"The peasants are only puppets of the Luminoso and if what Joseph Douglass writes in Red Cocaine, is true and I have no reason to doubt him, the Colombian cartels are only puppets of world communism. The problem is not what will happen to the peasants. I hate to sound cold blooded about this but all of that sector of Latin America will be reduced to social degradation if something is not done soon and of course the United States will be as well."
"I don't agree with Douglass that Soviet and Chinese influences have been that significant. The Medellin and the Cali cartels have always operated independently. I don't think that the Soviets have had any noticeable effects on drug smuggling. For every ounce that the Commies manage to bring into our country, the Colombians are successful in landing pounds maybe tons."
"You make sense," she said. "It may be part of the Russian agenda but they really don't have the power to sustain it."
"This is a very interesting academic discussion but I do not think that what you are trying to propose, will ever amount to anything. It would be too difficult to put into action."
"Care to prove me wrong?" Clarissa Woo smiled.
"By the way, what the heck is yoppo?" I needed to stall in order to calculate my next move in this little chess game where the campesinos were the pawns.
"It's a psychedelic drug that the Indians of the reaches of the Amazon use ceremonially."
"You'll never catch me using that stuff," I said.
"And a good thing too," Clarissa replied. "Apparently, a jolt of yoppo is far more disturbing than chug-a-lugging a pint of whiskey."
"Strong enough to blow your head off," I said.
There were a few moments of quiet. Squirrels scampered. Birds called. Eventually, Clarissa leaned towards me. She glanced around as if there were spies behind every tree. She reminded me of a character in a spy movie except that the paranoid character is invariably seated in an expensive restaurant. At any rate, her manner manifested the hallmarks of someone psyching herself up to tell dirty little secrets.
"Enlighten me," I said flippantly hoping that we could get back on track.
"We introduce these beetles to the cocaine growing areas in a seemingly random pattern so that the Cartel has trouble in identifying what is causing their problem. We leave the traditional growing area of Peru strictly alone. This will require a knowledge of cocaine geography."
"You're suggesting that we beetle-bomb Bolivia."
"You like the idea?"
"Only because of the alliteration."
"How will you introduce the beetle to the coca highlands?"
"Reintroduce," she said gently patting my hand."
I was surprised by the softness of her touch.
"We could hire Indians to transport the beetles or we could drop them from airplanes, or we could simply mail them to people in the missionary settlements, doctors etc. Of course distributing beetle ova would be a lot more efficient."
"If this is successful, even to a minor degree it would cause a quality control problem for the cartels, that's for sure."
"The drug boys would be dead in the water. They'd never know what hit them. Pretty soon snorting cocaine would be no different than sucking icing sugar up your nostrils."
"It would quack like a duck, walk like a duck but it would definitely not be a duck," I said.
"As long as it tested duck," Clarissa agreed.
"Sometimes the cocaine would be the right stuff though, wouldn't it?"
"Yes but that would just add to the Cartel's difficulties. They would not know where they stood and would have a lot of trouble putting their finger on the source."
"How much is it going to cost to do the operation, Doctor Woo?"
"A lot less than you might think. And please call me, Clarissa."
I was beginning to get the impression that I had gone just about as far as I could, for now at least. "Where are your funds coming from?"
There was a moment or two of awkward silence. At least it was awkward for me. I wondered if I had been too pushy but reflected that Clarissa would not have told me as much as she had if she were not anxious for my assistance.