February 20 came and went without incident

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 Christi Caller, “authoritative sources” said states that officers and residents from several South Texas towns feared trouble on Monday, February 22. Preparation were made against any trouble that would occur. In Corpus Christi, however, the newspaper reported that “absolutely no trouble is feared.” Law enforcement officers did feel that in the smaller towns near the Rio Grande River “bands of Mexicans who have recently entered from Mexico to the Texas side” could cause some trouble.

The week after the supposed insurrection, the Brownsville newspaper reported that local resident were ridiculing the Plan. Valley towns reportedly “spent a sleepless night and literally slept on their arms the night of February 20th…” Various towns, San Benito in particular, had a “mite of fear.”