with Mexico's Porfirio Díaz administration, and British investment in Mexico had become of much greater economic importance than the trade between the Cruzob and Belize. The UK signed a treaty with Mexico recognizing Mexican sovereignty over the region, formalizing the border between Mexico and British Honduras, and closing their colony's border to trade with the Chan Santa Cruz "rebels". As Belize merchants were Chan Santa Cruz's main source of gunpowder and guns, this was a serious blow for the independent Maya. In previous decades, the Mexican army had twice managed to fight its way to the town of Chan Santa Cruz but was driven back both times. In 1901 Mexican general Ignacio Bravo led his troops to the town to stay, occupying it with a large force. Over the next few years, he subdued surrounding villages. Bravo telegraphed the news that the war was over on May 5, 1901. While this is the date most frequently given for the end of the war, fighting continued, although on a smaller scale. On 13 December 1901, the material for building the Decauville railway Vigía Chico-Santa Cruz was ordered in New Orleans. It was officially opened on 4 September 1905. With their capital lost, the Cruzob split into smaller groups, often hiding in small hamlets in the jungle. Their numbers were seriously reduced by deaths from epidemics of measles and smallpox, endemic diseases carried by General Bravo's troops. Inspired by the persistent Talking Cross sect, the Maya of Chan Santa Cruz remained actively hostile to the Mexican government well into the twentieth century. For many years, any non-Maya who entered the jungles of what is now the Mexican state of Quintana Roo was at risk of being killed outright. The combination of new economic factors, such as the entry of the Wrigley Company's chicle hunters into the region, and the political and social changes resulting from the Mexican Revolution, eventually reduced the hatred and hostility. In one form or another, war and armed struggle had continued for more than 50 years, and an estimated 40,000–50,000 people died in the hostilities. The war was officially declared over for the final time in September 1915 by General Salvador Alvarado. Alvarado, sent by the revolutionary government in Mexico City to restore order in Yucatán, became governor of the state and implemented reforms that mitigated grievances that had caused the conflict. Although the war had been declared