Building a Casino in South America (2)
Once electricity began flowing in earnest, the nightscape of Libertad became something truly beautiful. The city that had once lain in pitch darkness was now painted in brilliant color, and the streetlamps gleamed like starlight. As the streets brightened, people began to move about freely.
Now it finally looks like a place where people actually live.
Looking down at the scene from the window of my office, I felt my spirits lift of their own accord.
Of course.
"This is only the beginning."
Producing a bit of electricity wasn't going to turn San Marcos into a developed nation overnight. The foundational work was simply complete, nothing more.
My goal was clear. Somehow, within this presidential term, I would transform San Marcos into a developed country of Central and South America, then step down while the applause was still going and enjoy a luxurious retirement.
For that, I needed money. A great deal of money.
And so, the following morning, I convened a cabinet meeting.
"We will now open the second chapter of the Economic Development 6-Year Plan."
The senior secretaries swallowed dryly and fixed their attention on me. In truth, while they didn't know the specific scale or sequence, they already had a general idea of what was coming. They had seen the outline when the Economic Development 6-Year Plan was first announced.
Meeting their gazes, I pointed with my longsword at the eastern coastline of Libertad on the map. A stretch of land thirty kilometers from the capital — in Korean terms, roughly the distance from Yongsan in the heart of Seoul to Paju — where an exceptionally beautiful shoreline lay waiting. It was also the site where the Drumpf Resort and Casino Hotel would be built.
"We will develop this area."
As for why here, rather than the north, which sat closer to the United States —
Extending infrastructure that far would be too much of a strain.
The burden of pushing roads, electricity, hospitals, and everything else all the way up there was simply too great.
"What manner of development do you have in mind, Your Excellency?"
"It's simple."
I answered Isabella's question without hesitation.
"I intend to build an entertainment city to rival Las Vegas."
"...I beg your pardon?"
Silence fell over the conference room. The first to react was, naturally, Isabella, who had been speaking with me.
"Your Excellency, surely you don't mean... you intend to legalize gambling?"
She cut in with absolute firmness.
"I am opposed. Your Excellency has only just succeeded in inspiring the people's will to work. If gambling is legalized, they will degenerate into addicts, and that will become a tremendous burden on the nation."
The other secretaries nodded with worried expressions and added their voices.
"Household economies are only just beginning to recover. At a time when the habit of saving is taking root through Tortilla Bank, gambling? Promoting speculative behavior is a poison that will rip sound economic thinking out by the roots," said Ricardo, the Senior Secretary for Finance.
"We also cannot overlook the matter of public safety, Your Excellency. Gambling dens inevitably attract loan sharks, drug traffickers, prostitutes, and money launderers. Massive foreign criminal organizations could use the casinos as a host and crawl right in," said Director Lucio.
"Your Excellency, the factory machines have only just begun to turn. The workers are discovering the sacred joy of labor. If we plant in them the fantasy that they can make a fortune without working, who will tighten screws on a factory floor?" said Aman, the Senior Secretary for Industry.
"It could be an effective way to attract tourists, but if public order collapses, it may well backfire," said Lessa, the Senior Secretary for Resources and Tourism, rounding out a unanimous opposition.
They weren't wrong. Korea alone had suffered enormous damage from gambling. Kangwon Land by itself had produced no shortage of people who'd lost everything they had.
But.
You don't stop making soybean paste just because you're afraid of maggots.
And I already had a few safeguards in place.
"I am not saying we will legalize gambling."
"Your Excellency?"
"What we intend to build is a foreigners-only casino. Citizens will be strictly prohibited from setting foot inside."
A foreigners-only casino, plain and simple. Kangwon Land was famous enough to overshadow everything else, but Korea had several foreigners-only casinos of its own.
"Will that... actually succeed?"
"It will."
"......"
"Geographically, we are in an excellent position. We sit close enough to the United States that you can go back and forth in a small boat, and from anywhere in South America it's a two-hour flight. And the nearest stretch of mainland happens to be Florida — the wealthiest state in America."
I lifted the longsword and pointed at Florida.
"We'll make it so the super-rich come over on their yachts on the weekend, spin the roulette wheel, and spend dollars like water. All we have to do is sweep up what they leave behind. How does that sound?"
The logic was airtight. The secretaries' expressions brightened at once.
"As expected of Your Excellency!"
"This will create jobs as well!"
"We should begin with site preparation first."
I nodded at Isabella's words.
"That's right. Before we begin the actual work, we need to clear the site."
San Marcos's real estate system was a peculiar one. Thanks to former President Juan, who had been steeped in Soviet influence, all land belonged to the state in principle. Citizens purchased lease rights from the government and traded twenty-year, fifty-year, or hundred-year usage rights among themselves. As a result, land compensation had rarely been a headache — if the state needed a parcel, it simply reclaimed the lease and issued equivalent rights of corresponding value.
