King
Alvin saw off the Russian big shot, then distractedly entertained a few Latin American politicians.
They had offered Alvin fairly thoughtful promises when everyone else had backed down.
Peru's rapid rise in South America had left the four failed Central American countries unable to sit still.
Having lost Peru, the world's largest coca supplier, the four failed countries that served as drug corridors were desperate to change their circumstances.
Mexico, that godforsaken place akin to Hell, hadn't been a paradise for drug dealers from the start.
The worst part of their fate was being neighbors to the world's biggest drug-consuming nation—and then making things even worse by signing the North American Trade Agreement.
A country whose economy had once relied mainly on resource exports had signed a free trade agreement with the most industrialized nation in the world. It was like getting drunk, putting on a miniskirt, and climbing aboard a bus in India. You'd almost feel bad if nobody took you for a ride.
With its industrial advantage, the United States crushed Mexico's domestic industries until nothing was left. In the end, Mexico became the United States' backyard and a blood pool.
That was how cruel reality could be. A leader without foresight could drag a country into the depths of Hell, while one with vision would grit their teeth and see industrialization through to the end.
An industrial powerhouse was the only true powerhouse!
Mexico was the world's largest consumer of corn, yet even at growing corn it couldn't compete with America's mechanized farmers. They were crushed by production costs of just twenty-five dollars per acre, and most Mexican farmers went bankrupt.
A government that couldn't even protect its own farmers was utterly incompetent. Those farmers, desperate just to make a living, could only grow a few