NationStates Jolt Archive

Ricardo Alberto Díaz y Aguarte stood in what had once been the Capitol Building in Léon, Mannicagua. This city was not the traditional capital, of course: the PDRM had moved it here from Granada after the elections of 1985.

General Aguarte had once been a great supporter of the international revolution. Only after he had seen the economic devastation left in the wake of everything the PDRM touched -- especially the government’s inability to provide aide after Hurricane Rosemary, which had slammed into his native Mosquito Coast and left the village of his birth in shambles -- that Aguarte began to see the hollow promises of the Revolution. And, as the youngest colonel in the Mannicaguan armed forces, he had been in a position to do something about the injustice.

With a little help from friends, Aguarte reflected, thinking of the Roiks.

“General, what do you want me to do with these documents?” asked his aide-de-camp suddenly, producing a box of budget reports from the PDRM.

“File them away and take them with us,” Aguarte said, waving his cigar vaguely and sending ash all over the carpet. “And García -- I’m el Presidente now.”

“Of course,” García said. “Presidente.”

--------

LA REPÚBLIC FEDERAL DE MANNICAGUA Y EL SALVADOR

Official Longform: La República Federal de Mannicagua (The Federal Republic of Mannicagua)
Official Shortform: La República Mannicaguana (the Mannicaguan Republic) OR Mannicagua
Official Acronym: RMS
Capital: Granada (2005)

Government: Nominally a federal republic. Veracity of electoral results is questionable.
President: Gen. Ricardo Alberto Díaz y AGUARTE (PRD) (2005)
National Assembly: Unicameral, 127 members
Representation: 124 Partido de la República Democrática (PRD), 3 Partido Democrático y Revolucionario de Mannicagua (PDRM) (2005)

Official Language: Spanish
Population: ~5.6 million
Land Area: ~129,000 square kilometers (~39 people / sqkm)
Chief Products: cash crops, some foodstuffs, textile goods
Natural Resources: Limited amounts of copper, good fisheries.

((ooc: well, I think that takes care of a basic outline. I’ll try to expand more tomorrow or the day after. I just flew back home for St. Turkey’s Day and frankly I’m a little disoriented. =)

~Ian))

PS: I tried to log on with Mannicagua but couldn't. Ah well. =/

EDIT: retconned El Salvador

A small ice cream company by the name of Siberian Ice in Mannicagua has offered El Presidente a contract for supplying federal employees with dessert over the next few years for very competetive prices.

The collapse of Central American revolution could be considered a fairly significant contribution to the negative changes afoot in the Igovian Soviet Commonwealth. Specifically it spoke to individuals -like a recently elected Soviet consul who'd somewhat arrogantly adopted the name Adiatorix as soon as he heard of his minor victory- who remembered the 1980s and Sopworth's hardline revolutionary Commonwealth through the shining eyes of the excited and largely ignorant children they were at the time.

Revolutions didn't collapse then, when Sopworth's-Portmeirion and Moscow provided strong leadership and stood-up to insurrection and 1st world subversion. (By the late '80s, the Indian Soviets were assembling against the Party for a bloodless left-socialist/anarchist coup, and the USSR was falling apart as the Commonwealth turned against it and Wingert's Estenlandic revolt went unpunished).

The abandonment of revolution abroad was certainly firing the inspiration of ambitious (almost inately 'anti-1st-world') personalities the Commonwealth.

(Excuse the diversion, I just thought I'd try to make it a little more than an OOC tag! Looks good to me, and no, I don't think anyone minds that you can't log-in with Mannicagua, don't worry.)

The Chinese ambassador reads the paper, unaware of the newest happenings in South America.

While the nature of Aguarte's regime makes it rather automatically disapproved-of by Hindustan, in official circles at least, Mannicagua is just about as far from India as one can get. Therefore, Parliamentarians elected to the foreign ministry by and large put documents relating to the place in the "take care of after Lusaka" file, so somebody might find them in a hundred years or so.

That being said, one of Parliament's favorite sayings is that its in nobody's interest to see people starve, so if Mannicagua finds itself afflicted by famine or ravaged by disaster, natural or man-made, Aguarte can have as much Hindustani aid as he can use.

In 'unofficial' circles, however, many Hindustanis are lining up to do business with Aguarte's regime. The opium mogul Khaled Chindambaram, for one, has expressed interest in funding railway projects.

