Melgar (メルガル Merugaru) is an intelligence officer and former head of the Peruvian government's Intelligence Bureau. He answered to President Duarte and had a number of subordinate agents working under him. Melgar spied on the president's political opponents and also gathered intelligence elsewhere, and his agency collaborated with the military.
Appearance[]
Melgar is an older Hispanic man with a tall stature, tan skin, short black hair, and a thick mustache and goatee. He wears a medium-colored suit and pants with a dark-colored dress shirt and light-colored shoes. He carries a pistol for a weapon.
Eda Initial Stage history[]
When he was the head of the Intelligence Bureau, Melgar competed with General Tovar of the military for President Duarte's favor.[1] Around that time, during one mission, the situation went awry for him and his agents, so he had to flee. Paula and her fellow intelligence officers were left behind, and though she survived, her coworkers were killed. Afterward, Melgar apologized to her and explained that there was no way to save her. As a result, Paula, who was also President Duarte's mistress, began to held a grudge against her boss and sided with Duarte behind Melgar's back.[2]
Little King of The South[]
On one particular night, state military troops surrounded an apartment and broke into a room operated by rebels, but they found no one inside despite signs of people in the residence a few days before. Nearby outside, Melgar sat in his car as one soldier cursed the guerrillas and compared them to cockroaches. The intelligence officer guessed that it must have been the work of an insider, angering the soldier since he believed his men were not responsible. Melgar rhetorically asked if the military was still in disorder, joking that anyone would sell information in their concurrent climate. Warning him to be quiet, the soldier insulted him as a mere lackey of the Intelligence Bureau. Melgar ignored his comment and suggested that they withdraw the troops, guessing that they would not leave without a price. Suddenly, the guerrilla hideout exploded, killing the troops inside. About a day later, he began spying on Eda and Jaden due to intelligence indicating that the CIA was somehow allied with the opposition coalition that wanted to depose President Duarte.
That afternoon, Melgar went to the presidential hall and waited in the president's office to brief him on the matter. Once Duarte entered the room, he joked that he was a busy man, to which the president asked how checking out the new CIA recruits went. Recalling that Eda was a young woman, Melgar confessed that he did not understand why the CIA took the trouble to send her in as a replacement, positing that she must have been more than a mere cheerleader. President Duarte wondered what she was up to, but Melgar answered that they did not need to worry so long as Eda remained neutral. Hearing the intelligence officer point out that the left-wing guerrillas and the opposition had been active lately, he asked if the CIA was behind the unrest. Melgar agreed to continue spying on them and said that he might be able to find something. Almost forgetting about the earlier news, he warned the president not to rely on the military too much because their raid the previous night was terrible.[3]
Melgar using binoculars to observe the military's attack on a village.
Meeting up with Paula in the countryside, Melgar informed her that he would continue pursuing the CIA agents to spy on them. Before departing, he ordered her to return to headquarters and delay the intelligence news to President Duarte so that the situation could work in their favor. Unknown to Melgar, Eda had noticed him tailing her group and knew he was a government spy, but she decided to leave him alone. Additionally, he was unaware of the president ordering Paula to keep an eye on the Intelligence Bureau leader as well.[4] The next day, as Melgar stayed outside of the village where the CIA agents were staying, he witnessed the military commence an operation against the guerrillas to destroy their stronghold and kill any villagers who allegedly sympathized with the leftists. Frustrated with the situation, he guessed that General Tovar must have influenced President Duarte to take a hardline approach against the guerrillas. Unsure how to respond to the deployment of troops, he muttered that he was unprepared and would have to figure out a solution.[5]
Accordingly, Melgar returned to the presidential hall to speak to the president, who was carrying out a self-coup backed by the military. As he walked down the hallway, he came across General Tovar, who smugly greeted him and asked was wrong. The annoyed Melgar asked what he did to get under the president's skin. Rebuffing the notion, Tovar replied that the operation was ordered by the president and not necessarily his own intention. Melgar muttered that he said that all the time, causing Tovar to warn him to watch his tone. Declaring that the president's authority from then on rested with the military, the general added that it did not belong to an intelligence service that had not made any gains in the fight against the guerrillas. Tovar mockingly advised him to keep the president in a good mood by using his best talking points, but Melgar scoffed and ignored him.
In President Duarte's office, Melgar was criticized and asked if he was content with disobeying the former's orders and acting on his own. Willing to give him one last chance, the president ordered him to capture the CIA agents and the guerrillas' intermediary and also find evidence that the U.S. was connected to the guerrillas. President Duarte proclaimed that they could stop the U.S. from interfering in their affairs once he accomplished the task, so Melgar reluctantly agreed to his order.[1] As the self-coup happened, one of Popular Action's offices was raided and shut down. Inside the office, Melgar interrogated and tortured the opposition coalition's leader Farias Cordero, confirming his suspicion that the CIA was indeed linked to the opposition. Subsequently, he gathered other intelligence agents as well as Víbora, a man trained to be a tracker.
