Mexico had decent potential, but the Mexican government was a huge problem.
If Santa Anna could truly wash his hands of everything, Franz really could develop Mexico.
Yet Santa Anna did not believe he had done anything wrong. He even believed that Mexico could exist only because he existed.
The Mexican government had officially become a cancerous parasite upon this land, though Franz had to admit that Santa Anna was already the ruler with the most conscience this land had to offer.
Mexico's elites, warlords, and churches were all cut from the same cloth. None of them regarded this land as their home, and its inhabitants were nothing more than livestock in their eyes.
Naturally, the people's sense of belonging to this country was also very weak. Mexico's country-haters hated the country in the literal sense of the word.
Such a country had a very low ceiling. Civil war might even break out, so Franz could only list it as one of the backup options.
New Granada, on the other hand, was a land of boundless potential. Franz had once placed great hopes upon it, but Ferdinand VIII, whom he had personally helped onto the throne of Spain, did not see things that way.
As the saying went, great kindness could become great hatred. A favor one could not repay became a burden and a grievance to certain people.
Besides, Ferdinand VIII cared more about the interests of the Kingdom of Spain itself. Any person or organization that might threaten his rule or Spain's interests was his enemy.
Ferdinand VIII's ambitions extended far beyond Spain. What he wanted was an empire upon which the sun never set. Though that sounded somewhat laughable, Ferdinand VIII had indeed always regarded himself as a chess player.
Franz did not particularly care about this