[b]Central America[/b]
[b]Summer[/b]
	[quote]Commissioner,
Thank you for accepting my requests for the upcoming rally scheduled in November. Everything is going according to plan with your help, to maintaining peace in your great city. The Third Nationalist Party also appreciates your support with our right to demonstrate peacefully. We will be making strong pushes toward funding the police departments across Central America. As such, we have begun our commitment to our men and women in blue with a fundraiser. The fundraiser was in honor of Officer Martin Cotilla, who was gunned down a few weeks back while trying to stop a robbery. We honored the victim’s family with the money earned during the fundraiser. I hope that we can work together soon to host more fundraisers.

While our party’s popularity grows stronger with each passing day, we will never forgive you and your department. And in return, I hope you don’t forgive your part in the coming demonstrate to demand a unified Panama. 

Best wishes,
   Ricardo Martí, chairman of the Third Nationalist Party.[/quote]
	With the ink on the paper finally dried, Martí folded the letter and put it in an envelope. His secretary quickly grabbed the letter and said cheerily, “I will finish that for you since you are busy!” He smiled and immediately got back to work. Since that faithful day with Rubén, the Third Nationalist Party used the funding to rise in popularity. Fundraisers, like the one for Officer Cotilla, were spent with the purpose of gaining allies. The police were easy to buy since both levels of governments overlooked them when it came to the annual budget meetings. Then, there were the politicians to deal with and they were supporters of Blackwell’s conservative party. Not the man himself, but his push on the remaining communists helped secure some supporters. One of them, Iván Reyes, was the mayor of Arraijan and the usual spot where the party met to drive to the park in Rousseau for the usual demands. 

However, thanks to Rubén, this year was going to be an important year for the Third Nationalist Party that could either make or break them. The mayor easily flipped sides right after securing his son’s place at the Central American University, which cost them a lot. 

Now, with an extra funding pushed aside, Martí hired a private investigator to spy around President Blackwell for anything dirty. So far, nothing worth wild came until his phone rang. He answered and only heard, “Meet me at the café.” And he immediately left the office to head to the investigator’s home in the outskirts of town. After a ten-minute drive, he approached the house and exited out of the car as the investigator approached him. “Come on inside, friend.” He said as he opened the door to his home for Martí to enter.

Once inside, Martí was told to sit on the chair in the dining room while he had to get something from his office. In the meantime, he was offered Mondaisa tea by the investigator’s young son before being told to finish his homework in the room. Once nobody was here, the investigator returned with a massive tape recorder with tape already in it. “What is the meaning of this-.” Martí tried to ask but he was cut off. 

“Just listen to it. I think you would like it.” The investigator calmly said and pushed play. 

[hr][u][b]Early July
Unknown[/b][/u] 

   [i]“President Blackwell, with tensions between China and Japan rising and Russia—if we could even call it that—still a chaotic mess, your administration must have some options on international matters. Care to share them?” the young inspired reporter asked Blackwell the scripted question.

“We know that any event, even the smallest ones, can have a lasting impact on the entire world especially Central America. Just like the United States, however, we are carefully looking at the situations unbiased and saying nothing officially. Of course, there are some things that can’t just be avoided. Like Spain.”

“Spain?” the reporter was confused for a moment and asked, “What do mean by that, mister President.”

“Look, kid. You have heard about the recent ‘annexation of Portugal’ by the Spanish crown, right? You probably didn’t because no one gave two fucks about it. It is truly sad how Europe rolled over and basically did nothing as Portugal was being burned by the Spaniards. Hell, I am one-hundred percent sure they will be doing nothing when Spain decides to put pressure on Morocco. I think that it is time that somebody give them a good slap.”

“And do you think that Central America could be the person to do it?” the reporter asked.

“If we had the strength and support, then I would happily kill some Spaniards. Hell, to earn me some extra brownie points with the people, I will burn Spain’s beloved royal palace. Maybe then, the king will be put in his place.” Blackwell chuckled as he took a quick smoke break and then returned to the subject, “For now, all we can do is offer the Portuguese royal family Central America as a place of sanctuary for the royal family until Portugal is restored for tyrannical Spain.”

Suddenly, a woman’s voice could be heard in the background saying that he shouldn’t have said that in the first place. “Oh shit, you are right.” Blackwell said as he took another smoke break. Then, he pointed at the reporter and demanded, “Get rid of that tape and start over. Pretend that I didn't say anything about Spain and its government. Do you understand?”

“Yes, mister president. I will get rid of the tapes right away and your-.” the tape ended as the reporter was finishing his sentence.[/i][hr]
With a look of shock in Martí’s eyes, he looked at the investigator as he paused the tape recorder and pulled out the tape. “How did you get that tape?” he asked.

“It was simple enough. After the ‘clear version’ of the interview was released, the reporter was suddenly fired from his job. I followed him around for a few days until he stopped at the local dump with a box of shit and some trash bags and that was when I got my hands dirty, spending forty minutes at the place before I found it.” The investigator told the story proudly as he pushed the tapes towards Martí. The politician grabbed it and got up.

“Thank you for the excellent work. Hope you keep it up.” he said to the investigator as he was about to leave before the investigator stopped him to say something.

“You realize that once the tape is leaked to the press, Blackwell will want answers. The lad’s fucked for the rest of his living days. But, he will be tearing apart every political party and politician in the country. Including you and the Nationalists. Are you ready for it?” he asked. 

“I will be in time.” Martí answered, unsure if he will be able to come out with everything intact and left to return to the office. Once there, he placed the tape down on his desk and looked it for a moment. Was he willing to put everything he has done recently in jeopardy to weaken the Blackwell administration? Even if it meant losing his job? He breathed in and out for a second and picked up the phone. He dialed a number for Montezuma, the Panamanian news station, to give them the tape in hopes of leaking it. After a moment of waiting, he heard a woman’s voice asking how she could help him out.

“I have some cut content from the Blackwell interview.” he confidently answered.