George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 274

< Episode 273 >

The information about the ‘large-scale drug transportation plan’ came in purely by chance. This much was fine. The problem was the transportation route. It seemed like those who had only operated domestically were trying to expand into overseas business, and that overseas just happened to be the United States.

The very United States that the agent loved so dearly!

To be precise, it was a plan to bring drugs produced in Brazil into the United States via Colombia through a commission brokerage arrangement. Brazil already had some smuggling to the United States, but since they had never done it in large quantities, it was speculated that they had enlisted the help of the Colombian cartels, which already had well-established and secure back channels from numerous past operations.

I can’t go into the details of the informant’s situation, but it seemed they reported it with the vague hope that ‘it would be taken care of somehow if it involved the United States.’

Even if I wanted to ask for more details, they had disappeared, so I couldn’t even guess if they were dead or alive. So, I decided to investigate. While dealing with drugs is the job of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), gathering intelligence on the ground is ultimately the CIA’s responsibility, so the CIA ended up taking the lead.

In fact, up to ‘this point,’ it was just an investigation and nothing more.

However, somehow, the report made its way to the President. Since he was secretly called the king within the CIA, his influence was considerable.

To be exact, Bush had planted someone who could immediately inform him of developments, knowing the CIA’s tendency to act impulsively with just a little encouragement. Upon learning this, Bush issued an order with roughly the following content:

‘Search every nook and cranny, damn it!’

Even though Brazil is vast, most of its cartels are concentrated in urban areas, so locating organizations or members wasn’t that difficult. The problem was how to infiltrate and uncover the truth.

Again and again! The CIA, once again in a frenzy, pushed everything forward hastily. Thanks to the CIA’s boast that they would quickly uncover the whole story, DEA forces gradually landed on Brazilian soil via covert flights with the cooperation of the Brazilian government.

However, in the end, it was the CIA field agents who were suffering. A blonde, blue-eyed Caucasian man who was fluent in Brazilian-accented Portuguese was hardly ideal for infiltrating a Brazilian drug cartel. But, damn it, the incompetent higher-ups seemed to think he was perfectly suited for this mission simply because he had lived in South America for a long time.

‘Does that even make sense in this situation!’

Of course, it didn’t make sense. His acting wasn’t clumsy, but unfortunately, information about the DEA’s special forces landing had leaked from the Brazilian government to the cartels, which put all the Brazilian cartels on edge. As a result, his identity was exposed right from the start.

This is the result.

The lead-lined steel door and the concrete and rebar walls provided double protection against the impact of the grenade explosion, but there was nothing they could do about the concussive blast. The agent suffered from the pain and tinnitus as if his eardrums had been torn.

If there had been more time, he would have covered his ears with his hands, but since he reacted instinctively with his body almost simultaneously with the explosion, how could he have had time to cover his ears?

The tinnitus didn’t go away easily, and even in the midst of the chaos, he was moving as he had been trained. He had caused some trouble, but his skills were undeniable. He could feel instinctively that they were getting closer.

The LED indicator on the radio was flashing, indicating an incoming transmission, but since he couldn’t hear it, his response was limited.

“I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you, damn it!”

There was definitely something else to use in times like this, but he couldn’t remember it. However, he figured they would understand on the other end since he was making such a fuss. He considered throwing away the useless radio, but he must have decided against it, as he picked up the pistol that was rolling around on the floor with him as he fell.

The Glock was full of scratches, but he didn’t care much since a gun just needed to shoot well in the end. The problem was that there were only three bullets left, and he didn’t even have a single spare magazine.

He had succeeded in putting twenty-eight bullets between the eyes of his attackers in the gunfight, but no matter how accurate a marksman he was, there was no way to deal with enemies who outnumbered his bullets by dozens of times. Even if the opponents were morons who didn’t even know how to shoot properly, he had to run away when they came in such a large group. It was a valuable moment to understand how the UN forces felt when they were holding back the Chinese army during the Korean War.

‘We should have just focused on cracking down on the mainland. Why are we being so nosy?’

Perhaps things would have been different if he had been fully armed, but anyway, the best thing to do now was to escape with the information to report to the President. If he could deliver this properly, his demotion-like assignment would change.

A CIA agent risked his life to escape with crucial evidence for the sake of his future and restoration of his honor.

“Citizens! Listen! Last night, there was a gunfight in the city between our loyal military and police and overseas terrorists who dared to threaten the current government!”

The gunfight between just one person and the cartel lasted for several hours. It was too late to cover it up as a gas explosion, and there was no reason to cover it up. However, the truth could not be clearly revealed to the press.

