The Plan of San Diego ( es, Plan de San Diego) was drafted in
San Diego, Texas
San Diego is a city in Duval and Jim Wells counties, Texas, United States. The population was 3,748 at the 2020 census and 4,488 at the 2010 census. It is located primarily in Duval County, of which it is the county seat.
Geography
San Diego ...
, in 1915 by a group of unidentified Mexican and
Tejano rebels who hoped to secede Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Texas from the United States. "It is called for a general uprising, scheduled for February 20, 1915, and the assassination of every non Latin male over 16 years of age-the strike are to include all of South Texas. Germans were excluded from the killings, and shortly thereafter the infamous Zimmermann Note disclosed German efforts to involve Mexico and American in war, thereby diverting American aid to the allies. The San Diego Plan was part of the plot, which collapsed immediately on discovery". (Source: Syers, Ed, Backroads of Texas, 1914, Copyright 1979).
The goal of the plan is debated. The plan stated a supposed "attempt to overthrow the government in the Southern United States." However, some theories state that the true goal of the plan was to create the conditions to force the US to support one of the factions of the
Mexican Revolution, as eventually occurred.
The plan called for the killing of all adult white American men in the
Southwestern states and the "return of land to Mexicans." It was, however, exposed before it could be fully executed. Although there was no uprising, there were raids into Texas that began in July 1915. The raids were countered by
Texas Rangers, the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
and local self-defense groups. In total, 30 raids into Texas destroyed large amounts of property and killed 21 Americans.
It is not known who was responsible for drafting the Plan of San Diego, but there are theories that Mexican revolutionary leaders helped to sponsor it.
Background
During the
Mexican Revolution, the
Porfirio Díaz government fought with rebellious factions from 1910 onward. The fighting caused some rebels to flee from the Díaz government to the U.S., especially to Texas. The Mexican dissidents upset the political order of
South Texas and caused the state government to worry about the area's Mexican majority.
[Charles H. Harris III and Louis H. Sadler, ''The Plan of San Diego,'' University of Nebraska Press, spring 2003]
/ref> The Plan of San Diego grew out of that social unrest.
Content
Declaring the creation of a Liberating Army of Races and Peoples, the Plan of San Diego called for the recruitment of Mexican nationals, Native Americans and Mexican Americans to rebel against the United States. The central goal of the plan was to "free Texas, New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
, Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, and Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
from U.S. control" (see Reconquista
The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
). These states would become an independent republic that in the future could be reunited with Mexico. To the north, rebels hoped to conquer other states to produce a buffer zone between the United States and Mexico.
On February 20, 1915, the plan was called for starting the execution of "North American" men over the age of 16; only the elderly as well as women and children were to be spared.[ Also executed would be Mexican Americans who refused to participate in the plan. A notable provision of the plan was the protection of Native Americans, with native land being returned to them.][
The plan was penned in ]San Diego, Texas
San Diego is a city in Duval and Jim Wells counties, Texas, United States. The population was 3,748 at the 2020 census and 4,488 at the 2010 census. It is located primarily in Duval County, of which it is the county seat.
Geography
San Diego ...
, but it was actually signed by rebels inside a jail cell in Monterrey, Mexico. Although their identities and motivations remain unknown, there is much speculation as to who was responsible.
On February 20, when the plan was supposed to be enacted, rebel leaders revised the plan to focus solely on the liberation of Texas, which would become a base from which advance the revolution throughout the Southwestern United States.[
]
Theories
Huertistas
One theory is that Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez (; 22 December 1854 – 13 January 1916) was a general in the Mexican Federal Army and 39th President of Mexico, who came to power by coup against the democratically elected government of Francisco I. Madero wit ...
, a leader of a Mexican faction vying for governmental control in the Mexican Revolution, was the mastermind behind the plan. The theory rests on the capture of Huertista Basilio Ramos in Brownsville, Texas, in January 1915. In his possession was a copy of the Plan of San Diego. Under interrogation in jail in Monterrey, he admitted to signing the plan, along with eight Huertista cellmates. A jailer had supposedly smuggled in a copy of the plan to give to the inmates. Ramos credited the creation of the plan to another unnamed Huertista, who hoped to reconquer the Southwestern United States to gain domestic support in Mexico for Huerta.
Carrancistas
Another theory states that the Mexican government under Venustiano Carranza
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was a Mexican wealthy land owner and politician who was Governor of Coahuila when the constitutionally elected president Francisco I. Madero was overthrown in a Februa ...
, who became president of Mexico in 1914, supported the drafting of the Plan of San Diego in order to exploit the tension between Tejanos and white Americans inside southern Texas.[ Although the plan explicitly stated that there would be no aid from the Mexican government, the Carranza government was actually crucial in keeping the plan in action.] Some believe that Carranza wanted to exacerbate conflict between Americans and Mexicans in Texas to force the United States to recognize him as the true leader of Mexico, as ultimately happened.
Raids
The first raids under the Plan of San Diego were conducted in July 1915, five months after the agreed start date of February 20. The first raids targeted Mexican Americans who were prominent in agriculture and local town politics in Texas. On July 11, at the Magnolia dance ground in Brownsville, raiders shot and killed Tejano deputy Pablo Falcon, the first victim of the Plan of San Diego. One of the raiders was Ignacio Cantu, a Mexican who had been arrested by Falcon a week earlier.
