women of the peon class, how so many lady friends of Generals and Colonels, are now able to display expensive jewelry which remind people of the gems bought years ago by the leading Mexican families now in exile.
But let us not insist on these details. Suffice it to say that the prominent leaders of the Mexican revolution made the revolution for a fixed purpose. They do not understand sacrifice for the common good. Carranza had to consolidate his new Government. After the first few years he was forced to limit the number of his favorites; whereupon those who were left outside of the golden shower of his favors became the bitter enemies of the First Chief.
When I observed closely the inner circle of intimate friends who gathered around Carranza in his Presidential palace I was struck by their youth. The respectable Don Venustiano, with his white beard and light blue spectacles, looked like the head master of a boarding school for boys. Generals of 27 and grave Ministers of 29 or 30 followed with veneration and gratitude the old First Chief.
The Young Adonis Who Ruled
In reality, one of these youths was the real ruler of the Mexican Republic during the last few years, the real power behind the throne, Juan Barragan, a General 27 years old, the chief of Carranza's staff.
Those who had a petition to make would immediately think, "I shall have to see Juanito Barragan about this.”
On account of his youth and amiable character everybody spoke of Barragan as Juanito “Johnny" Barragan. A simple law student and the son of a well-to-do family, he followed Don Venustiano when the latter rose against Huerta. President Carranza always showed a certain weakness for this youth, who accompanied him everywhere as a beautiful and decorative adjunct to the Presidential entourage.
"The Handsomest Man in the World"
It has been stated recently that Barragan was executed by the revolutionaries of Mexico after Carranza 's flight. I hope the rumor is not true. Why kill him? He was the Apollo of the revolution. Tall, handsome, arrogant despite his childlike features, the girls of Mexico consider him the best looking man in the republic — in fact, in the entire world. He was almost a national glory and received honors accordingly. With the bright blue of his uniform and his gold braid he was a dazzling sight. He seemed to have just stepped out of a toy box, freshly varnished. He bought himself a new uniform every week. Twenty-seven years of age, fine health, an amiable character — and master of Mexico!
His enemies said that he owned a whole row of houses in the principal avenue of Mexico City. Impossible! He could not have had any money left for such investments after throwing it away by the handful as he did. During the last few years it has been a fine business for singers and actresses to go to Mexico! Thanks to the amiable Chief of Staff, an actress could visit Mexico and return to her native land with savings amounting to one or two hundred thousand dollars.
Barragan's power extended even to the university. During my visit to Mexico the Government assigned me to that institution, which was invited to entertain me and direct my excursions over the country. This courtesy did not surprise me. "It is because I am a writer," I thought. But shortly before I left Mexico, through the indiscretion of a functionary, I discovered that a certain famous foreign dancer had also been consigned to the university during her journey in Mexico a year before. Was I offended? Of course not! It was the doing of the amiable Barragan. He received all petitioners with a bountiful generosity, as though he would die rather than fail to serve them. He never said no to any one. He was capable of surrendering Don Venustiano’s head if he was asked for it with real insistence.
And Carranza, plain in dress, grave in appearance, a man of strict morals and clean life, when he observed the elegant uniform and the gold braid of his Chief of Staff, seemed to rejoice as though he were contemplating his own image in a looking-glass. On other occasions, when the President would hear of Barragan's successes with the ladies, he would smile with the delight of a kindly grandfather.
"Johnny" Briefly Defends Republic
I left Mexico City without bidding adieu to the Apollo of the revolution. His Excellency, General Don Juan Barragan, was spending whole days with the telephone receiver at his ear, giving orders, with his eyes fixed on the map of Mexico. The followers of Obregon had already taken the field, and "the handsomest Mexican," as the marriageable señoritas and visiting actresses say, had just assumed the duties of a strategist and was busy directing the movements of the Federal troops.
Poor and amiable boy! I can see now why the Carranza regime collapsed so readily.
Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente. Mexico in Revolution. E.P. Dutton & Company, 1920.
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