As some of you may have seen in my the recent RPs, I have acquired a Major-General in the

Colombian National Army, Ramon Tamper. I had planned to use him for very lucrative jobs (and
already have), but now he can work as a benefit to the entire organization. And it stems back to
Doc Phibes plan to make Colombia our own ?puppet state?, controlled from el Presidente down.
So, simply, let's make the guy President.

We can do this one of two ways: through election, or coup. Election is the easiest way, in terms of
effort: we simply need to fund his campaign well, use our influence to gain votes, and eliminate or
otherwise neutralize his opponents. Tamper is not necessarily a born politician, but if a brain-dead
Texan can become POTUS, we can certainly make a corrupt soldier President of Colombia!
● Cash: That's the key; financing him. Through fronts we fund his campaign, buying him whatever
we need. On the same level, we use this money to buy as many votes as we can, specifically
unions. This shouldn't be a problem as Facunda Rojas has plenty of pull with the left-wing FARC,
and can sway thousands of voters (violently or peacefully, as long as they vote the right way). I
know it's a tenuous link, but in The Brethren, a John Grisham novel, the CIA figured that
$100million was enough to buy the US Presidency. With that in mind, half that should do it for us.
Between the whole of Merces Letifer, that amount won't be a problem. The cash will also be used
to buy valuable media exposure, possibly with us corrupting a major media company, and a few
more politicians (Senators or Supreme Court judges, for example), further strengthening our
stranglehold.
● Violence: Of course, we will have some fun while we're doing this. Tamper will have rivals both as
opposing candidates, vocal public critics, and the usual scum that can crawl up and taint a
politician's all-important public image. The big fish will need to be taken care of subtly (blackmail
or scandal if possible, a ?suicide? or ?accident? otherwise) but the others... well, we can do what
we do best, and the more we kill, the smoother ride he has.

That's the easiest route, but it has flaws. For one, it still relies heavily on the system to do our
work for us, which is rarely a good idea. However, the amount of money and effort we put into this
should sway it our way. Another, more important problem is, elections are long. Even in Colombia
they take months, and I'm not sure if we can shorten this down to suit our needs. Still, it is the
safer route, and once Tamper is in, we can start issuing our orders.

A coup would be the antithesis of an election: much harder to put together, but giving us a much
stronger position. If Tamper were elected, we would need to stay in the shadows, for any
connection with us would kill him politically. However, with a coup, a swift, violent revolution
masterminded by us and carried out (ostensibly) by him, we could truly dominate the country. As I
said, it would be more complicated: much more would have to be put into place for our man to
get in and remain stable. We would have to make sure the army and the Senate and, just as
importantly, the guerillas, paramilitaries and cartels on our side. Once we have all that, we run the
country. End of story.
And, let's be honest: it'd be a lot more fun.

The Build-Up
● FARC: This would take a while, but it would be crucial. Once again, Facunda Rojas would be
invaluable, connected as he is to the FARC. At last count the guerillas had about 20,000 fighters,
and even half of that ? which he could realistically sway ? would be invaluable to us. Eliminating
rival leaders and drawing the organization together under his banner would be the easiest way to
do this. Once he has domination over them, the guerillas will be ready.
● AUC: They are particularly key to this. The AUC will be used by us as scapegoats for the current
President's assassination, executed by us of course. More on them later
● The Cartels: A lesser problem by far, but still useful. I am already close to the powerful North
Valley Cartel, one of the largest, and could sway them. The others would simply not need to know,
and would have little way to find out.
● The Army: This would be Tamper's area, though we could help. There are five divisions in the
Colombian National Army, the wing of the armed forces most useful to us. We would need to get
control over two more, through whatever means you can devise. Once we have those numbers on
our side, we let in the Major-Generals on the plan, after making sure they will go along with it.
Once they know, we just have to give them the order.
● The Government: Most of these won't be a problem, and I'll explain why later. But we will need a
few crucial Senators still on our payroll, to give Tamper some legitimacy. They will be the one's
who are most connected to the financial and social stratosphere of Colombia, giving us more
influence over the country. Corruption of them is simple, and we needn't inform them of our plans:
just make sure they are protected in the coup, and promised rewards afterwards, and they'll be our
lapdogs.