More to the point, the eastern coastline was nothing but white sand and trees. Almost no lease rights had ever been issued there.
Even so.
"There must be no complaints about land. Provide sufficient compensation to anyone living in the area and reclaim the site on that basis."
No one was going to be left feeling wronged if I could help it.
"Senior Secretary Lessa will take full charge of this matter. The rest of you, give him your complete support."
"Yes, Your Excellency!"
Listening to their vigorous replies, I brought that day's cabinet meeting to a close.
Needless to say, you don't build a tourist city with land alone. Guests could be drawn in with publicity, fine — but you still needed massive investment capital, and more than that, an actual operator to run the casinos and hotels. Las Vegas itself worked no other way.
"...In the end, it all comes down to money."
I had invested the funds from the sovereign bond issue with the heart of a beast, and the treasury was flush enough — but if we burned through all of it building a city, we wouldn't be able to execute the next stage of the Economic Development 6-Year Plan. We could always issue more bonds, of course, but...
The risk is too high.
Go into debt to build a city, and the returns fail to come in? That was national default.
I am not calling the IMF to San Marcos.
My retirement plan would go up in smoke right along with it. And so the conclusion I reached was this:
"We need to make them invest."
Attract overseas capital.
"The national budget will be used only for infrastructure — roads, port facilities, and the like. Construction costs for the hotels and casinos will be covered entirely by private investment."
Isabella and Lucio both nodded.
"You mean to attract foreign capital, Your Excellency?"
"That's right. And I have no intention of taking just anyone. We need to land the real heavy hitters. Experience out of Las Vegas would be even better."
Lucio gave a slight shake of his head.
"That side will be impossible. If we build a city centered on casinos, we become a competitor in their backyard. They have no reason to help us. They may even collude to block any investment from going through."
He wasn't wrong. Nobody puts money into a rival.
"Is there no other way?"
"We need a broker who knows that world and can draw the investment in. Someone with enough power to go toe-to-toe with the Las Vegas interests, at that. No one is going to step forward if their life is on the line."
"Their life? Las Vegas is run by legitimate corporations."
"There can be people who are not legitimate inside legitimate corporations."
"Hmm. This isn't going to be easy."
I was turning the problem over, feeling the weight of it, when Lucio spoke quietly.
"...There is one person who comes to mind."
"Who?"
"My cousin."
"Your cousin... the one who operates a casino in Florida?"
"Yes. I had no wish to recommend a relative for a public role, but at present I see no other option, so I have mentioned him."
"What does it matter if he's a relative, when the work is lighting the nation's future? Ability is all that counts. Go on — tell me what kind of man he is."
Lucio hesitated a moment, then opened his mouth with care.
"His name is Antonio Carvalho. Fifty-two this year. As children, he and I boarded the immigrant ship to Florida together. I came back afterward. Antonio stayed, saying he was going to make money. And... he truly succeeded in a very large way."
"How did he succeed?"
"He is the owner of the Gold Brown Casino Hotel in Miami, Florida."
"He really did make it, then."
"He succeeded, but the path was not a smooth one. He started with nothing but his bare fists and crawled up from the bottom. I am told a great many things happened along the way."
"Is that so?"
"And that is not the only reason I have recommended him."
Lucio nodded as he continued.
"Antonio is known as the Godfather of the San Marcos immigrant community in Florida."
"God... father?"
It was a word I had heard somewhere before, and my brow furrowed on its own.
"Yes. When immigrants suffer an injustice or find themselves in need of money, Antonio is the first person they seek out. As a result, his connections in local politics run deep, and he has dozens of people under him."
"Hold on."
That means he's a mob boss.
"...So what Director Lucio is saying is that this man has the power to fend off Las Vegas's territorial pressure."
"That is correct. If it is Antonio, he has the capacity to negotiate with the heavy hitters in Las Vegas — or the durability to withstand their pressure. I am told he has been through every kind of ugly business to reach where he is now."
"...I see."
I thought it over. First of all, this Antonio was a gang leader with one hundred percent certainty. Folding a man like that into a national project carried considerable risk. On the other hand, it was precisely because he was that kind of man that he might be able to play the broker. To deal with wolves, you needed a fierce hunting dog of your own. And if he was Lucio's cousin, betrayal wasn't a concern.
More than anything else —
I like that he actually has the experience.
He was running a casino hotel in the real world. There was a great deal of help we could get from that.
Yeah. This is no time to be picky.
After a brief deliberation, I gave my answer.
"Could I... meet him?"
"I will contact him at once."