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Fifth Column Held Under Control in Mexico

August 27, 1940
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Assurances that the Mexican Government had Nazi fifth column activities under control and was cooperating closely with Washington in the spirit of the Havana Conference have been given by Interior Secretary Ignacio Garcia Tellez, New York Times correspondent Russell B. Porter, reported in a dispatch from Mexico today.

In June Senor Tellez called in Mexican editors and publishers, notified them that the Mexican foreign policy was one of friendship toward the United States and opposition to all totalitarian powers and requested their cooperation. Within a few days Arthur Dietrich, press attache of the German Legation and reputed Nazi chief in Mexico, was declared persona non grata and asked to leave the country, which he did on a Japanese ship.

The violently anti-United States weekly Timon, financed by Dietrich, and the Spanish edition of the weekly, Deutsche Zeitung von Mexico, were suspended, Porter said. The Mexican Labor Confederation announced a policy change to friendship for the United States.

Senor Tellez said the Government was using all possible legal means to keep fifth column activities under control, including strict supervision of all aliens within Mexico and the tightening of immigration regulations.

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