Mexicanos al grito de guerra- A 1936-1948 Mexican fascist AAR

[Chilango2]

Notes:
-Played using 1.03b
-I cheated and used the "Successful Coup d'etat" event to cause the Fascist government to rise in November of 1936, as per the storyline in this "alternate" history.

Begin AAR:

-Excerpt from "The diary of Juan Rulfo Valles"- Translated by John Worthington

November 22nd, 1936

The Gold Shirts marched in triumph past the Zocalo and through the Capital today. The reaction from the people is either subdued relief that it was not too bloody, indifference, or hostility.. if tightly governed by fear. The Gold Shirts have been going around and beating up Cardenas supporters, publicly killing more important ones in "People's Courts" held out in the streets. The average trial takes 5 minutes, the average execution 6.

The Cardenas reforms had deeply unsettled portions of the PRI leadership, and it was feared that any move to the left would cause the peasants to rise up in rebellion to install full blown communism.

The rivalry between Calles and Lazaro Cardenas was legendary. Earlier this year no one would have predicted that Calles would be victorious, after all, Cardenas had exiled him from the country, tail between his legs.

But Calles returned, and he returned in force, with a small army at his back that struck the capital quickly and ceased control of Los Pinos. Cardenas "disappeared" in the ensuing chaos as Calles took control. The public story is that we don't know what happened to him, but that he probably fled to Russia. The truth, of course, is that he was executed and buried in a anonymous grave by a General who is now also dead for not executing him publicly, so that there would be no doubt.

There are ten rumors for every bullet that is being fired right now, and most of them revolve around how Calles got those bullets. No one, not even his inner circle, seems to know exactly where the money came from. All that is known is that Calles left for Spain, where the civil war is still raging. He came back a little later with some units of the Mexican army that he had himself created, but better armed than any other units were. Some say the Mexico City bankers and capitalists, afraid of Communism, gave the money, some darker rumors say Franco, or his friends Mussolini or Hitler, might have made a small "investment" in the future of Mexico.

What is certain is that when Calles came back he came back with one well armed Mexican Infantry division, and that Cardenas was taken by complete surprise.

Calles has been busy consolidating power and reasserting his control over the party machinery which he created, as well as purging or cowing the leftist elements that got brave because Cardenas encouraged them.

Where Calles and his Gold Shirts will take us, I must admit, remains to be seen... I hope it is to a glorious and strengthened Mexico.

 

[Baron Jukaga]

Nice start, I've always wondered about a fascist Mexico in HOI, I'll be following this one.

 

[unmerged(15314)]

As will i great start

 

[unmerged(15579)]

Maybe take back all the land US/Texas stole from ya........ Those meanie-heads. You'd need a lot of luck to take those though, with the US' insane IC count, they could churn militia out in the dozens. Well, good luck, whatever your plans are.

 

[Chilango2]

[Excerpt from the minutes of the first meeting of the PRI hierarchy and Military General Staff November 30th,1936]

Presidente Plutarco Calles: Seat yourself gentlemen, we have much to discuss.

Calles: Now, Gentlemen, as I am sure you all know I only recently came back to town after a voyage abroad and could use some catching up both on events here and abroad. For starters why don't you give me a update on the state of our military.

Field Marshal Manuel Avila Camacho: We currently have eight total divisions on the ground, Presidente, and one division of fighters. Since you came into power and starting reorganizing the military, the fighting capabilities of these divisions have steadily been increasing and they are currently at 33% fighting capacity. They are all currently centered on or near the capital.

Calles: I understand that maintaining control of the capital is, Marshal, but I know how the capital is reacting to the change in government. Currently any rebellious elements in the Federal District are cowed, and I think we can keep them so with one division of professional troops. The real risk is the mining districts in the north and the rural south. I don't want a rebellion rising in either place, in the north we'd give the Yanquis a excuse to "intervene" like they did during the revolution of 1910, and in the south the jungles make fighting messy and prolonged. It would be better to have the military right there to prevent such things from even occurring. Begin forming a new infantry division and spread all but one of the current ones to the north and south. Stay away from the northern border, however, I don't want to make the Americans more nervous. Speaking of which, Jorge, how are the Gringos feeling about things?