“The patriotic army for the people, by the people, and of the people has now found their base and is responding strongly with the army and air force!”

Of course, they didn’t find it properly. Because the opponent was a cartel. The government simply blamed it on the recent actions of Colombian rebel terrorists. Since everyone was dead in this gunfight without a single injury, it was too easy to manipulate the media.

“We will show them the mercy made of gunpowder! Furthermore, their treatment will be decided by God!”

The reason for turning their eyes abroad was simple: Brazilian dignitaries or their families could become assassination targets.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva decided that it was not yet time for a full-scale response. Moreover, the Fome Zero [Zero Hunger] welfare reform currently being promoted would be difficult to achieve if the country was in turmoil.

Of course, this system only worked with donations, but considering that the goal of this welfare system was economic growth, it would be useless if only welfare increased and the economy remained stagnant.

“For the prosperity of Brazil!”

Moreover, it was not a completely unrelated goal to this incident. One of the main sources of income for the Colombian rebels was drug import and export. According to the information sent by the CIA, they were also quite involved.

Fortunately, they had been holding Brazilian hostages and staging a hostage situation the day before, so the reaction to this speech was truly amazing.

It’s just that they are not really bombing with the air force as they say, and some special forces are just dealing with the hostage situation as before and confronting them. It was just that the government’s hard-line policy announced in this speech was supported by the people.

With the situation like this, Colombia couldn’t help but do something. The current Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez had never had a good relationship with the Colombian rebels. In a way, Brazil had taken the lead and embarrassed him. He had failed to properly manage the domestic rebels and caused trouble to neighboring countries.

In reality, he was preparing for a third term by cracking down on the rebels, raising security, and increasing his approval rating, but it seemed that the Brazilians had interfered. Anyway, it could not be denied that he was a very capable leader.

“We have to stir up the rebel bastards no matter what. It’s impossible to wipe them out, but at least we have to show that we are responding more strongly than we are now!”

So the Colombian army moved. The problem was that, due to the nature of the drug trade, with all sorts of cartels rampant, it was impossible to just pick out the rebels. The rebels were brutally crushed by the orders of the president, who had gone mad.

But even if they were corrupt, would the rebels be called rebels for no reason? They had training and cooperation from residents at the level of a regular army, far exceeding terrorists. And even equipment that was good enough to be considered decent.

Moreover, the rebels’ main source of income was that drug. To be exact, they grew drugs but usually protected cartels, drug farms, and factories that grew drugs. Conversely, attacking the rebels inevitably meant confronting the cartels, and as if to prove that the cartels were not notorious for nothing, they responded strongly.

However, that strength was somewhat different from the strength known to the world. Usually, when people think of strength, they think of confronting the military head-on, but for them, strength was to kidnap or kill Colombian government dignitaries or their children.

If it had been a normal time, they would have shrunk back for fear of their own lives, but on the contrary, it triggered them to start in earnest.

One of the Colombian drug cartels accidentally kidnapped Tomás Uribe Moreno, the son of Álvaro Uribe and a businessman, and, in addition, the child of a politician who was with him, and he fell into critical condition. It just so happened that the child who was with him was a politician who had been defending the cartel from behind.

With this as an opportunity, they gradually realized that there was no safe zone and decided that it was better to confront them. Only after they firmly resolved that they had to eliminate them in order to survive could the Colombian army and the rebels stand on the ring as equals.

Before that, information was leaked, so even if the military was dispatched, there was nothing there when they arrived. Now that there were almost no spies or politicians helping them, the cartels and rebels were gradually being eradicated. Since drugs don’t disappear just by eliminating organizations, they knew that they would eventually be revived in another form, but since they killed even the farm owners in the operation due to ‘friendly fire’ during the trial, it was certain that the drug market would shrink significantly for the time being for fear of their lives.

Moreover, in the process, they completely turned the people into enemies, and there was no place for them to set foot. Furthermore, the strange thing about drugs is that no matter how much you trample on them, it’s not like there’s no place to get them, so it became an opportunity for drug exports to flourish in neighboring countries.

Moreover, in the process of cartels gathering as much capital as possible to go into hiding for the time being, drugs were released into the world market at unbelievably low prices, stimulating drug consumption by lowering drug prices. The place that consumed the most was, as expected, the United States.

US President George W. Bush was very embarrassed by this situation itself and issued only a short statement of regret, unlike him.

As time passed, the war on drugs began to sink deeper and deeper into the quagmire. A big change came to this point when the Brazilian government announced a statement to the Colombian government saying, ‘We are willing to help,’ and the Colombian government issued an official statement saying, ‘Don’t interfere and take care of the cartels in Brazil properly!’