OCC: By the way, does Sandinista still bear relevance to Mannicagua? Just out of curiosity...

Colonel Benjamin "Bender" Rodriguez liked Central America. He liked the Jungles, he liked the cigars, and he loved the women. Possibly a little too much, but his wife was back in Roycelandia and probably having it off with the pool cleaner anyway, so it was pretty much even in that regards.

Col. Bender, as he was known to his troops, also spoke fluent Spanish, which wasn't as common as you'd think in Roycelandia- Roycelandian foreign policy generally dictating that those uppity Natives could get with the programme and learn English like everyone else- and so it was no surprise when the Special Operations Command had snatched him up and sent him into the jungles of Central America to help the Revolution du jour.

That had been almost 20 years ago, and amazingly this particular revolution actually appeared to have succeeded. Hundreds of millions of Imperial Wibbles worth of arms and equipment had been funnelled to General Aguarte.

Guerrillas had been trained, and assistance had been given, and now it looked like His Majesty's gamble might have paid off.

Col. Bender shared the Roycelandian affectation for Pith Helmets and Safari Gear, and it was thusly attired that he presented himself at El Presidente's Palace, with a brace of .455 Webley service revolvers on his hip (This is standard Roycelandian uniform- most officers fight with dual pistols, and the dress uniform reflects that).

He had gotten word to His Majesty of the Revolution's success, and His Majesty had requested phase II be put into action.

As such, Colonel Bender had a series of "Proposals" for El Presidente Aguarte, including some rather lucrative offers by ImPetroCo, Telecom Roycelandia, Imperial Railways, the Imperial Trading Company, Laandgrab Enterprises, Imperial Motors, and many others, to help re-build Mannicagua's infrastructure. Indeed, the Imperial Guard had offered to send two Engineer Batallions to help rebuild any Hurricane-devastated areas.

More interestingly, the nice people at Imperial Armaments had promised that the supply of arms and ammunition would continue, ensuring Senor Presidente did not waver in his righteous crusade to bring equality and security to Mannicagua.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Trading Company has begun the process of buying up various plantations in Mannicagua, operating through shell companies, local fronts, and a complicated maze of Offshore Accounts in the Cape Verde Islands- one of which would be responsible for receiving Presidente Aguarte's periodic "Consultancy Fees"...

OCC: By the way, does Sandinista still bear relevance to Mannicagua? Just out of curiosity...

((Nah, not really. I'm rewriting more or less Mannicaguan history all the way back to its independence (which is actually something I need - who's playing Spain? Anybody? Would they mind just having a stock Spanish colonial policy, or is there anything special I ought to take into account?). The essential role played by the Sandinistas is now filled by the PDRM (who, by the way, need a snappy Spanish nickname. Any ideas?).

-- snip --

"Ah, Colonel Bender! My good friend!" exclaimed Aguarte when he saw the Roycelandian being escorted in. He was holding a bowl of Siberian Ice (a free sample for the glorious Presidente, the salesman had said) and speaking in heavily-accented English. The east coast of Mannicagua has a fair-sized English-speaking minority (perhaps Roycelandian in origin?) and Aguarte had grown up speaking the two languages interchangably. However, he quickly lapsed into his more comfortable Spanish.

"What brings you all the way to Granada, friend?" he asked, handing off his Siberian Ice and instructing that it was to be frozen at once for later presidential consumption. He waved to some chairs and bid Bender to sit down, even offering a cigar from his own box and taking one for himself.

Aguarte was still wearing his military uniform, Bender might notice, even though he had nominally flung himself fully onto his civilian role. The olive-drab contrasted very sharply with the black and white suits all around the rest of the busy rooms. Establishing a new capital was more work than Aguarte had thought it would be; he had heard that, in the old days, the capital had moved between Granada and Léon depending on if a conservative or liberal party were in office, but he had never realized how much work it was.

-----

Out in rural Mannicagua, plantations simply couldn't sell fast enough.

"This is a prime banana-growing area," one local magistrate was telling a wealthy Roycelandian couple touring one of the grounds. "but the communists --" he spat on the ground "-- allowed it to grow wild for the past ten years! Can you imagine!? Now it is being put to work again, and I hope you want to be part of rebuilding Mannicagua."

