As I indicated, it is all based on the assumption that Felix Castor was behind the decision for what you have thus far called rogue or shady Cuban support for the attempted radical socialist revolution here. If he was involved, then working for regime change there is our only appropriate response. Our military is currently in no fit state to relatiate, and if it were, that would only kill some of the Cuban people who are already living in a tropical prison, and I don't mean 'Gitmo'. We will build up our military for three reasons, the official ones are to restore respect for our military and to make a foreign government think twice before sponsoring terrorism here. The third one is to be able to provide support for regime change in Cuba.
The British have already agreed to allow us to acquire a multi-purpose facility in the Turks & Caicos, which would put our future airforce within easy range of all of your country. The base will take time to build and the aircraft will take time to acquire, but they will be a newer model than Cuba flies. This will make it possible to take the Cuban air force out of the equation, but you would have to win the key battle on the ground, hopefully just at the presidential palace. Obviously, we could not consider this without US non-interference if not their outright blessing. They have said they would be willing to help us take action, but they don't know about my idea. Nobody does except you and I. There really isn't any citizen of the UPE that I know who would be good at this, with one possible exception, and he is getting a bit old for your line of work. I do know someone from Tilapia, who might be better, however, I expect you have contacts overseas and in Cuba that could assist you, given the right motivation. It would be great if your insertion back into Cuba could happen more quickly, but I assume that would be premature at this stage. Therefore, you would need to have some overseas camp to train your effectives at, and an official but incorrect version of why they are training. Maybe you could train in Honduras, with 'secret' objective of overthrowing the goverment of El Salvador or Guatemala?
We have just negotiated an arms sale to Tilapia, they will be buying 300 Gorgon II tanks for Ð3.4 million each, but our arms monopoly thinks they are being sold for Ð2.8 million apiece, so that would provide Ð180 million, a tidy sum for a slush fund which could be used to support your plans. I know that another version of this trick gave the US administration some bad publicity years ago, but they did get that counter-revolution funded, which is what matters. I am not saying this is the amount you will have, but it shows what is possible, and that it needn't be subject to approval by our legislature. It might not necessarily be the upper limit either, there are ways to manipulate a budget, so as to hide expenditures, especially if we are buying aircraft from overseas to rebuild our airforce. You would need small and light arms for your supporters. I assume you can acquire illicit ones more cheaply than I, but there are some people operating here that I have made contact with if you need assistance in this matter. Presidential terms last three years here. Could you be ready to have this get to the final phase in two and half years, or would you need more time than that? I expect that I could arrange to be a cabinet minister next term, if necessary to allow you complete your activity, but I would prefer if it could be completed this term.
Oh, and when you are El Presidente, the UPE would like a couple of favors. We would want a free trade agreement, and we would want to be granted a 27 year lease for a base on the Western end of Cuba, or perhaps on the Isla de la Juventud if you don't want us on the mainland. We would build a nice airport there and the barracks could be converted into a tourist hotel when we leave. But why am I supplying the details of your dream? I guess that you have been thinking about it for quite a while. Obviously, for this to work, we need to be able to go public with the evidence that Felix Castor was sponsor of terrorism, not now, but at the right minute, when there is the maximum confusion, to keep the UN or any allies Castor might have from being able to take the high moral ground against your coup. As to Felix himself, I will leave that up to you, if he spends his last years in a villa in the south of France writing his memoirs or his last seconds being torn apart by the Cuban people doesn't matter to me, just as long as he isn't in a position to authorize any state sponsorship of terrorism.