As raids grew in number, the "high tide" of the Plan of San Diego was August and September 1915. The raids during this period were led by cousins Aniceto Pizana and Luis de la Rosa, well-known residents of South Texas. The latter, according to Clair Kenamore of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch,'' was born in Brownsville and was a former deputy sheriff. The raids were conducted in the style of guerrilla warfare, with the overall purpose of razing U.S. public and private property.["What the Trouble With Mexicans in South Texas Is and How It Began," ''Post-Dispatch,'' November 17, 1915, page 1]
/ref>
De la Rosa and Pizana created small bands, somewhat like military companies, constructed of 25 to 100 men.[ The ]Rio Grande Valley
The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. Th ...
was the focus of the raids where trains were fired upon and telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
wires and poles were cut down. On August 8, nearly 60 raiders struck the Norias Ranch, leaving five men dead when chased by American forces. U.S. authorities learned from this raid and from the wounded left behind that support from the Mexican Carranza government supplied the raiders, half of the men being Mexican citizens.
Mexican support was crucial in keeping the offensive alive when the plan was enacted. Mexico supplied half of the men on guerrilla missions and even used Mexican newspapers as propaganda in the border towns, where they exaggerated the success of Mexicans against white Americans and urged further participation.[
]
U.S. reaction
The raids and the propaganda, as well as white Texans' general fear, prompted authorities to send federal troops and Texas Rangers, who struggled to counter the raids. Eventually, on October 19, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
, as urged to by his staff to appease Carranza, officially recognized Carranza as the legitimate leader of Mexico. Then, Carranza used his armies to assist the Americans in capturing and imprisoning raiders, which ended the high tide of the Plan of San Diego.
White Americans became increasingly hostile and suspicious of Mexican Americans both during and after the Plan of San Diego raids. Small personal conflicts between Mexican Americans and white Americans led to the lynching and the execution of Mexicans by Texas Rangers, local officers and law enforcement, and civilians. Local whites founded the vigilante
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...
Law and Order League in 1915, fueled by suspicions of Mexican and Tejano insurrection. Federal officials estimated that from late 1915 to 1916, more than 300 Mexican Americans were slain in Texas. The 1919 Canales investigation The Canales Investigation was a 1919 legislative hearing into criminal conduct of the Texas Rangers, named for Texas State Representative José Tomás (J.T.) Canales. The purpose of the hearing was to "investigate the activities and necessity for ...
into misconduct by the Texas Rangers estimated that from 1914 to 1919, between 300 and 5,000 ethnic Mexicans were killed by American law enforcement personnel engaged in suppressing the raids.[The King of Adobe: Reises Lopez Tijerina, Lost Prophet of the Chicano Movement. University of North Carolina Press, page 20.][Revolution in Texas: How a Forgotten Rebellion and its Bloody Surpression Turned Mexicans into Americans. Yale University Press, page 120.]
About 400 Anglo-Texans were killed in total during raids from Mexico along the border during the 1910s, and much property was destroyed.
The Americans thought that German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
agents may have been involved as well, but no evidence has been uncovered.[ Threats of Mexican reconquest, however, reminiscent of the Plan of San Diego reappeared in Germany's Zimmermann Telegram of 1917, which helped push the United States into war with Germany during the ]First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Aftermath
In March 1916, Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa
Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...
raided Columbus, New Mexico
Columbus is a village in Luna County, New Mexico, United States, about north of the Mexican border. It is considered a place of historical interest, as the scene of a 1916 attack by Mexican revolutionary leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa that cau ...
. In response, the American government sent the Pancho Villa Expedition
The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the p ...
deep into Mexico to catch him. It failed to do so, but the Mexican government responded to U.S. forces entering Mexico by resuming raids northward. The crisis escalated to the verge of formal war but was resolved by diplomacy. Carranza was the driving force behind the resurgence of raids.[
]
See also
*Bandit War
The Bandit War, or Bandit Wars, was a series of raids in Texas that started in 1915 and finally culminated in 1919. They were carried out by Mexican rebels from the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Chihuahua. Prior to 1914, the Carrancistas ha ...
* La Matanza (1910–1920)
*Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
*Pancho Villa Expedition
The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the p ...
* Zimmermann Telegram
References
Further reading
* Gómez-Quiñones, Juan. "Plan de San Diego Reviewed," ''Aztlan,'' (1970) 1#1 pp 124–132
* Johnson, Benjamin H. "Unearthing the Hidden Histories of a Borderlands Rebellion," ''Journal of South Texas'' (Spring 2011) 24#1 pp 6–21
* Katz, Friedrich. ''The Secret War in Mexico: Europe, the United States and the Mexican Revolution'' (University of Chicago Press, 1981).
* Sandos, James, ''Rebellion in the Borderlands: Anarchism and the Plan of San Diego 1904–1923'', University of Oklahoma Press (1992)
Primary sources
* text of Plan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plan of San Diego
History of Mexico
1915 in the United States
History of the American West
Invasions of the United States
Plans in Mexico
1915 documents
Tejano
Ethnic cleansing in the United States