(Garcia Estate, Peninsula de Paria, Venezuela)
Daniel got up and walked over to the wall-sized map of the Caribbean basin. Seated at the table were José Ramos and Eduardo Ramirez, kingpins of the Lara and Sabana cartels. Colombian expats like Daniel, they, too, were feeling the pinch of an unknown chokehold on their supply lines. Agreeing to meet at Daniel’s mountaintop lair was a rare occurrence for the cartel executives, who eyed each other with wary suspicion. Sharing the common hardship of severe losses and the disappearance of skilled mules— plus the harm that brought to their recruiting efforts — the trio had to pool resources and cooperate to restart the profitable flow of product north. Also seated at the table were their number twos who listened and spoke little. Standing around the perimeter was the muscle, in dark suits and glasses, showing no emotion and taking in everything. Daniel pointed to the map.
“I am effectively shut down in the Yucatan. We haven’t seen a shipment come ashore in two weeks, and have had two get through in the past month. Seven of our nine aircraft are missing, and we have only a Mayday call from one in the Windward Passage that had left Haiti thirty minutes earlier, reporting a fire before the radio went dead. Three of my lily pad trawlers are missing—without a trace—and with all this, over forty mules have disappeared with the vessels. At some point, even the mules have value when they make multiple trips and splash cash around their towns to gain new recruits.”
“I’m moving product along the Pacific, but only half of what I send out.” Ramos growled. At 300 pounds with slicked-back hair and dark glasses, he was a repulsive and feared thug.
Ramirez looked like a movie star. His tan set off the little bit of gray at his temples, and gold chains were visible under his open shirt and blue blazer. Like Ramos, his dark side was to be respected, and he spoke next.
“Had you not fought me, Daniel, we would have shared these losses in ‘Your Yucatan.’ Like Ramos to the west, I am having success up the Leeward chain, but, once in the open, my shipments are lost. Last month one vessel and three aircraft got through to the Bahamas.”
“How are you doing with containers?”
“Acceptable, but they are difficult to load and not as precise and responsive to demand as go-fasts and planes.”