The Mexican Secret Service

1895

It Keeps an Eye on the Affairs of Public and Private Men.

"The secret service of the French republic is generally considered to be the most perfect spy system in the world," said Oliver Beach, a traveling man of St. Louis, "but in my humble opinion the department of private intelligence supported by Mexico surpasses it both in extent and intricacy. A couple of years ago I was accidentally permitted to get an insight into its workings, and I was astounded. One would imagine that a great private detective agency would be a necessity only in a country like Russia, where the life of the ruler is constantly threatened, but down in Mexico there is a system of espionage that extends to every part of it.

"The motives of every public man in Mexico are not only perfectly well known to the government, but every visitor is subject to scrutiny. It was President Diaz who first established the chain of secrecy that now holds all the people in its links. Every now and then one will be surprised to see a body of Mexican troops hurried off to some remote place in a faroff state. None will know the reason, but the fact will soon become known that the government has prevented an embryo revolution from gaining strength and force. A considerable number of Americans residing in Mexico do so because the law will make it unpleasant for them in their native places. The Mexican secret service has the private record of each of these, and if any of them shows too much activity in Mexican affairs there is an arrest. The United States authorities are notified, and extradition of the prisoner follows. Yes, sir, the Mexican secret service is the greatest of them all, and its ramifications extend everywhere over the republic, and a good way on this side of the border." — Washington Star.