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Nevertheless, it's important to keep in mind that this dramatic event occurred at a time when Mexico needed to strike back at the Axis powers, mainly to raise the morale in the home front, since the allies were suffering defeats elsewhere in the world. Also, one must remember that back then, factual information was really hard to obtain, mainly due to the security measures imposed. Thus, trying to confirm a submarine kill turned out to be almost impossible. But first, let us analyze why Mexico decided to enter the war: By then, it was no secret that the Latin American country was disliked by the Axis Powers because its opposition to the Italian invasion to Ethiopia, its support for the Spanish Republican regime and most of all, for allowing the establishment of a Spanish government in exile in Mexico, which existed until after the death of General Franco. Other reasons for the animosity included the seizure, by the government of General Manuel Ávila Camacho, of 9 Italian and 3 German ships in Mexican ports. Ironically some of these ships, which had been incorporated into the Mexican Merchant Navy, were later sunk by the German U-boats. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mexico and many of the Latin American countries broke diplomatic relations with Germany, Italy and Japan. This political move raised the threat of a Japanese invasion of the U.S. and Mexican West coasts, including the Baja California peninsula. Thus, the Mexican government decided to deploy FAM aircraft to the region, which immediately began flying coastal defense missions. At the time, the FAM was comprised of two air regiments, each having 3 squadrons equipped with general-purpose biplanes such as the Vought V-99 Corsair, a handful of Vought O2U-2M, some locally-built O2U-4A Corsario Azcarate, and a few Consolidated Model 21-Ms. Of the two regiments, the 1st was ordered to deploy to Baja California, while the second stayed at Mexico City for providing cover to the country's capital. Within days of the deployment, the first submarine alerts occurred: A Corsario Azcarate flown by Lt. Leopoldo Meza discovered and attacked with his machine-guns what seemed to be a Japanese submarine, about 30 miles from the coast of Sinaloa. However, it all indicated that the submarine was able to escape unharmed. Then, on May 13, 1942, the Mexican tanker "Potrero de Llano" was sunk by the German submarine U-564 near Miami, killing 14 of its sailors. Seven days later it was the ship "Faja de Oro" -one of the confiscated Italian tankers- that was sunk in the waters between the U.S. and Cuba, by the German submarine U-106.