Everywhere, the motif of a "new power rising" was propagated by eager salesmen. Land was selling for perhaps a quarter of its worth; even the Mannicaguans themselves were getting in on the feeding frenzy. In fact, the only ones dissapointed were the peasant farmers who, for the decade and a half of PDRM rule, had worked the fields as a collective until and eaten its produce. But surely they could find work on the new plantations!

OOC: Mwa ha ha ha...

IC: As the contract for Siberian Ice pulls through, the corporations uses its revenues to aggressively market its product throughout Mannicagua. With their products growing popularity and the corporation's increasing revenues (along with several large anonymous cash infusions...), Siberian Ice expands heavily into the Mannicaguan market, and, according to some rumors circulated amongst the drunken denizens of Mannicagua's seediest bars, into the Mannicaguan government and criminal underworld as well...

Whether these rumors are true or not is uncertain, but even if they are, any operations at such an early stage are too small to be noticed, as Siberian Ice focuses instead on selling its product to Mannicaguans and earning revenue.

The Chinese foreign minister sends off a letter to General Aguarte, asking for an opportunity to discuss items of mutual interest and an exchange of ambassadors.

Elsewhere, representatives from Nanjing Textiles, having shifted labour from increasingly expensive Eastern China to Xinjiang and Tibet begin buying up sweatshops in Mannicagua.

"Ah, Colonel Bender! My good friend!" exclaimed Aguarte when he saw the Roycelandian being escorted in. He was holding a bowl of Siberian Ice (a free sample for the glorious Presidente, the salesman had said) and speaking in heavily-accented English. The east coast of Mannicagua has a fair-sized English-speaking minority (perhaps Roycelandian in origin?) and Aguarte had grown up speaking the two languages interchangably. However, he quickly lapsed into his more comfortable Spanish.

"What brings you all the way to Granada, friend?" he asked, handing off his Siberian Ice and instructing that it was to be frozen at once for later presidential consumption. He waved to some chairs and bid Bender to sit down, even offering a cigar from his own box and taking one for himself.

Aguarte was still wearing his military uniform, Bender might notice, even though he had nominally flung himself fully onto his civilian role. The olive-drab contrasted very sharply with the black and white suits all around the rest of the busy rooms. Establishing a new capital was more work than Aguarte had thought it would be; he had heard that, in the old days, the capital had moved between Granada and Léon depending on if a conservative or liberal party were in office, but he had never realized how much work it was.

Col. Bender gratefully accepted the proferred Cigar and lit up, relaxing in the comfy chair. The two men reminisced about battles they had been in, laughed at the Communist dogs who had been driven into the sea, and mourned for their comrades who had fallen in the struggle.

The preliminaries out of the way, Colonel Bender presented El Presidente Aguarte with a special gift from the Roycelandian people- an ornate teak box with a red crushed velvet lining, which contained a matching pair of engraved Webley Mk VI revolvers and 48 cartridges with silver bullets.

"A Personal Gift, Senor Aguarte, from His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I, on this, the day of your daughter's wedd... er, the day of your Inauguration as El Presidente of this great country."

Colonel Bender also presented El Presidente with some prospectuses from Imperial Railways, Telecom Roycelandia, and ImPetroCo relating to developing the rail network, communications infrastructure, as well as Mining and Oil Drilling/Refining.

Naturally, all these things would see generous Consultancy Fees finding their way into El Presidente’s Bank Accounts…

Meanwhile, the Landgrab in Mannicagua was being advertised just like the “Golden Years” of Roycelandian Imperialism in the 1870s-1930s- families being encouraged to buy a plantation and live the good life, Pith Helmet, alcohol, and all!

A Letter Appears on General Aguarte's Desk

To The Most Esteemed General Aguarte, Pre
From The Chancellor of the Greater Prussian Sate of Austria, Maxen Von Bismarck

The Austrian based company Stille Inc. is hoping to overhaul your rail system. All we ask is to be able to buy everything for any amount, which is sadly not to large. We will then totally take control and build your railroad system into something you can only imagine. So just let us buy it and then just see a check in the mail from the must beneficial Stille Inc. Also I would expect a certain amount of small even insignificant items.

1.) My workers would need to have a little piece of land.
2.) Visas lot of Visas
3.) And maybe a couple of blind eyes to some of my activities.

I would prefer all of them, but I am okay with only number 2.

In all due respect,
Maxen Von Bismarck.

