BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

THE CRUSHING OF OPPOSITION PARTIES 171
Briefly, the Liberal Party has launched two armed
revolutions against Diaz. Both of these have come to
grief at an early stage; first, because of the efficiency
of the government in putting spies in the midst of the
revolutionists and thus being able to anticipate them;
second, because of the severe methods used in repression;
and, third, because of the effective co-operation
of the United States government, since the uprisings
were necessarily directed from this side of the line.
The first Liberal attempt at revolution was to have
been launched in September, 1906. The rebels claim
to have had thirty-six military groups partially armed
within Mexico and ready to rise at one signal. They
expected that at the first show of strength on their
part the army would desert to their standard and that
the civilians would receive them with open arms.
Whether they judged the army and the people correctly
will never be known, for they never succeeded
in making any great show of strength. Government
spies betrayed the various groups, and when the appointed
hour struck the majority of the leaders were
already dead or domiciled in San Juan de Ulua. The
revolution was to begin on the national independence
day, September 16, and the way the government prepared
for it generally may be imagined from the report
which I previously quoted of the large number of secret
killings in Diaz's capital.
Liberal groups in two cities succeeded in making a
start. One group captured the town of Jiminez,
Coahuila, and another laid siege to the army barracks
at Acayucan, state of Veracruz. Civilians joined them
in these two cities, and for a day they enjoyed partial
success. Then trainloads of troops got into each town,
and in a few days what was left of the rebel force was