Jorge Perez Aguirre, Foreign Minister:
Well, they were very nervous when we first came to power but our Ambassador up there has been doing a good job at calming them down. He assured that that you were merely intervening before Cardenas completed his plan to transform Mexico into a Communist state. We mentioned the slight chance that we might allow them to have some of their petroleum contracts back as well, which also served to cheer them up.

Calles: Good. We may or may not give it to them, but simply dangling the oil in front of their faces ought to satisfy them for now. Now, what's the situation look abroad?

Aguirre: Well, Presidente, there are five main peaces of news that occurred while you were out and about.

Firstly:
As you all know, FDR was reelected President by a landslide, so American policy will probably remain constant. Events around the world are barely registering on the American people's radar, but our sources inform us that the President and his cabinet are aware of and concerned about the developments I am about to relate.

Secondly:
Italy had been at war with Ethiopia since the start of the year. Surprisingly, the Ethiopians actually held out and caused the Italians some rather embarrassing setbacks, especially at Daggabu and Harar, where they trounced the badly organized Italians and managed to march on and capture Mogadishu and Obbia. By October, however, the Italians had more or less gotten their act together. They pushed the Ethiopians back, and captured the last Ethiopians stronghold of Addis Adeba on September the 1st, and annexed the country three days later.

Thirdly:
As you know, a civil war broke out in Spain in July. Currently, I'd estimate it is something of a uneasy draw that slightly favors the Republicans.

Calles: The Republicans??

Aguirre: I know. Despite Italian and German help, the Republicans had some serious setbacks that put them in their current situation. First off, the Republicans had a unexpected windfall when the British, of all people, sent them aid.

Calles: Incredible.

Aguirre: I know! The Soviets sent them aid, which everyone expected since the Communists are a strong faction of the Republican forces, but the British surprised everyone, not even the French, who are more to the left of the British generally, sent aid.

Anyway, the first mistake was that the nationalists tried to attack Madrid with one division of tanks against 3 divisions of Republican infantry. The battle lasted almost a week and those paying attention learned an important lesson: Tanks are vulnerable to infantry in urban areas.

The biggest set back for the Nationalists, however, was the Cordoba pocket. After losing the battle of Madrid their armor swung south striking towards Sevilla and was joined by two infantry divisions.

When they got to the river separating Cordoba and Sevilla they found the bridges destroyed and two Republican infantry divisions on the other side. Still they attacked, and managed to establish a bridgehead across the river and began weakening the defenses. But the Republican army, fresh from the victory in Valencia that solidified Republican control of south eastern Spain, headed west with a Calvary and a infantry Division, taking control of Albacete and Badajoz and cutting the nationalist army off.

Without oil or supplies their offensive quickly petered out and the retreated into Cordoba, a infantry division tried to strike south and meet up with them a few days later, but was turned back. Three days later the republican army struck and the Nationalists were forced to surrender. The army that surrendered wasn't that large, but it was the only thing they had in southern Spain, when they lost it the Republicans took complete control over the southern half of the country. Furthermore the Nationalists had lost most of their tanks.

Since then they have managed to create a fairly solid line stretching from Lleida through Zaragoza to Burgos. The Republicans are testing it both at Burgos and at Zaragoza, the main battle being Zaragoza. If they throw back these assaults they may be able to reclaim the initiative, in order to create the attack on Burgos the Republicans stripped the western part of their line in Valladolid, if their thrown back and if the Nationalists chase them, they might have a chance at recapturing parts of southern Spain.

Fourthly:
Hitler marched his troops and reoccupied the Rhineland, breaking the Treaty of Versailles. Reaction from the British and French has been rather subdued, evidently they don't have the heart to enforce the treaty anymore, which most see as unjust.

The fifth and more minor peace of news is the alliance between the Nationalist and Communist Chinese. Evidently the looming threat from Japan has forced them to work together. The Japanese haven't resumed their offensive in China, but everyone assumes its only a matter of time before it starts again.

Calles: Thank you for that detailed summary. I think now would be a good time to discuss the equipment status of our armed forces.....

[End Excerpt]

 

[Baron Jukaga]

Very good! Expansion will be costly in dissent, as all of the central american countries are PA, so good luck!

 

[Chilango2]

[PRI Meetings minutes, January 7th, 1937]

Presidente Plutarco Calles: Well Gentlemen, I know there isn't a whole lot of news, but our last meeting was rather out of schedule due to the order things happened. In the future, I'll be sure to plan my Coup d'etat's better.

