Ugarte
27-02-2006, 20:26
Introduction
Just as it had everywhere else in the world, socialism brought nothing but ruin and misery to Ugarte. Since the inauguration of President Fidel Ortega Gossens (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Sallende.jpg), a long-time Senator and chairman of the Ugarte Socialist Party, the economy had been in free-fall. 1/3 of the work force in the public service sector was on strike, inflation had reached quadruple-digits, unemployment exceeded 30%, inefficiently-managed state-run industries were collapsing left and right, shelves at food stores were bare, and crime soared exponentially. While Ugarte had always been a poor, backward country, now it was even more so. President Ortega, who had made empty promises of equality, stability, and unity, had implemented ill-thought, asinine policies that produced the opposite effects: more people than ever were poor; the country was highly unstable (politically, socially, and economically); and the country had never been more bitterly divided in its more than 150 years as an independent nation.
Tyranny in the name of democracy
By now, virtually everyone except members of the radical Communist Party (which had been legalized the day Ortega came to power and subsequently formed a coalition government with the Socialists) and die-hard Socialists, despised and loathed the increasingly radical, increasingly lawless Ortega regime. Former millionaires now begged on street corners, their businesses have been either nationalized or regulated to death, and all their assets seized and rewarded to toadies of the regime. The infant mortality rate steadily rose. Higher education and hospitals collapsed, mired by incompetent management. Meritocracy had been thrown out the window, as Ortega appointed people based not on abilities, but on their loyalty to him. He began to display signs of overt madness. He began to grow increasingly dictatorial. Press censorship laws were introduced. Portraits of him graced public places, and construction of gargantuan statues of him (raising a clenched fist) began apace. The writ of habeus corpus was suspended. All this was done in the name of "democracy."
Unease and unrest stirred in the previously apolitical military, which, with the rest of the population, grew increasingly alarmed by the demagogue Ortega. A few of the top-ranking generals even quietly contemplated staging a coup d'etat, yet they discussed this only under conditions of the utmost secrecy, as Ortega's secret police had permeated the whole of society. The eyes and ears of "Dear Older Brother," as Ortega christened himself, were everywhere. In fact, just a week ago, a popular newspaper editor had written a mildly critical article of the government and was killed days later by a parcel bomb, supposedly by "reactionary fascist hooligans," but in reality by pro-government paramilitary forces paid handsomely by people in the top echelons of the government. Riots and strikes gripped the nation, bringing entire cities to a standstill. Tension, fear, unease, galvanized the nation. Ortega's police began handling demonstrators with submachine guns and artillery.
A very bleak, dangerous future
Pessimism pervaded the mind of almost every citizen. Almost everyone viewed a very bleak, dangerous future; in fact, the prospect of civil war seemed very real. Something had to be done. Yet, few options were available. The courts were muzzled and rendered powerless by Ortega. The press practiced strident self-censorship. A popular revolution was not feasible, as Ortega's radical gun control policies had confiscated the fire-arms of everyone save law enforcement, the military, and party Stalwarts. It seemed that only the military could save Ugarte. As an anonymous retired General of the Army bluntly muttered in a private conversation, "Our only means for salvation...lie in the barrel of a gun."
The generals
Fast-forward to February 27, 2006. Ortega had now been in power for almost 18 months. In less than two years, he had almost totally destroyed the country. The military could hold back no longer. Their disdain for politics and reluctance to intervene in what they deemed to be purely political matters had to be put aside. They had a job to do, they had a duty to their people, to their nation, and to God.
So it was that on February 27, 2006, the military of Ugarte, headed by General of the Army Roberto Salazar Matiauda (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/Augusto_Pinochet_official_portrait.jpg), fulfilled its God-ordained destiny, and liberated Ugarte from the tyranny and chaos of socialism.
The coup
Ramón, Ugarte - February 27, 2006
Tupolev Tu-160s (being an ardent pro-Communist, Ortega had ensured that the bulk of military weapons and vehicles were of Communist origin) rumbled to life, their engines roaring, and they sped off the run-way of the local air base, which (conveniently) was stationed just a few miles away from Ortega's luxurious, spacious presidential palace. As the Tu-160s flew en route to the palace, T-90 MBTs, accompanied by towed and self-propelled artillery, traversed the shoddy, pot-holed roads of the capital city toward their ultimate target. Throngs of citizens, correctly deducing their mission, avidly cheered them on. Posters of Ortega were torn down, burned, in some cases even urinated on. Statues of Ortega currently under construction were toppled. Anti-government, pro-military slogans were chanted in the streets. Police, who were hardly pro-Ortega, hopped into their police cars, holstered their guns, and followed the military vehicles moving toward the palace.
