The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich

spans, mercury batteries were mainly used in military equipment such as walkie-talkies, metal detectors, and other electronic devices.
Sensitive Assignments
     
    Rich was now the man to see when it came to mercury. It was his first business coup, and it earned significant profits for Philipp Brothers. The young dealer had not been at Philipp Brothers very long, yet this success strengthened his position enormously within the company. It was proof to his superiors that he had the talent to spot opportunities, the courage to grasp them, the patience to successfully conclude a deal, and enough common sense to avoid excessive risks.
    When the manager of the Bolivian office of Philipp Brothers had to travel back to England because his mother was having an operation, it was immediately clear who would replace him. Henry Rothschild sent Rich for six months to the same South American country where David Rich had also done business. Bolivia was a dangerous place known for its political and economic instability. A nationalistic movement had brought about a revolution in 1952, and the country’s large mines had subsequently been nationalized. The South American country has been an important source of silver, tin, and tungsten since the sixteenth century. Rich not only learned perfect Spanish in La Paz, Bolivia, he also picked up the essentials of doing business in politically volatile countries. He was evidently very adept in his dealings. A partner at the time relates how he always kept the risks under control und managed to establish good contacts thanks to his quiet, modest style.
    Following his success in Bolivia, Philipp Brothers sent its rising star to South Africa for the first time in 1958. At that point the country was still in the Commonwealth, and the trade boycott against the apartheid regime had not yet begun. It was a journey to his first defeat. Rich thrashed out the details of the sale of a manganese ore mine for months on end, and he remembers the negotiations as being “very tedious, very long.” In the end, after six months of negotiating, “I couldn’t conclude the purchase. I had to come home with empty hands.” He did not hear a single word of criticism from his mentors Rothschild and Jesselson. They both knew that Rich would profit from the experience.
    Despite this single setback, he had clearly demonstrated his capacity for sensitive assignments. He had proved that he could stay calm in chaotic situations. He was persistent and innovative without ever becoming foolhardy. More than anything else, he was enterprising and resourceful. Those were exactly the qualities that Philipp Brothers was counting on in early 1959. A bearded revolutionary was in the process of rewriting history in Cuba. Philipp Brothers, which had enjoyed close business ties with the Batista regime, was not amused. It needed a troubleshooter.
Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution
     
    Ernesto “Che” Guevara and his fellow rebels marched into Santa Clara on New Year’s Eve 1958. The loss of the last government-held town before Havana sent a signal to the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, who fled to the Dominican Republic that night with a handful of his henchmen. Fidel Castro’s revolutionary forces entered Havana on January 8, 1959, after more than two years of guerrilla fighting.
    The reaction from the country was overwhelmingly positive, especially among the
campesinos
, the subsistence-level farmers. The army and police went over to the rebels within hours. Calm returned to Havana twenty-four hours after the takeover. Castro and his comrades in arms were welcomed by jubilant crowds. While the people had become ever poorer, the Batista clique had become wealthy by exploiting the country and its natural resources. Estimates put the dictator’s fortune at dozens of millions of dollars. Batista had come to power in 1933 aided by the United States, which had supported his military dictatorship with a mutual assistance pact. The U.S. government only withdrew its backing when the Batista regime was in its death throes, unable to guarantee the economic stability of the country any longer.
    Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, who would later become Cuba’s minister of industry, embarked upon a program of nationalization of mines and industries—a development that came as a serious shock to Philipp Brothers. Although the company saw itself essentially as a tradingcorporation with no industrial infrastructure or investments, it had begun