Previously on La Plata: Colombia, Hugo Ojeda unleashed Godzilla.
Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico
US lawyer Natasha Sibiski had worked her way up to becoming a partner within Theydon-Mortimor, one of America's top millennial upstarts in the legal arena. At High School, she had attracted the company’s interest with her grades and Theydon-Mortimor had moved quickly, to fast track her into the business, by paying for her education. Natasha had once said to her mother, a Russian immigrant who moved to the States in the 80s, that if you cut her open, she would bleed for only two things: Theydon-Mortimor and Mother Russia. Now 35 years of age, her customer accounts included some of the company’s biggest clients, including Ángel Bastardo - an imprisoned soccer man with links to bribery and narcotics in South America. But, the most controversial of accounts was titled: "Ojeda-Barranquilla'' and it belonged to the man heading up the list of America's Most Wanted: Hugo Ojeda. Another soccer man.
In the 5 years she had worked with the Venezuelan Businessman, she had seen his confident charisma slowly transform in to a still coldness. Something had been changing him the 5 years he had been in Colombia and he had become a sick and troubled man. Yet there was still power in his stare, a stare so powerful that it told Natasha, this was somebody who would never turn back from his course. Hugo Ojeda used that stare to gaze across his former office in Culiacan, Sinaloa, and stared into the eyes of the American DEA Agent Nick Carterfield.
Both men, and their respective delegations, had arrived in Mexico’s Sinaloa State Capital to discuss the release of Ángel Bastardo, which meant that Natasha had the dual responsibility of representing her two clients in one sitting. Two clients whose pasts were intertwined, with Bastardo seemingly passing on the reins of his business to Ojeda, shortly before his capture by the FBI and the Russian forces. Bastardo had called it Operation Isabella...she heard all about it from Bastardo himself, even the bits he had never wanted Hugo Ojeda to know about.
Natasha therefore had some degree of confidence that neither the American nor the Venezuelan were going to come to an agreement on Bastardo's release today...despite Hugo Ojeda’s insistence on his offer being enough to tempt Agent Carterfield. She continued to listen in on the theatrics of the two men, trying to outmanoeuvre one another with cheap cultural and racial digs. From 'El Charro' to 'Yankee', the men had drawn their boundaries, as they played their macho heroics to seemingly little avail or purpose.
The aggravated Ojeda dropped his pen on to the table and clenched his fists...his English was heavily drenched in a Hispanic accent, but was clear enough to require no translation from Natasha...
"I need an answer from you Agent Carterfield. You have the opportunity to save millions of lives. The chance to do what no DEA Agent has ever done: to end America’s longest ever war. Release Ángel Bastardo and it is done. I will close all drug operations, from Colombia to Mexico".
Agent Carterfield paused, and smirked, before replying, appearing to savour in what he was about to say, in his thick, Texan accent: "Heck, you’re right for a change. You Mexicans rarely are, I’ve found...I could indeed be that hero, yes. Saving millions of lives and ending this sick and twisted war, my Mexican charro".
Charro was taken as an insult, Natasha could tell. Not because Hugo Ojeda wasn’t a Mexican, but because it was often an insult to frame a businessman as a horseman. Ángel Bastardo had taught her that. Agent Carterfield carried on before Hugo could intervene: "But. And there is always a but. Who dies in this so-called War On Drugs, eh? Is it the good American people who vote in our Presidents and become businessmen and women pursuing the Great American Dream? Nope, Nada. The ones that die are from this opioid underbelly of our society…and the Mexican Charros just like you, little man".
Natasha could see Ojeda’s stare switch for just a second to his El Silencio golden pistol taped under his desk. It had been a while since he had made her watch him use it on a foe - something she utterly despised, but begrudgingly kept quiet upon, on account of her fear of him using it on her. Agent Carterfield was none the wiser to this split second interruption in his enemy’s stare, as after all he felt untouchable here, behind enemy lines. His brutal rejection of Hugo’s offer continued...
"You see, by taking away your drug trade…Big Pharma will be at my door. The guys that prescribe millions of drugs each year as part of this cycle of desperation. We certainly don't want this to end Señor Ojeda. It's laughable you would even think that. No, what I want is you to join your buddy Ángel Bastardo in jail. We won't stop until you're in, facing charges for the crimes you've done. Because you are worse than the man that we have right now".
The awkward stare and the ensuing silence that lasted five seconds felt like five hundred, before Agent Carterfield said his goodbyes and departed the room. As expected, and as predicted by Bastardo himself, these negotiations were always going to fail. But that cold and familiar stare remained on Hugo Ojeda's face, long after the several henchmen left the room…leaving Natasha alone with Hugo.
His right hand began to shake, with the other hand moving in to clench it firmly. He switched to Spanish, where the words became stronger and direct.
"Try setting this up again next month. But with whichever DEA/CIA/FBI superior you can find that pulls rank on that piece of shit we saw today. I offer a unified Mexico in standing down. It should be enough to get Ángel out of there", Hugo said hurriedly, as he pulled a selection of pills out of his blazer, and into the palm of his shaking hands, before quickly throwing them into his mouth.
"Si Don Ojeda, as you wish", replied Natasha, knowing full well that it was a waste of time. There was no leverage in this deal; Hugo Ojeda had played his trump card too early. If the Americans did not want this now...then they never will.
As she exited the office and out through the narrow Sinaloan corridors of Estadio Dorados, Natasha Sibiski’s mind turned to Ángel Bastardo and specifically what he had instructed Theydon-Mortimor to carry out, in secret, over the course of the past decade. Operation Isabella would never be over, even with Hugo Ojeda’s offer to end the War on Drugs; Natasha had instead been instructed to undermine America from within: finance, politics and real estate. She was certain that she would only have to play this fool's errand a little longer, before an offer would arrive on Hugo Ojeda’s desk. Only this time, a far more appealing offer from the desperate Americans themselves.
An offer which would guarantee the release of Argentina’s most notorious football manager: Ángel Bastardo.
Notes from the Editor: Natasha Sibiski will have a growing importance to the series as it moves forward into FM22, and I wanted to introduce her now via two creative parts. Firstly in today’s POV chapter, where we see her witness the sum of Hugo Ojeda’s grand plan: which is the offer to end the War On Drugs. It can perhaps be seen as a predictable play by our main protagonist, with Hugo amassing considerable wealth (and notoriety) between FM20-FM21. Yet, what should be surprising to readers is Hugo Ojeda’s helplessness in getting what he wants here. The United States of America has been, and continues to be, the villain in the series…the immovable object facing both Bastardo and Ojeda that refuses to bow to the Football Manager Underworld. It may take somebody with real ‘cojones’ to bring it down, and ironically that might just be a woman…
Thanks for reading,
FM Grasshopper
