... There actually aren't quicker ways to die in an air strike.
Al Grito de Guerra: the Second Mexican Revolution
- Thread starter Roberto El Rey
- Start date
That's not an "if", that's a when, if not already.
The reestablishment of the DFS would have been alarming enough I think, and the US intelligence and law enforcement agencies are not clueless or stupid.
And I've played Ace Combat so I should know.
But yeah, I feel like the Bartlett situation is going to backfire in such a spectacular fashion. Let's be real here, if the Drug situation escalates out of a desire to become the dictator of Mexico, I really do expect the U.S. to come down, guns blazing to kick him out.
Thomas Wilkins
Banned
I don't think the US is stupid enough to pull off an Iraq-mode situation. The UN would be entirely against it.
I'm so glad I made your day!
All is very much well with me. My workload will be slackening up shortly, so I'll hopefully have more time to work on this TL!Hmmm...okay, how about this: the Iraqis get lucky with a Scud missile as you suggest, but otherwise fight poorly against the Coalition forces and score no notable victories. However, the Coalition forces' logistics and organization suffer from the rushed nature of the invasion, and the American public watching on CNN get the impression that the War isn't being run as efficiently as it could be. The eventual victory is tainted by the feeling that, up against a more competent enemy, the U.S. Army might not have fared so well. It doesn't have that much bearing on our main story—basically, the point is that the alternate Gulf War leads not to a flag-waving patriotism-fest, but to a debate over America's role in the post Cold War world and the importance of consensus-building in matters of military intervention. This, in turn, increases public pressure on President Bush not to send troops into Mexico.
Indeed—Bush could even use that narrative to help him win re-election. He'll need the help: with a mediocre economy, few concrete foreign policy triumphs to point to, and a soon-to-be-exacerbated drug problem, 1992 will be an uphill battle to say the least.
What he's always done: growing obscenely rich by owning 80% of the world's cocaine supply. And he's about to get even richer, because the expansion of the DFS as well as President Bartlett's negotiations with the cartels will make the drug trade even more lucrative than it already is.
The U.S. has thus far had a very tough time embedding agents into the DFS itself. Many of the agents already know each other, and new recruits are thoroughly vetted by the Government Secretariat. Although the agreement Bartlett strikes with the cartel leaders will make it somewhat easier for moles to break into the agency.
Washington is aware that the DFS itself is corrupt, but President Bush has reluctantly accepted its re-establishment as a necessary measure to counteract internal terrorism (a notion which was reinforced by such events as the assassination of Carlos Salinas, the kidnapping of José López Portillo, and the Selva Rebellion, which sparked similar, if smaller, uprisings in other parts of Mexico). He has been pressuring Bartlett hard to rein in corruption within the agency and break its longtime association with the cartels, but as of 1992, he has few direct means of enforcing this pressure. As noted above, U.S. intelligence agencies have had a highly difficult time embedding agents within the Mexican intelligence community, reducing their direct influence in the country. Economic leverage isn't much of an option either: none of the things America exports to Mexico are particularly vital for maintaining Bartlett's regime, and American purchases of Mexican oil are already low because of the recession, and Bush is afraid that depressing it further will exacerbate the financial problems. Add to that the distractions of the end of the Cold War, the Gulf War, and Bush's own re-election campaign, and you've got a U.S. government that can't pay as much attention to Mexico as it would like to, leaving Bartlett in many respects free to use the DFS as he pleases without too much worry over U.S. interference.
That being said, if and when it does become public knowledge that Bartlett is directly in cahoots with the cartel leaders, things will turn around quite dramatically. A Mexican President who must tolerate some corruption in his security forces in order to ensure their loyalty is something that the U.S. can begrudgingly accept; a Mexican President who forms direct alliances with criminals in order to centralize his power is something that the U.S. will definitely not abide, particularly if the criminals in question are concerned with trafficking drugs to the United States.
I never got around to asking this question earlier, but whatever happened to the Governor of Chiapas? Absalom Castellanos? In OTTL he was captured by Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés and put in trial for his crimes? What about this timeline?
You’ll find out in the next updateI never got around to asking this question earlier, but whatever happened to the Governor of Chiapas? Absalom Castellanos? In OTTL he was captured by Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés and put in trial for his crimes? What about this timeline?
Ah finally caught up! What a great read so far!
I wonder if they're gonna change the name of Venustiano Carranza to something more revolutionary now that Albores is in power....
I wonder if they're gonna change the name of Venustiano Carranza to something more revolutionary now that Albores is in power....
I will give it a few months before it’s found out. Someone somewhere will be caught and squeal.
And provide evidence.
Alternatively, the US could help a certain Coca Cola employee win an election....
I don't follow...who are you talking about?
Fox OWNS Coca-Cola's Mexican branch. And OXXO.
The next one is about 80% finished. It’s taken a long time because May was a busy month for me, and it’s a narrative piece which usually takes longer for me. Expect the new update within the next couple of days!