Chapter 394: New Bolivia (Part 1)

"Yuri, my friend. I need an explanation..."

With a dark expression, Numar stared at Yuri with a very ugly look on his face, his eyes practically spitting fire.

If looks could truly kill, Yuri would surely have been riddled with holes by now.

Yuri, who hadn't slept all night, yawned; he had already known what Numar was looking for him about before he came over, and he simply shrugged in response.

During the coup a few hours ago, although the performance of him and his group of mercenaries could only be described as childish and terrible.

The Decepticon, however, had displayed great power during the coup, single-handedly severely damaging all two thousand-plus government soldiers stationed in La Paz.

Unfortunately, Numar's original plan included his old subordinates who were participating in the coup.

It seemed that because a ground-attack missile had accidentally struck the ammunition depot of the barracks where Numar's old subordinates were located, it triggered a chain reaction of explosions that caused half the barracks to suffer, with two or three hundred soldiers buried in the sea of fire on the spot, and countless others injured.

The only military force Numar had in his hands was ruined just like that; it would be strange if he could have a good expression.

"Mr. President, I am very sorry for the losses of your troops..."

Yuri naturally would not continue according to Numar's wishes; compared to a warlord with men and guns, he and the Decepticons behind him were naturally more willing to have a puppet with no troops and no power in office. "I believe you can understand the situation at the time. After you were suddenly placed under house arrest by the former president, I did not know your situation and had to report the situation to my boss personally. Only after obtaining his consent did I dispatch military aircraft to carry out bombing on all targets in the original plan!"

This blame was shifted back to Numar by him in just a few words, yet even though Numar felt stifled inside, he had no way to refute it.

After all, he had indeed been too careless, which was why he was set up by the former authorities, stripped of his military power, and placed under house arrest.

It could be said that in the coup not long ago, Yuri had almost given his all; without him, there would be no Acting President of this interim government for himself.

But who knows, he still felt stifled and uncomfortable inside.

Numar had served in the military for many years and had experienced the most chaotic period in Bolivia; he naturally understood better that without military power in his hands, he was worth nothing.

But he could only hold it in!

With a light snort to express his dissatisfaction, Numar saw that he was unwilling to admit fault, so he could only push this topic aside for now.

Being able to fund a country to launch a coup, from the very first moment of contact, Numar knew that there must be someone behind Yuri, or to be more detailed, there must be a powerful force standing behind him, and this force was likely a certain country.

Unfortunately, Yuri had always kept his mouth shut about this, and every time he was asked, he appeared very cautious, neither admitting nor denying it.

Originally, Numar had been suspecting that the force behind Yuri was the United States. It was actually not strange for him to suspect this; after the former president of Bolivia took office, he had always been at odds with the United States, and not only did he criticize the United States' interventionism internationally more than once, he had also taken aim at American oil and resource giants in Bolivia, reclaiming several mines and mining pits under ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and Southern Copper in the name of nationalization, so it was not strange at all that the United States would fund the Bolivian coup behind the scenes.

However, all kinds of signs showed that military aircraft had been dispatched during the coup not long ago, bombarding multiple targets in La Paz.

And as everyone knew, most countries in South America held considerable hostility toward the United States, so although it had military bases in the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, for fighter jets to fly to La Paz, they would at least need to cross the airspace of one or two countries.

So if it were really the work of American military aircraft, South America should have been in an uproar long ago, and surely more than one South American country would have lodged a protest at the first opportunity.

Thus, he was completely confused; Numar racked his brains and could not guess who was funding this coup behind the scenes.

"It's time for a showdown!"

Numar was not a fool; now that the coup had already succeeded, he knew that since the other party was willing to spend a large sum of money, and even after he had trouble, did not hesitate to dispatch military aircraft to ensure the success of the coup, then they must have an agenda.

What the other party wanted might not be as simple as just a Minister of the Interior.

After calculating for a while in his heart, he organized his language and looked at Yuri, saying: "My friend, I think there are some things you need to tell me now. We have controlled La Paz, and we have also sent people to win the support of the Supreme Court, the military, and the local police. The coup has succeeded, and I also need an answer: who exactly are you people?"