<chuckles throughout the room>

Calles: In any case let us cover what has happened, shall we?

Field Marshal Manuel Avila Camacho: What I am handing you Presidente are the latest status reports on the military. As you can see we have spread out through the country as you ordered, my commanders report that things have calmed down and remained orderly. Our modernization program for the army has begun experiencing the fruits of its labor as well, just last week we released a service issue flamethrower for our combat engineers, this added to our issuing of a new modern service rifle means the Mexican military is finally entering the modern age. Currently, as per your orders, we're focusing our scientists on practical application in Infantry warfare as well as Artillery power, as well as beginning research on these mobile armored units the Germans assure us are more than worth the effort.

Calles: How goes our officer exchange program with the Germans?

Camacho: More or less smoothly, although it is very limited right now. The Germans seem wary, and in honesty, since we don't exactly want to be making out like we're their best friends right now, I can't blame them. Their military is still relatively small by major power standards, but it is much more modern than ours. We are doing what we can on that front, as I have detailed. But the Germans seem willing to give us dribs and drabs of their expertise in turn for our continuing assurances that we are sympathetic to the Fascist cause.

Calles: Good. Now, Domestically, how do things go?

Federico Valles Garcia, Commander of the Gold Shirts and Mexican Internal Security forces:
We are still beefing up the Gold Shirts, Presidente, focusing our efforts on unemployed or rural young men as you ordered. Rolls are increasing steadily, and new training camps are being completed to satisfy our needs. Preliminary reports indicate that our reeducation efforts are meeting with success, graduates of the academy who are indios now speak Spanish passably well, and can read it and write it to acceptable degrees. Since 80% of them volunteer to labor for our country after graduation, loyalty to the state seems fairly solidified as well. It is among that group that we are recruiting our solders. Leftist and separatist elements continue to be rounded up and subdued without alarming much of the larger populace, our methods of detecting and gathering these elements are steadily becoming better with time, partly with some advice from German sources.

Calles: Good. And the church?

Garcia: The Church is pleased with the procession of events. Our appeals to traditional Catholic values and our courting of the Cristeros into the Gold Shirts have both quieted the Church and begun the process of making it part of the Party proper. Some few priests who raised audible objections to this process have either changed their minds after some "convincing" or quietly gone into permanent "retirement." The Church was especially hostile to Cardenas and his reforms, and the Cristero rebellion didn't help that any. As such they were eager to embrace any anti-communist party that seemed friendly to Church. I estimate that the process of suborning the Church is well underway.

Calles: Good! Mexico has had the misfortune of having nothing but inept dictators in the past. I am sure both the people and the church will feel much better with a extremely competent dictator in charge.

<nods throughout the room>

Calles: All right, now, what is happening abroad?

Jorge Perez Aguirre, Foreign Minister: Most of the world is quiet, Presidente, but the war in Spain continues.

The Republican offensives at Zaragoza and Burgos were turned back. The Republicans reinforced the western half of their line, however, and solidified it, currently, the front is stable. The Republican failure, however, was very important to the Nationalists, since the attacks were turned back in mid-December the Nationalists have recouped many of their losses to their armed forces. They have reorganized a armored division and now have a larger army than the Republicans, who enjoyed the advantage of numbers after the Nationalists disaster in the South. Our intelligence sources inform us that they are heavily reinforcing, or building up, their western portion of the line at Burgos, placing several, more than 4, divisions there, facing 2 divisions in Valladolid. They stripped Zaragoza of most of its defenders to achieve that, and the Republican forces are back on the march north towards Zaragoza from Madrid with a force of about 3 divisions. If the Nationalists can hold out in Zaragoza when the Republicans arrive there, they have a good chance of striking south at Valladolid and taking it.

The Nationalists have gained air superiority back with airplanes lent to them by Germany, and have been bombing Madrid heavily the last month or so.

And last but not least is the debacle of Bilbao, as it is already being called. As you may remember the Republicans had a small pocket of forces in uppermost Spain consisting of Gijon and Bilbao. They decided to reinforce it instead of evacuate it, and now the reinforcements they sent there are trapped. It is only two divisions, but one of them is a tank division and numbers most of the Republican tanks.

