How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Sulaco was the land of future prosperity, the chosen land of material progress, the only province in the Republic of interest to European capitalists. Pedrito Montero, following the example of the Duc de Morny, meant to have his share of this prosperity. This is what he meant literally. Now his brother was master of the country, whether as President, Dictator, or even as Emperor—why not as an Emperor?—he meant to demand a share in every enterprise—in railways, in mines, in sugar estates, in cotton mills, in land companies, in each and every undertaking—as the price of his protection. (III.5.5)
The wealth and prosperity that the Goulds have created in Costaguana catches the eye of Pedrito Montero and his brother, and they seem to think that that wealth should be in their hands, rather than that of the foreigners.
Quote #11
These words gave him an unwonted sense of freedom; they cast a spell stronger than the accursed spell of the treasure; they changed his weary subjection to that dead thing into an exulting conviction of his power. He would cherish her, he said, in a splendour as great as Dona Emilia's. The rich lived on wealth stolen from the people, but he had taken from the rich nothing—nothing that was not lost to them already by their folly and their betrayal. For he had been betrayed—he said—deceived, tempted. She believed him… He had kept the treasure for purposes of revenge; but now he cared nothing for it. He cared only for her. (III.12.105)
Our hero thinks that stealing is okay as long as the person you're stealing from is so rich they won't notice it. Also, he claims to have done it out of revenge rather than greed… because revenge is nicer? Maybe someone should tell him that two wrongs don't make a right, and that revenge often ends super-badly.