Yargh, it's me. I know I said I'd be back last Wednesday, but it turned out that I was so focused on that paper that I completely neglected my other finals. >.< Last one is due THIS Wednesday and hopefully hopefully I'll be able to get back in the NS swing after that. Sorry about all the delays, but I still really want to play Mannicagua! =)

...back to work. sigh.

Quite alright, Ian. I understand fully.

The Chinese foreign minister sends off a letter to General Aguarte, asking for an opportunity to discuss items of mutual interest and an exchange of ambassadors.

Elsewhere, representatives from Nanjing Textiles, having shifted labour from increasingly expensive Eastern China to Xinjiang and Tibet begin buying up sweatshops in Mannicagua.

In an ironic twist of history, the Chinese find Mannicagua to have an 'open door' policy with regard to foreign relations and trade. General Aguarte himself even agrees to give a short audience to whomsoever the Chinese chose to represent themselves.

Chinese industrialists will also find that, among the destitute of Mannicagua, there are many -- particularly in San Salvador -- willing to work for a mere pittance to avoid starvation in the overcrowded slums of the north. In southern Mannicagua proper, where the population is more rural, displaced peasants make up the largest part of the workforce, though they gravitate more towards the new plantation-style agriculture springing from the ground there.

Col. Bender gratefully accepted the proferred Cigar and lit up, relaxing in the comfy chair. The two men reminisced about battles they had been in, laughed at the Communist dogs who had been driven into the sea, and mourned for their comrades who had fallen in the struggle.

The preliminaries out of the way, Colonel Bender presented El Presidente Aguarte with a special gift from the Roycelandian people- an ornate teak box with a red crushed velvet lining, which contained a matching pair of engraved Webley Mk VI revolvers and 48 cartridges with silver bullets.

"A Personal Gift, Senor Aguarte, from His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I, on this, the day of your daughter's wedd... er, the day of your Inauguration as El Presidente of this great country."

Colonel Bender also presented El Presidente with some prospectuses from Imperial Railways, Telecom Roycelandia, and ImPetroCo relating to developing the rail network, communications infrastructure, as well as Mining and Oil Drilling/Refining.

"You have always been a good friend, Señor Bender," chuckles Aguarte as he examined the Webleys. "And this is indeed an imperial gift. Please pass my thanks to His Imperial Majesty."

However, the talk of railroads and telephones soon distracts Aguarte, who soon forgets the guns on an end table in his enthusiast. He seems most interested by transcontinental proposals.

"A railroad to the Pacific could be the first step towards our future, eh?" he says, pointing at the file from Imperial Railways. Aguarte's eyes seem brighter when he speaks of this; surely Mannicagua's future must reside in connecting the two great oceans more efficiently than the Quinntonians!

...and if previous administrations had signed agreements limiting such projects with the United States, well...he could not allow Mannicagua's progress to be impeded by their shortsightedness!

To The Most Esteemed General Aguarte, Pre
From The Chancellor of the Greater Prussian Sate of Austria, Maxen Von Bismarck

The Austrian based company Stille Inc. is hoping to overhaul your rail system. All we ask is to be able to buy everything for any amount, which is sadly not to large. We will then totally take control and build your railroad system into something you can only imagine. So just let us buy it and then just see a check in the mail from the must beneficial Stille Inc. Also I would expect a certain amount of small even insignificant items.

1.) My workers would need to have a little piece of land.
2.) Visas lot of Visas
3.) And maybe a couple of blind eyes to some of my activities.

I would prefer all of them, but I am okay with only number 2.

In all due respect,
Maxen Von Bismarck.

Señor von Bismarck,

A certain amount of discretion goes a long way, my good friend, especially in writing. I should appreciate it very much if you were to remember that in all future correspondences.

I also should inform you that Imperial Railways of Roycelandia has already submitted an official bid to repair Mannicagua's railways from the devastation of PDRM rule. I am fully in a favor of a free market, but I must inform you that the IR bid is very generous. Perhaps a conference between the leaders of IR, Stille Inc, and my Minister of the Interior would go a long way?

Faithfully yours,

R.A. Diaz y Aguarte

((ooc: it’s probably the nit-picking historian in me, but the phrase “Greater Prussian State of Austria feels like hurting =/

and, speaking of this historian in me, good GOD am I glad finals are (pardon the pun) finally over. >.< SWEET FREEDOM!))

The Austrian based company Stille Inc. is still willing to have a conferance for the bidders.