The Eagle's Throne

36. MARÍA DEL ROSARIO GALVÁN TO PRESIDENT LORENZO TERÁN

My very old and dear friend, the time has come to unleash the hounds of war. We can no longer put off the selection of the person who will succeed you as president of the republic. The return of our ex-president César León is a part in the well-oiled machine of our electoral democracy. And it’s not the only one. León is plotting with the president of Congress to declare you incapacitated so that Onésimo Canabal himself can take your place and push through the constitutional reform that will permit the re-election of, guess who, César León. On the other hand, a constitutional amendment requires time: It will take at least a year to get a majority vote either way from all the states in the federation. And that can only happen after the amendment has been passed by two thirds of Congress.

So César León must have another ace up his sleeve. What it is, we don’t know. And that, my friend, is our weakness. The constitutional reform has the whiff of a smoke screen to me. The real blow is going to come at us from another direction. Make no mistake about that. And be prepared.

Too much time, Mr. President, too much waste. You can be sure that as long as the pawn in this game, Onésimo Canabal, follows César León’s advice, León is going to give us a scare and end up with all the chips in his pocket. Which ones? I don’t know, I don’t know, Mr. President. The only advice I can give you, from my head and from my heart, is that you have to act. Now. Get ahead of the game. Set up separate meetings with your two aspiring successors, Tácito de la Canal and Bernal Herrera. Order them to tender their resignations, announce their candidacies, and launch their campaigns.

They won’t have any choice but to do what you say. And if they hesitate, just fire them. You’ll see how they listen to you, Mr. President. My feminine intuition tells me that this is all you have to do if you want to win this round against our very astute ex-president.

What have I always told you, Mr. President? Not making decisions is worse than making mistakes. Make a decision. Remember, there are no beginnings in politics. Only moments. And the ability to seize them before they’re gone. To be cunning, in other words. Cunning in what sense? you may ask. Well, your interior secretary has shown it in each one of the cases currently at hand. Either you deal with a problem or bury it. What you can’t do is leave a request to languish without rejecting or accepting it. You might say, rightly, that the lack of decisiveness in the case of the university strikes means that the problem is unsolvable. But that lack of decisiveness, you see, is precisely the solution: Let there be no solution, until all the parties are tired out. On the other hand, you’ve kept your investors happy with your policies, and the workers’ unrest has subsided because of need — their need to eat. Meanwhile, allowing the peasants a meaningless victory would be a defeat for the local bosses who’ve always counted on that eternal cannon fodder, the indentured agricultural slave. Very well. But what we’re facing now, Mr. President, is a strictly political test.

Who will succeed you in the 2024 election?

What forces can he rely on?

Who will challenge him?

And don’t ever let yourself wonder, Who will be most loyal to me?

Everyone, Mr. President, will betray you. Even — and I’m telling you this so that you see the extent of my frankness and my friendship— the man who’s my favorite for the succession. .