MCM Books News

Today, February 23, the blog site “We are Cousins” released a  one-hour podcast  of an intervew conducgte earlier this month with Alfredo E. Cardenas, the author of “Balo’s War.” You can hear the interview  here .

The Plan de San Diego called for an insurrection to begin at two in the morning on February 20, 1915. That was pretty specific. Why that time and date, no one knows. What we do know is that nothing happened as planned. On that day and hour, the rebellion would get underway, “One as all and All as one!” The secessionists would would take up arms against the U.S. Government, proclaiming the liberation of all people of color. They would declare freedom from Yankee tyranny which had held them as slaves for some time. They would proclaim the independence and secession of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and California, all of which had been “stolen” from Mexico by the North American imperialists in a most perverse manner. Basilio Ramos was sitting in a jail cell in Brownsville. Where his compatriots in the plot were, is anybody’s guess. Where they were not, was inciting any kind of revolution. “While the plan upon its face seems most absurd,” wrote the  Corpus Ch...

Gov. James Ferguson From the beginning of the troubles related to the Plan of San Diego, Texas Governor James Ferguson maintained that the problems were a Federal problem. His position was that the raiders were crossing the Rio Grande back to Mexico where General Emilio Nafarrate would provide them with sanctuary. President Woodrow Wilson countered that the problem was of a local nature and the state was responsible for quashing the “bandits.” Still there were some 17,000 troops in the Valley in August 1915. The governor wrote to the president asking for a doubling of the number of troops. “Every 12 hours loss of life…of American citizens occurs,” Ferguson wrote. “Citizens murdered, post officials robbed, Rangers and soldiers killed within last week. Offenders mostly Mexicans from across border. Only a few are American citizens.” Secretary of War Lindley Garrison offered the governor 12,000 more troops if Gen. Frederick Funston at Fort Sam Houston requested them. The general...

Basilio Ramos’ family lives in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Who exactly was Basilio Ramos, Jr.? He is the the name most commonly associated with the Plan of San Diego but in truth he had little known connection with the Plan’s implementation after his capture in January 1915. The Ramos clan fled to the New World during the Franco-Spanish War and then emigrated to Texas when the new Mexican government was trying to deport Peninsulares. After south Texas was ceded to the United States, they crossed the river and were among the founding families of Nuevo Laredo There is some evidence that Basilio Ramos was secretary to the governor of Tamaulipas in 1913 and about the same time he also served as secretary of the customs house in Nuevo Laredo. These positions are indeed very plausible since his political pedigree included a father and grandfather who served as  presidente municipal  of Nuevo Laredo. In fact the Customs House in Nuevo Laredo was established by Juan Ramos Trevino, Bas...