Evening star., 1927-10-30
REVOLT IN MEXICO FOMENTED
BY OBREGON. EDITOR DECLARES
ExiIed Publisher Says Coun-
try Is in Grip of
Dictatorship.
PaIaviccini Tells of Arrest
After Campaign Against
Reflections.
by MEIGS o. FROST.

BY MEIGS o. FROST.
NEW ORLEANS, La. October 90
Mexico's greatest publisher of news
papers and magazines waved sorrow
full farewell today over the rail of the
Munson line steamship Nunamar as 1t
cast off moorings and headed down
The Mississippi River out of New Or
leans, Havana bound. Felix +. Pala-
viccini was going into exile.
A month ago he was a millionaire
in Mexico City. All Mexico viewed
him as a sort of combined Lord North
cliffe and William Randolph Hearst.
They spoke of him in Mexico somc-
what as Americans speak of Horace
Greeley and of Dana Of the New York
Sun. He had been decorated by six
great world powers for his services TO
the allied cause In the World War. fie
| had built and supported the great
| hospital for newspap permen in Mexico
| City. He had launched the child vel
! fare movement in Mexico. He had
| founded and was publisher OF Ell Uni
versal great City of Mexico daily
newspaper He had founded. publish
| ed and edited great string of other
newspapers and magazines. He had
been the idol OF Mexico's fighters for
| liberty, one of them since in 1910 he
| ioined Francisco Madero and fought
| to overthrow Porfrio DiaZ. lie was
millionaire, q sportsman, world traV-
eler. And now he was sailing into
exile.
Says ObregOn Is Supreme.
But before he sailed he stopped in
| New Orleans long enough to give his
| first and only interview since he
reached the United States at the La
| redo gateway an exile. And in swift,
vivid sentences, for he speaks only
| Spanish, Felix Palaviccini painted an
| unforgettable picture of conditions in
| Mexico today
Mexico has a population OF more
| than $4,000 900 souls he said. But
| today one lives in Mexico only at the
| pleasure of one man-Alavro Obregon.
| President Gales is his tool.
| 1.-The widely advertised military mu.
TIMES in Mexico in September and
October were fomented by Obre2on
and Gales to give them chance to
eliminate by firing squad and exile all
other candidates running for lTesi'
dent of Mexico against Obregon.
| Mexico has been fighting 20 years
against any mans reelection to The
presidency. And in those 20 years
! Mexico has. Travelled from an absolute
dictator--Polfirio DiaZ-Who at least
was honest and efficient--tO dictator.
ship of butchery.
| There is no more law in Mexico.
| There is no more constitution in Mex
| leo. There are no more courts in
| Mexico. The shell of these institu-
tons remain in Mexico. But 1t IS a
hollow shell. There is nothing but
] the arbitrary whim of Alvaro Obre-
gon and PluIarcho Elias Gales, back
ed by the firing squads that are their
weapons.
| Il was born in Mexico. My family
has lived there 120 years-longer than
the families Of Obregon and Gales
| put together. / can claim with truth
| to be a Mexican If any man can.
| Yet / was arrested by soldiers in Mex.
leo City. confined in military prison.
rushed to the border under guard and
exiled without ever facing judge or
entering court. The writ of habeas
| corpus my lawyers obtained from the
Federal district judge in Mexico City
was fiouted by the military authori.
ties. Which means President Gales.
Opposed Reelection.
my crime, as nearly as 1 can learn
from telegraphing my friends in Mex
| leo since / reached the United States,
| is that / opposed editorially the re.
election of any man to the presidency
of Mexico" said Mr.. Palaviccini.
"My exile is an absolute violation
| of Mexico's law and Mexico's constitu
| tion. Under our constitution no Mexi-
can citizen can he exiled. Only per
nicious foreigners can be exiled under
article 33. But now I am a member
Of the Thirty-Three Club. too, Like
that famous Irishman whose lawyer
| told him he couldn't be jailed for what
he had done, and who retOrted: But.
damn it, I'm in Jail now | couldn't
be exiled. but I am,
"Alvaro Obregon, ex-President of
Mexico, is mad for power again. He
is more sinister than Gales. Can
America not read between the lines of
what has happened in Mexico in the
past two months? Francisco Serrano
and Arnulfo Gomez were putting up
splendid political campaigns for the
presidency. Serrano is dead. reported
captured and shot in the field at the
head of an army of revolution. But
Gales made the mistake of exhibiting
the body. Serrano was clad in gray
business suit, with white collar. neck.
tie and scarfpin in his tie, and wear
ing patent leather shoes. He was
soldier. Would he have worn that
costume to lead an army in the field?
He was arrested in his home in
Mexico City. secretly taken to
Cuernavaca and there shot with
group of his friends. almost all
civilians. And Arnulfo Gomez is in
the mountains in revolt. His friends
| warned him just in time to escape
from the Calles-Obregon squads that
night they arrested Serrano. Obregon
| will tolerate no opposition. And that
military mutiny,' fomented by secret
agents of himself and Gales. gave
him all the pretext he needed to
eliminate all his opponents by force
of arms, by threats of violence or by
exile, Should Obregon finally slug
his way again into the presidency by
these tactics. he will plant his banner
of victory in IA graveyard.
Say Government Plotted Mutiny.
''That widely advertised military
mutiny sin Mexico was no surprise l.
the government that plotted and en-
gineered its outbreak, so happy foi
Gales and Obregon. But it was 9