Evening star., 1937-01-18
BY CARLOS ]. VIDELA,
Latin American Editor of the North

American newspaper Alliance.
NEW YORK, January l8 tN.A.N.Ao.
In the cotton fields of the great La
guna district of Mexico, trouble Is
brewing. The government has taken
the lands away from the owners to
give them to the poems, in pursuance
of it's program of agrarian reform,
but this action has so far created only
i'll will on one side without entirely
satisfying the other.
The situation is the Lasuna zone
is a potential powder barrel. with
fuse running to the City of Mon
terey, in the state of Nuevo Leon,
the most important manufacturing
center in Mexico. If the government
should decide to reform" this center,
the resulting resistance may become
so stiff as to ignite the fuse and carry
the fire to the Laguna, thus starting
general confagration.
In the Laguna district, large zone
comprising lands in the state of Du-
range and Coahuila, the radical ele-
ment has been clamoring for the dis
tribution of lands. President Lazaro
Cardenas, after a haSty survey. has
given the order to appropriate and par
Gel the holdings out among the poems
and has created special bureaus to
administer the project, called "Bancos
de Credito Ejidal" Gand Credit
Banks.
Only Change in Bosses.
Now, these measures mean little
change for the poems, inaSmuch as, IN
effect. they are only a change of bosses.
Instead of the landowner, the Land
Credi. Banks will tell the peasants
what to do. The official program pro-
vides for periodic meetings of repre-
sentatlves of the rural workers with
representatives of the banks. where the
former will be told how things have
shaped up during the elapsed time
and what measures are contemplated.
It so happens that irrigation, the
most important factor in the explolta-
tion of those lands, last year was at
tended to by nature, through floods
caused by the unusual high level OF
the regions rivers What will hap
pen if this phenomenon does not take
place this year can easily be sur
missed. Deprived of water and OF
the technical skill the former man
aeement provided. the district may
fall prey to acute suffering. From
this to uprising there is but one short
step.
And that is only one cause for po-
tential revolt. The political situation
ic
other issues, too. President Cardenas
has so far had few successful show
downs with oppositionists, but his sue
cesses have alienated support from
groups that need little prompting to
take action. First, he had show
down with the former iron man"
maker of Presidents and supreme
chief of the revolution Plu-
tarco Elias Gales, now an exile in
California; then he had another show
down with the Gold Shirts, national
istic. semi-Fascist organization, which
was ordered disbanded. many of whose
members have been arrested and whose
chief, Gen. Nicolas Rodriguez. is now
an exile in Texas: and finally he
had a showdown with the StaliniSt
wing of the Communist party over
the asylum granted Leon Trotzky.
One Party of Consequence.
In Mexico there is but one political
party of consequence-the National
Revolutionary party-which, like the
Fascist party in Italy, the National
Socialist party in Germany or the
Communist party in Russia, runs the
country. The National Revolutionary
party has the unlimited support of
the administration. If opposition de-
velops, it is quickly branded "re-
dictionary" and if it persists and. de-
spite the Central governments dictum,
attains a victory at the polls, the
election is "nullified," as happened
not long ago in the State of Nuevo
Leon, and new elections held.
The Mexican revolution (by such
Is known the movement started in
1910 by Francisco Madero) has
slogan-"Free suffrage, no reelection"
(of the same President). That free
elections and the existence of single
government-back party cannot very
well be reconciled is evident.
Putting aside, therefore, the demo-
cratic principle inherent in the re-
publican system of government, the
Mexican question resolves itself into
a matter of personal leadership of
the official party. President Cardenas
has shown himself to be a stronger
leader than the country suspected.
Cracking down" on Gales he showed
he was not prepared to take orders