Camacho: It's like Cordoba all over again, except for this time its the Republicans in the noose.

Aguirre: That is essentially correct. The nationalists struck a few days ago with 6 or so divisions and the troops in Bilbao will almost certainly be forced to surrender. That will free up those divisions to reinforce the main battle line south of there as well as destroy the main portion of Republican tanks. I am not sure how decisive that will be, but I doubt it will be as suddenly decisive as the Cordoba pocket was, the Republicans are already mostly gone from the north whereas the Nationalists still held significant portions of the South when Cordoba fell. But those the absence of those tanks will be felt during Republican offensives in the future, and the sudden reinforcement of the battle line by those troops currently attacking Bilbao could conceivably allow the Nationalists to break through the Republican lines and establish a presence again in the South. They kind of have to, at this point even if Bilbao falls, the Republicans control about two thirds of Spain. If the nationalists don't use their current advantage of numbers to gain control of the resources the Republicans currently enjoy, they will slowly starve their army to death and eventually be defeated, assuming they don't make any defensive mistakes.

Calles: So it is in fact safer for them to go on the offensive than hunker down, yes?

Aguirre & Camacho: Pretty much Sir, Yes.

Calles: Very well then, I see no reason to change our current military and domestic priorities, Gentlemen, until the next time, continue with your duties.

 

[Ksim3000]

I've just been reading your AAR and it's great! Really like the idea of a Facist Mexico!

 

[Baron Jukaga]

Again, let me say how much I'm enjoying this. I'm sure more people will show up after a while. Sometimes it takes a few weeks to build up some recognition.

 

[unmerged(6535)]

Interesting idea.

 

[unmerged(10486)]

Very enjoyable so far. Keep up the good work! And try to post a few screenies if you can

 

[unmerged(3438)]

Interesting.
Can you give us an idea of your goals ?

 

[Chilango2]

Very enjoyable so far. Keep up the good work! And try to post a few screenies if you ca

Thank you all for the encourgment, this being my first AAR, it is appreciated. As for screenshots, I only 2 days ago finally figured out how to succesfully edit them to make them look right for my purposes, which is why they have not been included thus far. They will be making apperances in the future, I promise.

Oh, and sorry about no update yesterday, I don't know if anyone else experienced this, but I was unable to access any of the Paradox forums all of yesterday. Most annoying.

Can you give us an idea of your goals ?

I won't spoil the surprises of where the Mexican fascist state will go, and because of Mexico's position, my capability to do anything will be dependant on how the war in Europe goes. (especially when, and how, and how heavily, the US gets involved)

But I do promise that Mexico will not just sit there for 14 years and watch the world go to war. Somewhere, somehow, I will do everything I can to make it an important part of the war.

To get the primary question most of you have in mind out of the way as far as my goals: Will Mexico invade the US to gain back the land it lost in the Mexican-American war of 1848?

Needless to say, that possibility is and was very much in my mind when I began this AAR. But the Mexican Fascist state won't be suicidal either. If I see an oppurtunity to invade however....

And as I said, even if said invasion is deemed suicidal by Calles' generals (and if he listens to them) I will find a way to have Mexico take part in the war. Mexican divisions assisting the attack on Moscow, perhaps? Hmmm......

No matter which way it goes, it ought to be intersting. *Especially* if Mexico invades the US. I'll update later on today when I'm off work. (Yes, I am at work and on these boards. )

 

[unmerged(15579)]

Beware of attacking the US, their army will get exponentially bigger and higher quality. So be careful as hell, otherwise you will be absolutely slaughtered.

 

[Chilango2]

Beware of attacking the US, their army will get exponentially bigger and higher quality. So be careful as hell, otherwise you will be absolutely slaughtered.

I am aware of this, yes.

 

[Chilango2]

[PRI meeting minutes, May 1st, 1936]

Presidente Plutarco Calles: So the Republicans struck out, hmm?

Field Marshal Manuel Avila Camacho: Pretty much Sir, they are still alive, but the last 4 months have not been good for them at all. Everyone can see the writing on the wall, but the die hard Communists that have always been the nucleus of Republican forces are still fighting.

<The rest of the men enter, the meeting starts>

Calles: Well, now we are on a more regular meeting schedule. Because of events, I will briefly turn the meeting over to Mr. Camacho so that he can cover events abroad.

