Evening star., 1936-04-12
Exit Gales.

In former days, when Mexican poll
tician or general was charged with revo-
lutionary designs, the ordinary practice
was to place him before a wall and let
a firing squad do its duty. They seem
to order things differently below the
the drastic but less deadly method of
deportation by the Super-modern means
of airplaneS. That is the fate which has
just overtaken General Plutarco Elias
Gales. for eleven years the strong man"
of Mexico, and three of his principal
adviserS-Luis MoroneS, former minister
of labor; Luis Leon, former minister of
the interior and agriculture, and Rafael
Melchor Ortega, former governor of
Guanajuato Arrested in a night time
surprise coup, they were put aboard
plane which carried them forthwith to
forced exile in the United States.
Thus comes to an inglorious end the
most dynamic career achieved by any
Mexican since the reign of Porfirio Diaz.
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as a dictator, both before and behind the
scenes, from 1924, when he was elected
President, until 1885. He was in Office
only until 1928, but remained the real
master of Mexican political destinies
until the advent of General Lazaro Car
denas in the presidency in December,
1894. Instead of being clay in Gales
hands, Cardenas revealed independence
and firmness. When he contrived to win
the support of labor, Gales dominance
was doomed to vanish. Smarting over
his shattered sway, Gales came to the
United States in voluntary exile, but
returned to Mexico at the end of 1885
in defiant mood, seeking to disprove
charges that he had become traitor
to the revolution. Thenceforward hos
tility between the Gales group and the
Cardenas government grew in intensity.
Matters reached climax last week with
the dynamiting of train en- route to
the capital from Vera Cruz, causing
numerous fatalities. A congressional
commission formally charged Gales and
his supporters with responsibility for the
disaster. The official explanation of
their expulsion is that the government
was forced to take that action as the
consequence of threats to the public
welfare"
Gales pleads in retort that he is the
victim of a violation of his constitu-
tional guarantees and that his expatria-
ton is due to "the anarchial conditions
which prevail in the country" He fur
ther declares that sole responsibility for
Mexico's present plight lies with the
Cardenas government, which "for more
than year has been developing
demagogic policy in attempting to i'm
plant communism"
President Cardenas manifestly feels
that, with the deportation of Gales and
his ringleaders, the chief factors making
for subversive activities in Mexico have
been suppressed. But that sorely tried
country is so honeycombed with ancient
political feuds. economic dislocations and
bitter strife between church and state
that time alone can demonstrate
whether the merely physical removal of
a powerful clique of government oppo-
sitionists will suffice to assure anything
approaching enduring tranquility. Gales
contends that Mexico is on the brink
of a revolution and frankly asserts that
his exile will aggravate the chaos"
Events doubtless will promptly show
whether President Cardenas has the
situation in hand or whether, through
remote control" the former strong
man" is still to be reckoned with as an
influence capable of perpetuating the
chronic turmoil in which modern Mexico
so long has been condemned to have its
being.