Yuri smiled slightly, and just as he was about to speak, a cold mechanical voice suddenly came through the headset he was wearing, cutting off his words.

"Yuri, do not tell him the truth. Before the master's next instructions arrive, we only need to completely control the situation in Bolivia!"

It was the voice of the Decepticon, which made the corner of Yuri's eye twitch.

He did not know how this big shot knew what was happening here, but it was clear that the other party had heard their conversation and had given instructions.

Immediately, Yuri nodded slightly to indicate he understood, and then said to Numar: "Mr. President, you are too anxious. Taking La Paz does not mean that you have completely controlled Bolivia... Sucre has not yet replied to us for the time being, the military's attitude is also rather ambiguous, the Air Force refuses to recognize your legitimacy, and the Navy is also wavering... What you need most right now is to control the whole of Bolivia as soon as possible, and this is clearly not an easy task!"

Speaking of which, the Bolivian military was actually quite interesting; despite being a landlocked country, they possessed a navy, although they only had a few inland gunboats.

The Bolivians probably maintained the naval establishment to constantly remind themselves that they were once a country with an outlet to the sea, to ensure they would not forget that more than a hundred years ago, during the War of the Pacific, Bolivia had its Coastal Province taken away by the Chileans.

However, this looked very inspiring, but unfortunately, they ignored the huge gap in national strength between Bolivia and Chile, so it appeared rather awkward.

Numar did not get an answer again, and his face immediately looked even worse.

Yuri was indeed an old hand; he smiled slightly and leaned over to his side, whispering: "Mr. President, both my boss and I believe that it won't be long before you know everything. Of course, this will not affect our support for you. I just received news that the boss has approved a batch of military aid for your cause."

Military aid was considered giving Numar a way out; this fat man also knew that he had no men and no troops now, and if he wanted to sit firmly in the presidential chair and gain domestic and international recognition, he could not do without the support of Yuri and the others.

Immediately, he followed the steps down and managed to squeeze out a smile, asking: "My friend, can you reveal a little bit about what is included?"

"Of course!"

Yuri held up a finger, eyes fixed on him as he spoke slowly, "Equipment for two standard infantry divisions, all of which is at least seventy percent new equipment just retired by a certain country. We are gifting an extra battalion of tanks, plus two battalions of infantry fighting vehicles, and there are also about two hundred and seventy military trucks!"

"Hiss!"

Upon hearing this, Numar was first overjoyed, then he gasped, and beads of sweat immediately appeared on his forehead.

His lips trembled for a while before he asked: "No strings attached?"

"Hehe!"

Yuri smiled and did not answer.

There is no such thing as free military aid in the world; military aid is either for political needs or has strings attached.

A certain country, often considered a sucker by others, once provided military aid to North Korea, Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and many countries in Africa. It looked like it was given for free, but most keyboard warriors actually didn't know that military aid to North Korea balanced the situation on the peninsula, not only tying up part of the energy of the United States, South Korea, and Japan, but also providing a stable external environment for the old industrial base in the Northeast.

Except for that ingrate Vietnam, where the investment did not get the return it deserved, other military aid was actually very worthwhile.

Military aid to Southeast Asian and African countries was initially for that certain country to win votes to return to the United Nations. After the reforms, it was basically for mineral resources and opening up local markets. After all, Southeast Asian and African countries were all colonies of European and American powers in the early years; for a China that had been in decline for hundreds of years to open up a situation in a pro-Western country, initial investment was necessary.

As for whether it was recouped later, just look at how, when the Philippines and that certain country were making the whole world look on during the South China Sea incident in a certain year, Japan and European and American countries were jumping up and down, but how many countries around the South China Sea stood up to support the Philippines.

Look again at the big news that the US and European media make every day about that certain country occupying Africa, and you will know. They have acted as a sucker, but the sucker not only made a fortune but also made certain countries feel like they had a bone stuck in their throat, very uncomfortable.

Back to the point!

Seeing Yuri's expression, Numar immediately knew he had overthought it.

They were in the office building of the Ministry of Interior, and there were no outsiders in the office, so Numar let his guard down and asked directly: "What are the conditions?"

"The western plateau region; we want to fence off two plots of land for mining!"