Camacho: Namely, the Spanish Civil War.

Federico Valles Garcia, Commander of the Gold Shirts and Mexican Internal Security forces:
What the hell happened to the Republicans? Just this January they were knocking on the last realistic defensive line the Nationalists had!

Camacho: Well, let me get into that. I will also use a new little toy I had purchased, a projector that will display detailed maps of a situation as known to our intelligence.

Now, to make sense of what happened, let me show you a map from the situation at our last full meeting:

All right, as you can see, the Nationalists have surrounded these units in Bilbao. This is shortly before the Republicans attempted to evacuate their tanks via ship. We are not certain whether the Nationalists captured the port district and prevented them from doing so, or whether the ships transporting them were sunk, but we're fairly sure they never made it. The infantry in the city held out a bit longer, but not by much. As we had theorized at our last meeting, the troops being defeated in Bilbao weren't too important, what was important would be the sudden influx of reinforcements as the Nationalist infantry divisions from Bilbao arrived at the battle line just to the south.

Calles: Frankly, General, the gravity of the Republican collapse argues that those troops *were* important.

Camacho: Well Sir, the loss of those tanks was important. Tanks, after all, have been demonstrated both in the Great War and in this war to greatly assist infantry in its attacks. But in this case, we think the reason for the Republican collapse came from a different phenomenon peculiar to the Spanish Civil War.

Calles: That being?

Camacho: Volunteers seemed to show up for one side when it won a particularly telling victory. After the Cordoba debacle last year the Republicans outnumbered the nationalist army. After the Republicans were turned back at Burgos and Zaragoza, the Nationalists suddenly had their army jump in numbers, more number than can be explained by the freeing of the troops in Bilbao or any other factor.

Calles: Very well, Continue.

Camacho: Yes Sir. The nationalists reinforced both ends of their defensive line and Burgos and Lleida, meanwhile the Republicans struck at Zaragoza in a serious way and at first had the Nationalists defenders outnumbered. The battle started with roughly 11 Republican divisions against 5 nationalist divisions. The Nationalists and the Republicans both sent reinforcements, the battle there now having lasted well over two weeks. By now the Republicans had 14 divisions, almost their entire army, in Zaragoza. But the Nationalist army was almost equal to them there with 11 divisions, and they had about an equal number of divisions on their east and west flanks. In other words, the Nationalists now had an impressive superiority of numbers. The struck against the weak eastern flank of the Republican position at Tortosa, and broke through in a big way, as shown here:

Calles <sarcastically>:Oh dear. Poor communists.

Camacho <grinning>: Indeed, Sir, the Republicans were in a *very* bad position, and the Nationalists carried through, cutting the Republicans in two, in, of course, Cordoba, as shown here:

Calles: Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Camacho: Indeed, Sir. Our sources inform us that Madrid has fallen to the Nationalists by now, as well as Valladolid and Almeria. The only forces outside of that pocket in the south are the retreating remnants of what was in Valladolid running towards Salamanca. The Republicans have managed to put a stopgap defensive force in their last three controlled provinces around Managa, Seville, and Granada totaling 6 beat up militia units. We expect the Nationalists to finish them off within at most a week.

Calles: Very well, then. Now on to other news. Mr. Aguirre?

Jorge Perez Aguirre, Foreign Minister: Yes, Sir. Other than the imminent resolution of the Spanish conflict in favor of our Fascist cousins, there are two bits of news abroad that are of any import. First, rumors out of the Soviet Union say that Stalin recently purged a large portion of his officer corp. Evidently he suspected the military of being traitors, I'm informed that morale among their military forces has taken a hit.

Calles: Paranoid fool.

Aguirre: Probably Sir. Secondly, Japan declared war on the Communist Chinese. We are not certain, but we think this means that a declaration of war against the nationalists will occur soon thereafter.. this declaration is only a few days old. When the conservative elements were elected in Japan's last elections, a definitively more militaristic tone began emanating from Tokyo.

Calles: Hmm. So other than the Spanish war, which is almost over, not much of note. Thank you. Domestically?

Garcia: Well, Sir, our modernization program continues. I am happy to say that your control over the country is now very firm. The Gold Shirts continue drawing recruits, which is helping our various public works, loyalty, and reeducation efforts. But frankly, Sir, there's a problem.

