The revolution in Sinaloa

On 25 December 1914 the General Jefe of the third Division of the Northwest, R. V. Iturbe, in Mazatlán, acknowledged Carranza’s decree of 27 November but reported that it would cause difficulty for his region, isolated and without resources, to declare the Estado de Chihuahua notes null and void. A handwritten note on the letter notes Carranza’s reply that Iturbide should not allow Villista notes to circulate, or change them for Constitutionalist notes, Carranza showing less determination than he did later with Obregón in Mexico City^{CEHM, Fondo XXI, carpeta 23, leg. 2257}.

In October 1915 in Mazatlán it was reported that the government was going to revalidate the Veracruz notes in the Dirección Principal del Timbre and in another government office, but that in fact there were almost none in circulation^{Progreso, Tomo I, Núm. 4, 14 October 1915}. As the notes in circulation had been sent directly from the Tesorería General de la Nación, to cover the costs of the war, there was no likelihood of counterfeits^{Progreso, Tomo I, Núm. 5, 17 October 1915}. However, small traders, with no knowledge of how to distinguish good notes from bad, continued to refuse the Veracruz notes^{Progreso, Tomo I, Num. 6, 21 October 1915}.

Confusion and abuses continued and in late December a misinterpretation of one of Obregón’s pronouncements (probably that of 19 December) caused alarm. The local newspaper reassured its readers that the disposition only referred to the notes of the Cuerpo de Ejército de Operaciones del Noroeste, not to the Veracruz notes, which were legal tender, nor the Estado de Durango notes, which should be accepted until 31 December^{Progreso, Tomo I, Núm. 27, 22 December 1915}.

Circular núm. 48 was published in Sinaloa on 28 December 1915^{Periódico Oficial, 28 December 1915}.