Vincent Mercator of Jefferson.
The Mercator Coup was a coup d'etat organized by Colonel Vincent Mercator on 18 January 1950 to forestall the inauguration of Admiral Paul Suarez as President of the United States of Mexico.
Mercator was the commander of the Guadalajara district garrison at the time of the 1950 Mexican elections. The elections were held by President Alvin Silva in an attempt to gain popular support for his policy of resuming armed combat in the Global War with an invasion of China. Silva had earlier suspended the 1944 elections, so the 1950 elections were the first to be held in twelve years. Silva had also seized control of the U.S.M.'s media outlets in 1944, and conducted a skillful propaganda campaign that convinced most Mexicans that the Mexican surprise attack on Japan in January 1942 had pre-empted an imminent Japanese attack. Silva also claimed that insurrections led by the Black Justice Party and Causa de Justicia were being funded and directed by Kramer Associates, and that the leadership of the opposition United Mexican Party were little more than traitors.
As the election approached, the leaders of the U.M.P. settled on Admiral Suarez as their presidential candidate. Suarez had resigned as Commander of the Pacific Fleet in 1944 in protest against Silva's leadership, and was highly critical of Silva's proposed invasion of China. Instead, Suarez sought a primarily naval war, blockading Japan and carrying out amphibious assaults on Australia and the K.A. territories of Taiwan and the Philippines.
As the election approached, both parties resorted to political violence to intimidate the other's supporters. In the election, Suarez won a narrow majority, but Silva claimed that there had been balloting irregularities in California and Jefferson, which Suarez denied. As the date set for Suarez' inauguration approached, there were several violent mass protests, and Mexico appeared to be on the brink of anarchy.
On 16 January, three days before the inauguration, Mercator unilaterally declared martial law in his district in the name of order and to "defend the constitution." Many other garrison commanders around the country did likewise. A secret meeting of Mercator and ten other garrison commanders took place in Mexico City on the morning of 18 January. When the garrison commanders emerged, Mercator proclaimed that it would be impossible for Suarez to take office the following day, since such an action would provoke civil war. He went on to proclaim a "provisional government not of politicians, but of those whom the politicians have betrayed." Within an hour Suarez had been taken into "protective custody," while Silva was arrested for "crimes against the republic." That evening Mercator proclaimed the formation of his provisional government, to be led by Field Marshal Felix Garcia and with Mercator himself as Secretary of War.
Sobel's sources for the Mercator Coup are Arnold Saypoe's A Life of Vincent Mercator (London, 1961); and Kenneth Zarb's Garcia! (New York, 1965).