Calles: That being?

Garcia: Resources. We don't have enough of them immediately available to us. While we think we might with some technological advances be able to find some new coal and oil deposits throughout the country, we are currently at about the limits of what we can easily get a hold of. Our industry is using all of it, most to modernize our military's equipment, some to arm and create new infantry divisions for our army. But every new division requires constant supply. As things currently stand, with a mere 11 total divisions, 9 infantry and 2 cavalry, as well as 1 fighter division, a fifth of all our industrial capacity goes to keeping our units supplied.

Calles: A *fifth*?

Garcia: Yes Sir, a fifth. Frankly, Sir, with our currently available resources and industrial might, it will take us quite awhile to modernize or make Mexico the mighty power I know we all desire it to be. Technology to find new deposits within our own borders will be slow in coming, with our means, it will probably take more than a decade to even begin developing it.

Calles: <Shaking his head vigorously> That will not do. That will not do at all. This leaves us only one option to making our country what it should be. If we do not have the resources or the industry, we will have to capture others.

Garcia: Others, Sir?

Calles: Yes. Gentlemen, I want you to consider our options as to whom we can invade.

Garcia: Don't we only have two options Sir?

Calles: The Gringos and Guatemala? Hardly. I know we're still building it, but our transport fleet could send our army to other places. It would probably be best to keep it in central or South America however. The Gringos are at peace right now and for them have a small army, but their capabilities and divisions are much more numerous than ours. They are not at this point a realistic option. Consider our fellow Latin American nations, Gentlemen. They speak the same language, have the same religion, and have a connected history. I expect you will give me target assessments within a week.

[The meeting was adjourned]

 

[Baron Jukaga]

I'm betting Venezuela. They've got plenty of oil. Don't leave us hanging too long!

 

[Chilango2]

First let me ask my small but loyal and hopefully growing fan base if they are having trouble getting these pictures in the previous post? I am, and have had to edit and reenter the links to the images roughly twice a day to maintain them working. I am unsure how long this lasts, since I tend to do this in the morning when I arrive or before I get to work, and in the evening after I return from work and class. If most of you are having problems, I apologize, Geocities does most verily suck. Any solutions to make geocities handle this better or alternative (and free) solutions to this problem would be highly appreciated.

Secondly, don't be disappointed if there is no update tomorrow, I have class late and do not get home until 11pm my time, and am usually exhausted by then. (this was also the reason for the lack of an update yesterday)
<grins>

Anyway, on with the AAR:
----------

[PRI meeting minutes, May 8th, 1936]

Presidente Calles: Seat yourself Gentlemen. Before we begin on the meat of this meeting, let us briefly discuss events around the world.

Jorge Perez Aguirre, Foreign Minister:
Well, the first event, or non-event, is that the Republican forces are still alive. The nationalists paused to reform their lines, and are sending an attack at the surrounded troops in Salamanca. We think their offensive took even them by surprise in its success, so they had to take some time to redeploy their troops. They have firmly closed the door around the last major pocket of Republican troops in the south. Probably as soon as they finish off the troops in Salamanca, they'll strike south and finish the last Republican units. Nothing has changed in our assessment, the Nationalists just surprised us by pausing for breath.

The second peace of news, 2 days old now, is that the Japanese declared war on Nationalist China, much as we supposed they would. No major battles have yet taken place, and our intelligence sources are still penetrating that area, so we have no real picture of the situation. It's not all that important to us at this juncture anyway.

Calles: All right. Now the target assessment, Gentlemen?

Field Marshal Manuel Avila Camacho:
All right Sir, after a extensive review, these are the conclusions of our strategists.

The entirety of central America taken together would be very valuable, both in terms of resources and gained production power, but as I said, we would have to take all of it, or at the very least most of it. This entails declaring war on some 5 or 6 different countries.

Aguirre:
The Foreign ministry, Presidente, feels that declaring war on 6 small countries could highly alarm the international community, one country or two would alarm them less, and with the right propaganda, might be eventually ignored and more or less forgotten by anyone big enough to punish us for our aggression.

