MCM Books News

La Voz de Amor , released in September 2016, is a book of Spanish poetry written by Servando Cárdenas. The poet looks at love from a romantic, familial, patriotic, cultural and spiritual perspective and provides great insights into Tejano culture. The book is also a labor of love for co-editor Alfredo E. Cárdenas, son of the poet. His co-editor, Javier Villarreal, Ph.D. is a recently retired professor of Spanish at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

In October 1915, 18-year-old Jesus Martinez was arrested by an Army guard at the Brownsville train station on—well there was no reason to arrest him other than he was suspected of being a bandit, perhaps involved in recent attacks against innocent “Americans”. He was a Mexican, afterall. Martinez carried with him a letter that raised suspicions even more. The investigation into the contents of the letter led authorities to a surprising conclusion.

Late in the evening of Oct, 19, 1915, men believed to be rebels fighting under the flag of the Plan of San Diego attacked the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico passenger train at Olmitos, Texas six miles south of San Benito. When the smoke cleared, three people—three “Americans” as the newspapers pointed out—were dead.

MCM Books will soon release its second book. La Voz de Amor is scheduled for release later this summer, perhaps as soon as the end of July. The book is a collection of Spanish poetry written by Servando Cardenas, mostly in the 1930s although several date to the 1940s and at least one to the 1970s.

Scholars have found the Plan de San Diego (PSD) of great interest and for decades have produced a large body of works on the incident, in doing so expanding on fields such as Tejano history, Borderlands history, or Mexican history. Most recently, historians Charles H. Harris and Louis R. Sadler published the episode’s most comprehensive scholarly study under the title of The Plan de San Diego: Tejano Rebellion, Mexican Intrigue (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013). What lacks at this point, however, is a source that fills the needs of the reading public and instructs it on the dimensions of this struggle that burst forth in South Texas in the year 1915. Alfredo E. Cárdenas’s Balo’s War : A Novel About the Plan of San Diego (Corpus Christi: MCM Books, 2015) addresses that call.

A map appearing in the Aug. 12, 1915 issue of the San Antonio Express reported that “murders and raids have terrorized the people of he Lower Rio Grande Valley from Zapata County to the gulf and to the north beyond Norias.” These“murders and raids” were prompted by the Plan of San Diego that had been uncovered in January 1915 with the arrest of Basilio Ramos in McAllen.

The Houston Post reported on Aug. 21, 1915 that U.S. Army officers in automobiles, infantrymen on foot and cavalry were chasing a group of Carrancista soldiers that had crossed the Rio Grande River with intentions of joining up with supporters of the Plan of San Diego near Falfurrias in Brooks County, Texas. The Corpus Christi Caller & Daily Herald headlined “Bandits Gathering Near Falfurrias.”

Attorneys attending sessions at the 79th District Court in Rio Grande City in 1915 reported that they carried books in one hand and pistols in the other. Such were the times in the Rio Grande Valley as a result of the guerrilla war underway in connection with the Plan of San Diego. In June 1915, the Houston Post reported that U.S. infantry stationed at Mission rushed to Fort Ringgold in Rio Grande City upon hearing that Mexican “bandits” were threatening the town. “Mexican and American farmers in that section are moving into Rio Grande City for protection,” the Post reported. Kelsey-Bass Museum and Event Center. A vivid description of the Plan of San Diego will be discussed at the Kelsey-Bass Museum and Event Center on March 10 by Alfredo E. Cardenas author of the recently published historical novel “Balo’s War, A Novel About the Plan of San Diego”. Cardenas will discuss his book at 6 p.m. as part of an event sponsored by the Starr County Historical Foundation. The book wi...

Kleberg County Sheriff James Scarborough On Aug. 11, 1915, Kleberg County Sheriff James Scarborough arrested Santos Rodriguez west of Kingsville, who the sheriff said was one of the leaders of the Norias raid. Five days later, on Aug. 16, Scarborough and Texas Rangers Joe Brooks and Charley Price arrested Juan Sanchez in a shack on the King Ranch, 18 miles south of Kingsville. Sanchez too was believed to be one of leaders of Norias Ranch raid.

In September 1915, Ben Felton, an African American porter at the Austin American newspaper was approached by several Mexicans who asked him to join an effort to take Texas from the United States. George Washington, Nelson Sneed, J. “Luck” Prosser, “General” Marion Jackson, and African Americans living in the small community of Creedmoor in southern Travis County, had similar experiences.

One of the greatest disappointments in researching South Texas history has been the lack of original personal sources from Mexican Americans. It is rare that you come across letters or journals on their personal lives and family stories. While editing my father’s upcoming book La Voz de Amor  I came across a journal from my grandmother who died when my father was 10 and another personal record from my mother about when my father was in the service.

The turnout for our Mission book signing was not quite what we expected but it was good, nonetheless. The Speer Memorial Library did a great job promoting and hosting the event and we are very grateful to them.

American filibusters and Mexican sympathizers were active all along the Mexican American border area, from north of Laredo to Brownsville long before the Plan of San Diego came to light. This activity was being investigated by American authorities, especially the Bureau of Investigation.

The Christmas holidays offered me an opportunity to do some reading, a luxury I don’t find time for during my regular days. I had the opportunity to read two books on Tejano history, one with direct ties to South Texas and the subject of my book Balo’s War .