Going to the guerrillas hideout, Melgar had everyone search the place to look for clues of a recent presence. In the garage, he, Paula and another officer saw the bullet-ridden Mercedes, so they searched the vehicle. Assessing that the car belonged to the CIA, Melgar asserted that the Americans were working with the guerrillas. Víbora saw a pot that was still cooling which indicated that the enemies had not gone far, prompting Lobbe to report the matter to Melgar. Exploiting the lead, Melgar told his team that the enemy could not use the main road if they wanted to avoid the military checkpoints. With that in mind, he shouted the order to hurry up and move fast so that the reputation of the Intelligence Bureau could be restored. Soon, Paula received a report about an incident of an on-duty guard unit pursuing Eda's group but failing due to being killed. She informed Melgar that it was a van fleeing the scene to approximately the outskirts of Cobian. She wondered if they were CIA, but Melgar claimed they could not know yet. However, he realized that the enemy was escaping toward the mountains, so he ordered everyone to split up into three units to catch up to them.[6]
A short time after Eda's group began ascending the mountains after a firefight with two of Melgar's men, the intelligence officers arrived at the scene. Looking at Luciana's destroyed van, Paula suggested that they split up and also travel on foot to pursue their enemies because there were only a few foot routes. Though she recalled that the enemy has civilians among them, Melgar replied that the CIA were just businessmen and not special military forces. Paula replied that it would be easy to catch up with them since the enemy had little mobility, to which Melgar responded that their associate Víbora would be able to catch them. Addressing his captain, Lobbe informed Melgar that Víbora had discovered the enemy's tracks, noting that they seemed to be heading for the eastern border. Accordingly, the intelligence leader ordered them to continue the pursuit, but Víbora suddenly ran up the mountain and left on his own. As the other officers followed the hunter, Paula rhetorically asked if the military wanted to get rid of the "troublemaker" Víbora, causing Melgar to explain that he was useless for military operations but perfect for hunting. He admitted that he took Víbora from the military specifically for a situation like theirs.[7]
The next morning, Melgar and a male officer were driving down a road near Monzó. The latter complained that Lobbe should have arrived, and his boss reminded him that they could not pass further through the route if it went over the mountain. Though the subordinate thought that the enemies would not be captured alive with Víbora, Melgar responded that they only need one CIA agent and the boy who acted as a point of contact alive. At that point, Lobbe called Melgar on his radiophone, reporting that José and the female guerrilla were killed, apologizing for the outcome. Hearing that Víbora was down, Melgar asked if he needed to be retired, but Lobbe clarified that Víbora was only furious and determined to chase down the enemy. Melgar ordered his driver to be on his guard and get his gear ready.
As they headed out, he wondered where Paula possibly went shopping because there were few stores in town. Unknown to him, Paula used a payphone to secretly call President Duarte and gain approval for betraying her boss. Once they arrived in town, Paula relayed to Melgar that she saw the CIA agent Eda entering a store, so the officers quickly surrounded the place. Making their presence known, Melgar yelled and demanded that Eda give up and surrender quietly, promising not to shoot her. When he did not receive an answer, he asked if she heard his command. At that moment, Jaden sped toward the officers as Enrique fired at them, allowing Eda to take aim as well. The two sides exchanged gunfire, but the dissidents were able to speed away. Angered, Melgar ordered his men to prevent their escape.[8]
As the officers began the car pursuit, Lobbe returned and apologized for being late, but Melgar was unconcerned and simply yelled at them to hurry up. As Víbora wrestled with Eda and Enrique in the back of their truck, he was overpowered by their guns and fell out, crashing and bouncing off of Celino's car, causing Celino and his partner to swerve and drive off of a cliff. Though his subordinates were shocked, Melgar adamantly declared that they had to continue, adding that they could pick up Víbora later since he was supposedly unkillable. Some minutes later, as the intelligence officers got close to the border, they saw that the military cut off the road that Eda's group took. Keeping their distance from the standoff, Melgar and his men wondered what was happening, with the former insulting the enemy for their foolishness. Suddenly, Paula immediately killed Lobbe and the driver and then pointed her gun's barrel at Melgar's head. Remaining still, he asked her what she was doing.
Paula elaborated that the president gave her the opportunity to dispose of him, professing that she believed he was so self-righteous that he was willing to get his subordinates killed. When she confessed that she would fulfill her grudge against him, Melgar calmly responded that he had told her many times that there was no way to save her and never meant to abandon her. As soon as he said sorry, he opened his car door and immediately jumped out of the passenger seat, running away into the adjacent field as Paula shot at him.[2] It is unknown if he was injured, but he survived and disappeared. As a result, Paula became the head of the Intelligence Bureau, and she promised President Duarte that she would find traces of the ex-leader.[9]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 24: Little King of The South Part 4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 28: Little King of The South Part 8
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 21: Little King of The South Part 1
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 22: Little King of The South Part 2
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 23: Little King of The South Part 3
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 25: Little King of The South Part 5
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 26: Little King of The South Part 6
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 27: Little King of The South Part 7
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 29: Little King of The South Part 9