"The western plateau? Are you sure it's not the eastern plains region?"

Numar had thought they would demand a condition that would make his heart ache, but he didn't expect it to be just this.

Bolivia is a country with extremely rich natural resources, a fact known to the entire world.

Although the Bolivian government lacks the funds to organize a detailed survey of the country's mineral deposits and distribution, many mining giants from Europe and America have self-funded surveys of specific regions they had their eyes on.

One can only say that this country is simply a gift from heaven; the Precambrian region in eastern Bolivia accounts for 30% of the national territory, while the western plateau mountain region belongs to the great mountain rock strata belt, and even incomplete surveys show that this is one of the most mineral-rich regions in the world.

Such as gold, silver, copper, iron, manganese, tin, aluminum, zinc, antimony, tungsten, bismuth, magnesium, lithium, uranium, niobium, tantalum, sulfur, gypsum, asbestos, phosphorus, boron, cadmium, barium, indium, germanium, mercury, cobalt, arsenic, mica, marble, crystal, bicolor crystal, calcite, multicolored onyx, sodalite, petroleum, and natural gas—Bolivia has it all.

However, as a plateau country with an average altitude of over 3,000 meters, mineral development in Bolivia is extremely difficult, especially in the western plateau region.

Yuri nodded expressionlessly; in truth, he only had a superficial understanding of this himself.

Number Two had once told him that he must secure the two plots of land in the western plateau region they had circled, because the Base had conducted an assessment there and predicted that over eight billion tons of super-large iron ore were buried underground, along with a wealth of various associated minerals.

And as for the other location, while its scale was far inferior to the iron ore, Yuri knew it had to be taken.

The reason was simple: it was a rich uranium deposit.

As for how to mine it after obtaining the land, that was not a problem Yuri needed to consider; he only needed to be responsible for closing this deal.

Numar agreed almost immediately, although he was certain there must be something there, otherwise the forces behind Yuri would not be willing to provide three hundred million dollars in military aid to acquire two plots of land.

But most of the western plateau region was a desolate, inaccessible wasteland; even the greediest international mining giants were unwilling to mine there despite knowing it was resource-rich, which showed just how great the difficulty and cost of extraction were.

Operating under the thought that since it was a wasteland, it didn't count as selling out the country, Numar didn't even bother to haggle and decided to agree on the spot.

Then he immediately pressed for details on the military aid, "Then, my friend, how long will it take for your military aid to arrive? You know, the situation within Bolivia is currently unclear, and I need to arm an army as soon as possible to ensure control over the entire country."

After finalizing the coup plan half a month ago, the Base had already been smuggling weapons and equipment into Bolivia through various channels without interruption.

Currently, in La Paz alone, Yuri knew there was enough equipment stored to arm a Russian-style regiment.

He replied affirmatively at once, "The first batch will arrive in La Paz within three to five days, at least enough equipment for a full-strength regiment."

The reason for delaying the delivery for a few days, besides not wanting to expose the Base's channels, was more about further seizing power.

The coming week would absolutely be the critical period determining whether Numar could sit securely on the presidential throne; after the coup succeeded, all sorts of trouble would pop up to fight for power, and since La Paz was currently controlled by mercenaries under Yuri, he was able to keep the situation firmly in hand.

"Three to five days?"

Numar frowned, but still nodded reluctantly.

Three to five days was barely acceptable to him, but he also saw some of the underlying implications, knowing that in the next few days which would decide Bolivia's political situation for the coming years, he would inevitably have to rely more on Yuri—which was undoubtedly not a bad piece of news, but not a good one either.

Just as he was thinking about his next plan, a light knocking sound came from outside the office.

Yuri tapped the earpiece he was wearing on his right ear; he knew who had come.

Without waiting for Numar to respond, he took the initiative to turn and walk over to open the door.

In an instant, a middle-aged man with brownish-red skin and obvious indigenous ancestry appeared in Numar's field of vision.

At the same time, Yuri's voice rang out.

"Mr. President, let me introduce you. This is Mora Kotetier, a Bolivian, and also your future Minister of the Interior!"

PS:

The Bolivia arc ends in the next chapter.