Moments later, the palace shuddered tumultuously and was suffused in a brilliant, searing sea of flames, as explosions rocketed the walls. Windows shattered from the impact. Soon, tanks and artillery arrived, and the ground and aerial forces simultaneously bombarded the residence of the arch-leftist autocrat. Police and soldiers, hiding amid foliage in the President's lush garden, remained out of sight, and easily gunned down the security forces of the sparsely-guarded palace. For several minutes, the palace was subjected to an intense bombing campaign, leaving the formerly beautiful building a smoking, fiery, crumbling heap of rubble. Within nine minutes, all the palaces occupants had either been killed or voluntarily surrendered. Those who surrendered were rounded up and thrown into the back of black vans with tinted windows. Only Ortega himself failed to emerge from the tattered, charred remnants of the palace. Half an hour later, he was dragged out, bloody, bruised, and savagely beaten, by police officers, who roughly hauled him into the back of a van, which would bring him to a military barracks to be "interrogated" along with his toadies.
A new order had begun.
Aftermath
The following days saw the implementation of drastic security measures by the military junta which now governed the nation. All state-run industries were privatized, all social welfare, health, and education programs were de-politicized and gradually turned over to the private sector. The press was heavily censored. Congress was dissolved, and all political parties were declared illegal "for an indefinite period of time." Ortega was publicly executed in Ramón Stadium. His eyes were gouged out, he was castrated without anesthesia, and his limbs were amputated one by one, as he slowly and painfully succumbed to a bloody death. Publicly executed, too, were Communists and Socialists, most of whom were beheaded or crucified (members of other parties were either arrested or put under house arrest). A State of Emergency was declared, and military forces now pervaded the entire nation, snuffing out all semblances of dissent.
Meanwhile, the new President, Roberto Salazar Matiauda, announced the severation of diplomatic and commercial relations with all left-leaning nations. "Moreover," he added, "civil and political liberties must be sharply curtailed for an unspecified period of time, in order for us to eradicate Marxism."
Just as it had everywhere else in the world, socialism brought nothing but ruin and misery to Ugarte. Since the inauguration of President Fidel Ortega Gossens (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Sallende.jpg), a long-time Senator and chairman of the Ugarte Socialist Party, the economy had been in free-fall. 1/3 of the work force in the public service sector was on strike, inflation had reached quadruple-digits, unemployment exceeded 30%, inefficiently-managed state-run industries were collapsing left and right, shelves at food stores were bare, and crime soared exponentially. While Ugarte had always been a poor, backward country, now it was even more so. President Ortega, who had made empty promises of equality, stability, and unity, had implemented ill-thought, asinine policies that produced the opposite effects: more people than ever were poor; the country was highly unstable (politically, socially, and economically); and the country had never been more bitterly divided in its more than 150 years as an independent nation.
Tyranny in the name of democracy
By now, virtually everyone except members of the radical Communist Party (which had been legalized the day Ortega came to power and subsequently formed a coalition government with the Socialists) and die-hard Socialists, despised and loathed the increasingly radical, increasingly lawless Ortega regime. Former millionaires now begged on street corners, their businesses have been either nationalized or regulated to death, and all their assets seized and rewarded to toadies of the regime. The infant mortality rate steadily rose. Higher education and hospitals collapsed, mired by incompetent management. Meritocracy had been thrown out the window, as Ortega appointed people based not on abilities, but on their loyalty to him. He began to display signs of overt madness. He began to grow increasingly dictatorial. Press censorship laws were introduced. Portraits of him graced public places, and construction of gargantuan statues of him (raising a clenched fist) began apace. The writ of habeus corpus was suspended. All this was done in the name of "democracy."
Unease and unrest stirred in the previously apolitical military, which, with the rest of the population, grew increasingly alarmed by the demagogue Ortega. A few of the top-ranking generals even quietly contemplated staging a coup d'etat, yet they discussed this only under conditions of the utmost secrecy, as Ortega's secret police had permeated the whole of society. The eyes and ears of "Dear Older Brother," as Ortega christened himself, were everywhere. In fact, just a week ago, a popular newspaper editor had written a mildly critical article of the government and was killed days later by a parcel bomb, supposedly by "reactionary fascist hooligans," but in reality by pro-government paramilitary forces paid handsomely by people in the top echelons of the government. Riots and strikes gripped the nation, bringing entire cities to a standstill. Tension, fear, unease, galvanized the nation. Ortega's police began handling demonstrators with submachine guns and artillery.