The Coup
● Catalyst: First of all, we RP a couple of incidents of terrorism (of any kind as long as it's bloody)
that we frame the AUC for, turning the public against them. Then, we kill the President, and make
it overwhelmingly obvious that the AUC were responsible. That will spur the whole thing on, turning
the public and the government against them. Then, in another brutal atrocity, we wipe out most of
the Colombian Senate. These two events will create the state of emergency we need, and then
Tamper can act. This sounds all very cut and dry, but consider these jobs as just that: much
larger, tougher example of the hits and heists we usually execute. Sallaine, Parker Roche and Dr.
Anton Phibes are all very well-disposed to handle these sort of military-like operations.
● Mobilization and Deployment: Once the emergency is declared, the Army and FARC act as one.
First of all, Tamper mobilizes his division, and the other Major-General's theirs. Between them, that
should be around 50,000 men. One division goes to Medellin, another to Cali, and Tamper's to
Bogot? itself. In all three cities, they take control totally ?for the good of the nation?. At the same
time, the FARC move against the AUC, truly declaring war on them. The Army will support them,
and the public will see them as justified for doing so.
● Public Support: After the paramilitaries are wiped out, our remaining Senator's will declare
Tamper provisional President while the Senate rebuilds. They will pull all their strings, and get the
public to toe the line. The FARC ? under our control, of course ? will quietly eliminate everyone who
still opposes Tamper, along with Merces Letifer, and the public will go along with it.
● Betrayal: Now is the toughest part, but the most profitable to us. Under orders from us, Tamper
and the Army will imprison the remaining Senators under charges of treason; we will kill the one or
two most powerful or influential. He will give himself dictator's powers, with the other Major-
General's getting right- and left-hand positions. He will recruit the FARC as auxiliary troops. Now
we can truly cut loose: our mercenary armies can eliminate anyone who opposes us, take over
whatever we want. In this period the remaining drug cartels would be destroyed by us, supported
by the Army and FARC of course, and we can make possibly hundreds of millions from this
takeover. At the same time, backed up by all these factors, we move in on the business and
industry of Colombia, making sure they know who to obey.
● Consolidation: After that, it's simple. Like I said before, we run the country now. It will be a
dictatorship, as totalitarian as possible, and headed by our man. The FARC will be Temper's semi-
official secret police, under Rojas' control, wiping out anyone who opposes us. The other wings of
the Armed Forces will fall into line, stubborn leaders killed by us. The people will be terrorized into
obeying, and we are experts at causing that.

Now comes the thing I can't quite figure: what we do with this power. I'm sure everyone has a lot
ideas, so here are a few I've put together:
● Naturally, making Merces Letifer and all its members immune from law enforcement, through
influence in the Courts, the police force and abusing diplomatic immunity. With the President
working for us, we can get all members this immunity.
● All Merces Letifer members taking control of high government and financial positions: banking,
heavy industry, media and agriculture specifically. Once there, we control the money as well and,
at that level, it will be worth tens of millions at least. If everyone in the organization had a piece of
that ? with the corresponding NPCs and influence ? we would become untouchable.
● Extorting or otherwise bilking the drug cartels, now effectively in our country. We tax their fields,
labs, airfields, fronts, whatever. This may sound small-scale, but in real life the FARC makes an
estimated $400million annually from this elevated protection racket, and we'll certainly have the
muscle and connections to back up our threats.
● Making Colombia ours. Once we have this power, every other family in this game will not be
welcome in Medellin. If they do want in, they pay through the nose for the privilege. I don't know
the capabilities of all of them, but I'm fairly sure that they won't be able to compete with a family
that has eyes and ears everywhere in the country, and has tens of thousands of NPCs at it's
disposal. We could quite simply wipe them out. Or, on the flip side, we could make Colombia a
villain's paradise, available to all but, always under our control. No-one will be allowed to make
major inroads into the country.

Those are just a few ideas, but you surely have plenty more.

I have mentioned only a few members of Merces Letifer, but only because they are the only one's
whose abilities I am familiar with, and who are most useful in this plan (to my knowledge). Rojas
has his connections to the guerillas, Sallaine is such a good hit defender that John McMurrer just
defers to him from now on, and Phibes seems to have a knack for broad, sweeping operations, that
yet need a lot of detail to be pulled off right, just like this.
However, it would be a lot easier if everyone contributed. Consider: to carry all this out, we'd need
maybe 15-20 posts if we chose election, double that if by coup. If five of us do it, it will take
weeks. But if all of us take a hand each, we can finish it off in a fortnight, at the most. If we can
get it done shorter, we'll have our position secured before anyone else can even do anything about
it.

OK, that's everything I think. I know it's been a long read, but I think it's worth thinking on. So,
post your replies and give ya input, I want to know what everyone thinks.