The air is charged with thunder and no man can tell when the first bolt of lightning will flash across the Mexican political sky, now dark with clouds.
Señor Alberto J. Pani, who recently succeeded General Adolfo de la Huerta as Secretary of the Treasury, drew up a series of charges against his predecessor in a paper For the Information of the President. Señor Pani said: “I believe that it is urgent on your part to dictate measures that will relieve us of an immediate financial catastrophe.”
He then went on to describe minutely the state of Mexican finances, charged a waste of 10,000,000 pesos ($5,000,000) per annum and stated that there was a deficit of 37,241,788.64 pesos in the budget for the first nine months of this year, which had been made good by a transfer of 37,224,878.22 pesos from funds which should have been applied to the exterior debt. He dealt with remedies to correct the situation. President Alvaro Obregon, in a paper entitled Presidential Comments, backed up the charges made by Senor Pani against General de la Huerta. Said he:
“The above report reveals with sensible eloquence that . . . without authorization of the real owners and without previous notice to this Presidential office, several millions of pesos were taken from sources of income which were destined exclusively for payment of the exterior debt, which funds should be sacred to us.
“We are facing material and moral bankruptcy which we never before have known. We must act with energy and perseverance that must be felt in intense form so that the Administration may repair the errors.”
General Adolfo de la Huerta then made a cutting rejoinder to his accusers: “I am not surprised by the declarations of General Alvaro Obregon nor the report of the stupid and unjust Alberto J. Pani. It is well known that they only waited until I was accepted as a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, nominated by the Mexican people, to pretend to stain my name. There is more yet. Treacherously and cowardly they have threatened to take my life. What less than that, they start with trying to take away my honor, which I always tried to keep clean and pure. They are trying to prevent a breakdown in the Treasury, but the whole nation knows that for three years I have known how to attend to the necessities of the Administration. . . . The presentation of his [Pani’s] libelous statement has the object of covering incompetence to solve the financial problem which is now in his charge. Later next week with calmness I will demonstrate to the entire nation the inconsistency of the charges made on financial grounds, and I am waiting calmly the verdict of the nation after they hear my answer, point by point, to the report of Alberto Pani. . . . These and other statements that will be startling I will make known to the nation—that is, if the hidden hand, following the same road as with Francisco Villa, does not take my head from my shoulders.”
The significance of this quarrel lies in its analogy to events which preceded the fall of the Diaz régime in 1911. Will President Obregon be forced by internal dissension to tender his resignation to Congress as did General Diaz? President Obregon and General de la Huerta became bitter enemies after 16 years of personal friendship. Then came upon the scene General Calles, another conspirant for the Presidency, a fact which necessitated Presidential steps for the enforcement of law and order. On top of all this Señor Miguel Aiesio Robles, Minister of Commerce, tendered his resignation to the President. Señor Robles was a particularly warm friend of President Obregon and it was he who hid Obregon in his own house during the last days of the Carranza régime.
Thus the approach of the Presidential election finds murder already in the air; the future is as uncertain as it is portentous.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Your Vote Is Safe
- The Best Inventions of 2024
- How the Electoral College Actually Works
- Robert Zemeckis Just Wants to Move You
- Column: Fear and Hoping in Ohio
- How to Break 8 Toxic Communication Habits
- Why Vinegar Is So Good for You
- Meet TIME's Newest Class of Next Generation Leaders
Contact us at letters@time.com