Federico Valles Garcia, Commander of the Gold Shirts and Mexican Internal Security forces:
Internal Affairs assessment is that the reeducation of the Mexican people is still at an early stage, and that they would not accept our declaration of war against these countries very well, especially since all of them can loosely be placed in the Fascist camp, which many Mexicans, rightly, have adopted a face value loyalty to fascism. But their acceptance of the might and glory of the Mexican state, and its right to declare war upon weaker states, even if they are fascist, is not yet total. They will be more acceptance, although still some resistance, to us declaring war on a democracy, of which there are several in South America. Since there are no realistic options for communist countries we can invade, what the domestic response to such a move would be has not been assessed.

I will, however, mention that most of the democracies in South America are of the leftist type, similar to what was in place here in Mexico before we set this country on the correct path. It is possible that in the next elections actual fully communist governments will come to power, and if this occurs we will quickly assess domestic reaction to such an invasion of such.

Camacho: So, domestically and politically, invasions of any of the South American democracies are our best options. To invade these, of course, will require us to finish developing the infrastructure for naval transport of our armed forces, and the construction of a fleet of transports as well. But this investment will be the same no matter which one we invade.

Furthermore, it is our belief that as far as military difficulty once our troops are on the ground, all the relevant democracies involve roughly the same amount of difficulty in beating, which at least singly, is not much. Our army outnumbers each of them alone, and has a number of significant technological advantages, especially in artillery support.

So, pretty much, all things up to this point are equal, as such the real difference is in what benefits we gain from each country. Each of them have a fairly good stock pile of coal and a healthy amount of industry, upon making them part of the Greater Mexico we would immediately increase our production capacity by roughly 25%, and estimate that the resources gained would enable us to feed more factories which we would build, thus adding another potential 10% gain to our industrial capacity.

The real difference, our analysts have decided, is the *total* number of resources gained from invasion. For one country in particular, has a rich amount of resources which we could trade for others we need, this enabling us to increase our industrial capacity even further.

This country, is of course, Venezuela. Venezuela produces about 4 times the amount of oil that we currently do. At current, our domestic supply of oil is more than sufficient to fuel a army even much more mechanized than ours is currently, as such we could use almost the entirety of Venezuelan oil to gain more coal, more steel, the basic life blood of our hungry industry.

It is our judgment that Venezuela presents the same difficulty as any other country, militarily and politically, has as many other resources as the others, but far outstrips any other in its oil capacity.

Calles: Very well, you have convinced me, not that I require much convincing. You may officially consider that currently, Venezuela is our current target for expansion. Mr. Camacho, I want you to work with our Admiralty to form invasion plans for the country, and begin, slowly and carefully, stepping up our military readiness and supply levels. Remember, there is no need to hurry. Constructing a transport fleet large enough will take some time. Get estimates from the Admiralty, by the way, as to how *much* time that will take.

Camacho: Yes Sir.

Calles: Mr. Garcia, I want you to get our propaganda wing to begin working on a slow and gradual build up of tensions between ourselves and Venezuela. Use our control of the newspapers to paint the conflict in the light which we want it to be seen. I want the Mexican people, when the conflict comes, to feel reassured that this conflict was most cruelly forced on us by the communist forces tugging at Venezuela. Also, begin preparing regiments of our Gold Shirts for occupation type duties without informing them that this is what is planned. Training for keeping the peace in southern Mexico and occupation of Venezuela are highly interchangeable, after all.

Garcia: Yes Sir.

Calles: Mr. Aguirre, you will take the domestic propaganda line and sell it or soft-pedal it as appropriate to the anyone who gets annoyed, especially the Americans, even if they don't. They seem content to pay to internal matters at the moment, I want to keep it that way. You will also be charged with causing the many most unfortunate misunderstanding between the Venezuelan government and ourselves that will eventually lead up to this war, especially our diplomatic responses to the unimaginably aggressive moves of the Venezuelans. You will need to sell that to any other countries who happen to be looking this way as well.

Aguirre: Yes Sir.

Calles: Very well, Gentlemen, you have your tasks, go to them. We will have our next full meeting at the usual scheduled time a little less than four months from now. Dismissed.

 

[Iksender]

Good AAR ! I enjoy reading it !! I'll follow the rest of the story.

 

[Baron Jukaga]

Excellent. I see I was correct, Venezuela is by far the sweetest target in northern South America.


*anyone having problems with the pics just right click on the picture box to get the properties and put the link in your browser. The picture should load fine when you switch back to the AAR. Works for me everytime.