File No. 839.00/628.]
The American Minister to the Dominican Republic to the Secretary of State.
Santo Domingo, August 3, 1912.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that conditions in this Republic continue to be very bad. The revolutionists are no nearer to overthrowing the Government than they were eight months ago, and the Government is still expending enormous sums in military operations against the revolutionists. It is pretty generally admitted now that this condition of affairs is being purposely prolonged by the Government military chiefs, who are enriching themselves at the expense of the troops.
Reports from the northern frontier indicate a chaotic condition of affairs; the revolutionists are ravaging and plundering at will, and the Government is endeavoring to reconcentrate the country people and cattle in the towns.
In the Cibao, or northern part of the Republic, revolutionary bands are attacking the towns, and while nothing decisive is accomplished [Page 364] the general feeling of alarm and unrest continues. Horacio Vásquez is supposed to be somewhere in the vicinity of Moca, and apparently roams about at will, and it would seem as if the Government is making no determined effort to capture him, while all his relatives not actively engaged in the revolution are thrown into prison or exiled as suspects. The town of Puerto Plata is kept in a constant state of fear from an attack by the revolutionary party operating near there. The Government has two or three hundred men in the fort, but makes no active offensive campaign against the rebels, and the latter take to the woods after firing up the town.
A few weeks ago the Government sent a peace commission to the southwest, but nothing was accomplished. Luis Felipe Vidal, one of the assassins of President Cáreces, is operating in this section near the Haitian frontier, and the Governor of Macoris was sent after him with a large force, but Vidal is not looking for an encounter with a superior force and takes refuge in Haiti.
The Governor of this Province was sent on a peace mission a few days ago to the revolutionary chiefs operating in the east, between here and San Pedro de Macorís, and this mission seems to have been somewhat successful, as it is reported that these chiefs have accepted the guaranties of the Government and given up their arms, for how long is a question.
In a conference yesterday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs admitted to me that the Government was not satisfied with the conduct of the military chiefs in charge of the operations against the rebels, and that a new and energetic campaign would be immediately initiated. He told me that the chief of military operations in the Cibao, General Rubirosa, who is now acting Governor of Puerto Plata, would be succeeded as military chief by a man in whom the Government had perfect confidence, leaving Rubirosa as Governor of Puerto Plata for the reason that it was not deemed advisable to anger him, but that he would be watched and his powers as Governor gradually curtailed. This statement of the Minister for Foreign Affairs was made in response to representations from me in regard to the evident inactivity on the part of the Government in putting down the revolutionary movement.
I have [etc.],