A very bleak, dangerous future
Pessimism pervaded the mind of almost every citizen. Almost everyone viewed a very bleak, dangerous future; in fact, the prospect of civil war seemed very real. Something had to be done. Yet, few options were available. The courts were muzzled and rendered powerless by Ortega. The press practiced strident self-censorship. A popular revolution was not feasible, as Ortega's radical gun control policies had confiscated the fire-arms of everyone save law enforcement, the military, and party Stalwarts. It seemed that only the military could save Ugarte. As an anonymous retired General of the Army bluntly muttered in a private conversation, "Our only means for salvation...lie in the barrel of a gun."
The generals
Fast-forward to February 27, 2006. Ortega had now been in power for almost 18 months. In less than two years, he had almost totally destroyed the country. The military could hold back no longer. Their disdain for politics and reluctance to intervene in what they deemed to be purely political matters had to be put aside. They had a job to do, they had a duty to their people, to their nation, and to God.
So it was that on February 27, 2006, the military of Ugarte, headed by General of the Army Roberto Salazar Matiauda (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/Augusto_Pinochet_official_portrait.jpg), fulfilled its God-ordained destiny, and liberated Ugarte from the tyranny and chaos of socialism.
The coup
Ramón, Ugarte - February 27, 2006
Tupolev Tu-160s (being an ardent pro-Communist, Ortega had ensured that the bulk of military weapons and vehicles were of Communist origin) rumbled to life, their engines roaring, and they sped off the run-way of the local air base, which (conveniently) was stationed just a few miles away from Ortega's luxurious, spacious presidential palace. As the Tu-160s flew en route to the palace, T-90 MBTs, accompanied by towed and self-propelled artillery, traversed the shoddy, pot-holed roads of the capital city toward their ultimate target. Throngs of citizens, correctly deducing their mission, avidly cheered them on. Posters of Ortega were torn down, burned, in some cases even urinated on. Statues of Ortega currently under construction were toppled. Anti-government, pro-military slogans were chanted in the streets. Police, who were hardly pro-Ortega, hopped into their police cars, holstered their guns, and followed the military vehicles moving toward the palace.
Moments later, the palace shuddered tumultuously and was suffused in a brilliant, searing sea of flames, as explosions rocketed the walls. Windows shattered from the impact. Soon, tanks and artillery arrived, and the ground and aerial forces simultaneously bombarded the residence of the arch-leftist autocrat. Police and soldiers, hiding amid foliage in the President's lush garden, remained out of sight, and easily gunned down the security forces of the sparsely-guarded palace. For several minutes, the palace was subjected to an intense bombing campaign, leaving the formerly beautiful building a smoking, fiery, crumbling heap of rubble. Within nine minutes, all the palaces occupants had either been killed or voluntarily surrendered. Those who surrendered were rounded up and thrown into the back of black vans with tinted windows. Only Ortega himself failed to emerge from the tattered, charred remnants of the palace. Half an hour later, he was dragged out, bloody, bruised, and savagely beaten, by police officers, who roughly hauled him into the back of a van, which would bring him to a military barracks to be "interrogated" along with his toadies.
A new order had begun.
Aftermath
The following days saw the implementation of drastic security measures by the military junta which now governed the nation. All state-run industries were privatized, all social welfare, health, and education programs were de-politicized and gradually turned over to the private sector. The press was heavily censored. Congress was dissolved, and all political parties were declared illegal "for an indefinite period of time." Ortega was publicly executed in Ramón Stadium. His eyes were gouged out, he was castrated without anesthesia, and his limbs were amputated one by one, as he slowly and painfully succumbed to a bloody death. Publicly executed, too, were Communists and Socialists, most of whom were beheaded or crucified (members of other parties were either arrested or put under house arrest). A State of Emergency was declared, and military forces now pervaded the entire nation, snuffing out all semblances of dissent.
Meanwhile, the new President, Roberto Salazar Matiauda, announced the severation of diplomatic and commercial relations with all left-leaning nations. "Moreover," he added, "civil and political liberties must be sharply curtailed for an unspecified period of time, in order for us to eradicate Marxism."