In February 1913, General Victoriano Huerta launched a
coup, known as the
Ten Tragic Days, with the support of
Félix Díaz (the nephew of deposed president
Porfirio Díaz) and American
Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, as well as ambassadors from other great powers, to overthrow the federal government of
Francisco I. Madero. Madero had kept the Mexican Federal Army and called for the disbanding of revolutionary forces that had helped bring him to power. Madero called upon General Huerta to suppress rebellions that had broken out. Increasing opposition of Madero put his presidency in peril. The coup that ousted and murdered Madero occurred in February at the tail-end of the
Taft administration and his full support. From March 1913 on, the administration of US President
Woodrow Wilson switched tack and opposed the Huerta regime, supporting the rebels instead. Wilson imposed an arms embargo on the Huerta regime, cutting off their access to the weaponry that would keep the regime in office. The European powers did not want to be seen to be involved in the financing and shipping of arms to Huerta since it could increase tensions, if not provoke a conflict with the US, which they wished to avoid. Huerta sought an agent to purchase the arms he needed, and began working closely with Leon Raast, the
Russian vice-consul in Mexico City. Raast traveled to
New York City to meet with the Huertista agent Abraham Ratner and Marquard and Company, Importers to purchase twenty machine guns to add to the stockpile already warehoused in the city. Raast then met with the president of Gans Steamship Line who would transport the contraband for him but could not legally consign the weapons to a port in Mexico, however, he would consign to a port in
Odesa,
Russia. ==Shipment==