Chapter 2052 - 845: Power Must Be Kept in a Cage!

February 17, 1998, Mexico City, National Palace.

Victor sat in his office, watching the crowds marching on Paseo de la Reforma through the window.

It had been seven days.

Those people held up signs and shouted slogans, from morning till night, rain or shine. Their faces were tanned by the sun, their voices hoarse from shouting, but not a single one left.

"Avenge Diego!" "Try the murderers!" "Victor, we support you!"

The words on the signs were all handwritten, crooked, but every one was legible.

Bramo pushed the door open and came in.

"Someone in Congress is causing trouble again."

Victor did not turn around.

"Who is it this time?"

"Alvarez. That old guy says your approach to the Ecuador issue is too much 'personal heroism,' leaving Congress out and undermining the democratic process. He also said Mexico cannot become a one-man show."

Victor turned around.

"Alvarez. That old man nearly eighty?"

Bramo nodded.

"He's the only one still daring to say such things in public. Everyone else is waiting and watching."

Victor walked to his desk and sat down.

"Let him speak."

Bramo was momentarily taken aback.

Casare couldn't hold back any longer.

"Boss, is that old guy tired of living? Want me to 'remind' him a bit?"

Victor glanced at him.

"Remind him of what? To shut his mouth?"

Casare sheepishly closed his mouth.

Victor stood up and walked to the window.

He looked at those protesting outside.

The people holding signs, the ones whose voices had gone hoarse, the ones tanned by the sun.

"Do you know why those people are out there?" he asked.

Bramo and Casare said nothing.

"Because they believe in me."

Victor's voice was calm.

"They believe in me, so they're willing to come out. They believe in me, so they support my decision to send troops to Ecuador. They believe in me, so they think I can fight for justice for those who were killed."

He turned around.

"But if I tell you, this kind of trust is more dangerous than any weapon."

Bramo was stunned.

"I know what you're thinking."

Victor interrupted him, "You think I have public support, military support, the backing of the majority in Congress. I can do whatever I want, and nobody can stop me."

He paused.

"But have you thought about what happens after I'm dead?"

The room was silent for a few seconds.

Casare spoke first, "Boss, why are you saying this? You're just in your early thirties—"

"The next person sitting in this office, if he also has public support, military support, Congress's backing—but lacks my mind, my boundaries, my—you know what it's called? Self-control."

His tone was heavy when he said that word.

"At that time, he can do whatever he wants. Beat whomever he wants to beat, arrest whomever he wants to arrest, kill whomever he wants to kill. No one can stop him because all the things that could stop him have been dismantled by himself—or by his predecessor."

Bramo's face changed.

He understood.

"So that's why you're keeping Congress?"

Victor nodded.

"Congress is a bothersome thing. But precisely because it's bothersome, it's useful."

He walked back to his desk and sat down.

"That old man Alvarez, he's not opposing me. He's opposing the concentration of power in one person's hand. He's afraid of someone thirty years from now, not me."

He paused.

"He's right to be afraid."

Casare scratched his head.

"Boss, what you're saying... I don't quite get it. That old guy insults you, and you still speak for him?"

Victor smiled.

The smile was faint.

"I'm not speaking for him. I'm speaking for myself."

He looked at Casare.

"Do you know why I keep Congress?"

Casare shook his head.

"Because I don't want future generations to follow my example."

His voice was very calm.

"In my lifetime, I've done too many things. Some right, some wrong, some—still unknown. But regardless of right or wrong, they were all my own decisions."

He paused.

"If in the future someone tries to imitate me, thinking one person can decide everything, they'll be wrong. They can't learn from me because they haven't experienced what I've been through, don't have the people I have, don't have my mind. They will only learn an empty shell—a person who can do whatever they want but lacks the ability to do so."

He looked at Casare.

"That person will destroy Mexico."

The room was silent for a long time.

Bramo spoke first.

"That amounts to tying your own hands and feet—"

"Tying my own hands and feet?"

Victor looked at him.

"Bramo, do you know what true power is?"

Bramo said nothing.

"True power is not being able to do whatever you want. It's that no one can force you to do what you don't want to do."

He walked to the window.

"I'm pushing those amendments not to limit myself. It's to let future people understand that the power of this country is not dictated by one person. It's decided by everyone together."

He turned around.

"Once those amendments pass, my power will indeed be limited. But by then, my support rate will be more stable. Because the people will know I'm not accumulating power for myself, I'm establishing rules for this country."

He paused.

"This is called establishing rules."

"Most importantly, Congress can only provide opinions, but power will always be in our hands, we will always be a single party!"

February 20, 1998, Quito, Presidential Palace.

Urtado sat in his office, looking at the draft constitutional amendments that arrived from Mexico City.