President Duarte (ドゥアルテ大統領 Duarute daitōryō) is the president of Peru. During his tenure, he has become highly unpopular due to his austerity-based economic restructuring plan and the high unemployment rate, as well as his use of the military to suppress political dissent. He gains favor within his government by siding with the military and using the Intelligence Bureau to spy on dissidents and the country's left-wing guerrillas.
Appearance[]
Duarte is an older Hispanic man with a medium build, tan skin, short black hair, and a thick mustache. He wears dark-colored suits, light-colored dress shirts, dark-colored neckties, and black shoes.
Eda Initial Stage history[]
As the Peruvian president, Duarte was elected on a platform of ending warlord politics.[1] In power, he enacted an economic restructuring plan based on an austerity policy which greatly increased unemployment throughout the country. Because of the wide opposition and public unrest, the president used the police to suppress the populace under the guise of restoring public order. He approved of the military, led by General Tovar, to crack down on the left-wing guerrillas that had been fighting since the previous administration. In addition to losing support among Peruvians, President Duarte had also strained his government's relations with the United States and became uncooperative with them as an ally.[2] He tried to restore the economy with economic stimulus measures, but they all failed and the national debt kept growing.[1] As opposition against him grew among both the populace and the parliament, the president's support for General Tovar and his war against the guerrillas also grew.[3]
Little King of The South[]
However, because the unpopularity with the president had even spread to low-ranking soldiers, the military had suffered information being leaked and also lost men in surprise bombings due to false intel being relayed via bribed soldiers. After one such incident, Duarte addressed the parliament the next day, but one opposition member lambasted him for his governance, elaborating that austerity measures would only widen the economic gap, security was worsening throughout the country, and public unrest was growing. The opposition member claimed that the root cause was the failure of the president's economic restructuring plan. Responding that he sympathized with the opposition parties who repeatedly criticized his government, Duarte instead placed the blame on guerrilla terrorism. Ardently rebuffing the accusation, the opposition member reminded him of the high unemployment rate and criticized him for using the police to suppress the populace in order to distract from that reality. Unconcerned, Duarte reasoned that his government was merely doing its best to restore public order, adding that it was the time to endure and accept economic reform as the lifeline of the country. Frustrated, the representative proclaimed that the President's obsession was what would bring ruin to their country.
A short time later, Duarte returned to the presidential hall and entered his office, where Melgar, the head of the Intelligence Bureau, was waiting inside. Ignoring the intelligence officer's comment about him being a busy man, he 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 need not worry if she had been a "good girl" thus far. Hearing the intelligence officer point out that the 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. As Melgar left, President Duarte silently scoffed at his warning. That day, he had a luncheon with the Federation of Economic Organizations' Chairman Gomez followed by an economic policy review.[2]
At the same time, Duarte had Paula, his mistress and an intelligence agent, report to him on Melgar's activities. That night, he was in his bedroom sitting in his chair when she relayed to him that her boss went alone to spy on the Americans. As Paula climbed onto him, Duarte asked if she had found any connection between the guerrillas and the CIA. Replying that she could not say for sure, she did believe that they were in contact. Accepting the situation, Duarte advised her to keep watch of Melgar and avoid falling for his tricks, and they engaged in sexual intercourse.[4] Unknown to Melgar, the president intended on replacing him with Paula as the head of the Intelligence Bureau due to his lack of success in confirming a connection between the opposition coalition, the guerrillas and the CIA.[5] The next morning, in order to stay in power, President Duarte executed a self-coup and declared martial law with the goal of completely destroying opposition,[1] starting with the approval of General Tovar crushing the guerrillas' strongholds and killing anyone who supported them.[3]
Furthermore, he had the military set up a curfew and checkpoints throughout the country, as well as closing the borders to prevent anyone from leaving, and foreign diplomats were ordered to stay at their respective embassies. Finally, the Intelligence Bureau was to aid the military in the operation. As the self-coup took place on the first day, President Duarte had a brief meeting with General Tovar and then ordered Melgar to meet him and answer for his failure. Criticizing the intelligence officer, he rhetorically asked if he was content with disobeying his orders and acting on his own. Willing to give Melgar 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 agreed to his order.[1]
The next day, after Melgar failed to capture his targets by using Víbora, he received a call from Paula, who informed him that she and her fellow intelligence officers were in Monzó lying in wait to ambush one of the CIA agents. Hearing her add that Melgar told her the enemy would come to the area, President Duarte approved of her killing Melgar, so she promised to report back to him later.[6][7] Later that day, he was forced to end his self-coup due to the CIA sending extra agents to the country to crush the military and save Eda and Enrique's group. Agreeing to listen to the Americans so that he would not be overthrown, President Duarte invited the U.S. ambassador to the presidential hall to negotiate. With General Tovar accompanying him, he was surprised that the U.S. government offered to renormalize relations with his administration and let him keep his presidential position. Though pleased, the skeptical president asked what they wanted in return.
Eda answered that he needed to withdraw all of his troops from the city and end any further repression of the opposition coalition. Furthermore, she threatened to expose the military's slaughter of civilians in the name of counterterrorism if he refused to accept the terms, specifying that the U.S. had witnesses ready to testify against him if he was willing to create a scandal. Angered, General Tovar yelled that they would not accept such demands, urging Duarte to keep the troops stationed since withdrawing would be a disgrace to the military. The general additionally claimed that if they let up, the opposition would likely reconnect with the guerrillas and threaten their regime. Addressing the president, Tovar angrily and rhetorically asked what guarantee they had that the U.S. would not betray them. Smirking, Eda remarked that the opinion of the president was more important than what the military thought.
Sitting back and advising him to calm down, President Duarte admitted to Tovar that the deal was not too bad compared to the uncertainty of the political wind's direction. Duarte informed him that he was appreciative of his work and promised to repay him some day, but the general was infuriated and insulted the president as a spineless opportunist and a "crooked bastard." After the meeting's end, in his office, Paula repeated that Tovar was quite furious, to which Duarte responded that a mere soldier did not know how to run a country. He then ordered her to keep an eye on the general especially if he did any unusual activity, also asking if she dealt with Melgar. Paula admitted that she was unable to kill him because he fled, adding that she was working on it but could not find any trace of him. Demanding that she eliminate him quickly, President Duarte reminded her that he gave Melgar's position to her, advising her to show that she was truly qualified.[5]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 24: Little King of The South Part 4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 21: Little King of The South Part 1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 23: Little King of The South Part 3
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 22: Little King of The South Part 2
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Eda Initial Stage Chapter 29: Little King of The South Part 9
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 27: Little King of The South Part 7
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 28: Little King of The South Part 8