Characters / MTNO Venezuela

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Republic of Venezuela

Official Name: Republic of Venezuela

Ruling Party: Frente Patriótico - Movimiento Nacionalista Venezolano^note Patriotic Front - Venezuelan Nationalist Movement

Ideology: Neoperezjimenism^note Fascism

South America's jewel has never had it easy. Since the discovery of oil a century ago, Venezuela transformed from an impoverished and struggling nation into a thriving democracy. But then came the 80s, and Venezuela paid dearly for its prosperity. An entire generation passed, and Venezuela was stuck in the same cycle of economic malaise and crippling debt. The once mighty Puntofijo Pact collapsed, and from the power vacuum rose a national movement - one led by General Nestor González. Venezuelan democracy is rapidly becoming a thing of the past - and the regime that has come to replace it has left its former patrons shaken.

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General Tropes

• Allohistorical Allusion:
  • Venezuela is still a crisis-ridden nation in MTNO, having been hit hard by the Latin American Debt Crisis and never truly recovered from it.
  • The 1992 Coup attempt by Hugo Chávez and the MBR-200 was never executed, as the plot was uncovered by Minister of Defense Fernándo Antich and, unlike in our timeline, the government took action and arrested the plotters. Chávez himself managed to avoid arrest and flee to Colombia, making him completely irrelevant in Venezuelan politics.
  • Under Nestor González, Venezuela strengthened its claim to Guyana Esequibo, adding another star to their flag to symbolize it just like in our timeline.
  • The military coup attempt against González during the Constitutional Crisis mirrors the 2002 coup attempt against Chávez.
• Butt-Monkey: In only thirty years, Venezuela has seen a constant economic recession, three coup attempts, democratic backsliding, increasing debts, growing unemployment and wealth inequality and the devaluation of its currency. As if that wasn't enough, Venezuela can wind up being invaded by the OFN/OAS and occupied, at which point things will only get worse.
• Crapsack World: Venezuela is a country that has been stuck in an eternal loop of crisis and instability since 1980. The country leaned onto its oil wealth, and when their debts piled up and Venezuelan oil began to lose its value, the entire country sank. Decades after the crisis began, Venezuela is recovering at a slow pace while it continues to suffer under its economic woes and political problems.
• Democracy Is Bad: None of the democratically-elected Presidents before González were able to handle Venezuela's structural problems. It took a populist strongman who was willing to drastically expand his powers to combat the crisis for Venezuela to see even the slightest change, even if the economic issues haven't entirely been fixed by González's government.
• Hero-Worshipper: Simón Bolívar is held in high regard by Venezuelans, and both left-wing and right-wing politicians claim his legacy.
• Inherent in the System: Venezuela's problems are caused by it being a petrostate without a diversified economy, something that the OFN/OAS will recognize and try to mitigate should they come to occupy the country.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: If Guyana falls into a political crisis, Venezuela under González will invade the country and take Guyana Esequibo.
• Military Coup: Venezuela saw three military coups attempts in recent years, one foiled and two attempted. The last putsch, which was carried out by right-wing officers in 2001, led to the rise of General Nestor González to the Presidency.
  • In the midst of the Constitutional Crisis at the start of MTNO's timeframe, Venezuela will see a fourth coup attempt - one that can actually succeed.
• State Sec: Sincamisas^note Shirtless Ones is an informal name given to right-wing paramilitary who support González's government, going out of their way to battle political opponents in the streets and intimidate voters during elections or plebiscites. This makes them quite similar to the real-life Colectivos, except they are right-wing instead of left-wing.

President

Nestor González González

Role: President

Party: Frente Patriótico - Movimiento Nacionalista Venezolano^note Patriotic Front - Venezuelan Nationalist Movement

Ideology: Neoperezjimenizm^note Fascism

In no other country would someone expect that the leader of a failed military coup would become popular enough to rise to the Presidency. Nestor González single-handedly swept over Venezuela like a flame, his Nationalist Movement displacing the existing parties and bringing him to the Presidency in 2006. Since then, González has gradually undone democracy by drafting an entirely new constitution designed to create a powerful executive. Now, six years later, González is attempting to remove term limits to remain in the Presidency for good - and his opponents have taken to the streets to demand his overthrow.

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• Allohistorical Allusion: Nestor González is quite similar to Hugo Chávez. Both are former military strongmen who were elected on a radical populist platform, and upon taking power, began to erode democracy. In fact, González became prominent during the turbulent 2002 coup as Chávez's direct antithesis - only he couldn't build a political career off his image like Chávez did.
• Choosing Neutrality: Despite being a crypto-fascist, González isn't sympathetic to neither of the two superpowers in the Cold War and refuses to align Venezuela with neither the Americans nor the Germans.
• Crowd Pleaser: González had no previous experience in politics and thus made his name known through the public, rallying the masses behind his image as a man of the people who was capable of saving the nation.
• Cult of Personality: González is an admirer of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, Venezuela's right-wing military dictator who espoused a strong nationalist ideology and was removed by the United States in this timeline. After solidifying his rule, González will make Jiménez into a national hero on the same level as Simón Bolívar himself.
• Dark Horse Victory: His electoral coalition, the Patriotic Front, had only been recently formed when he listed his name as a candidate for the 2006 elections. To everyone's surprise, González won the elections against every established political party and took the presidency.
• Defector from Decadence: Disillusioned with the state of Venezuelan politics and the left-wing sympathizers in the army, González launched a military coup in the New Year's Eve of 2001 to overthrow the government and establish a dictatorship, which ultimately failed.
• The Dreaded: He is feared by left-wing sectors of the armed forces and Venezuela's centrist establishment because of his extreme anti-communism and ultranationalism.
• Dystopia Is Hard: González doesn't have full control over Venezuelans even as a dictator - people continue protesting against his rule while sectors of the armed forces are against him. To make things worse, his shift to authoritarianism has left Venezuela isolated from other countries, worsening its economic situation and spreading further dissatisfaction against his regime.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While he is a dictator, González is not sympathetic to Nazi Germany and refuses to align with them, keeping Venezuela neutral in the

Cold War.

• The Generalissimo: González rules over Venezuela as a far-right military dictator, allowing the country to sink even deeper into self-destruction just to gain even more power.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: González is a Neoperezjimenista, and doesn't show any outward sympathy to Fascism or Nazism. However, he has the support of Sincamisa paramilitaries, is an irredentist who tries to invade Guyana and hardline anti-communist who persecutes leftists and other "foreign" forces; and builds a military-esque nationalistic dictatorship with himself at the center of it all.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If he survives the coup attempt and amends the Constitution to remove term limits, the Organization of American States will condemn his blatant authoritarianism and embargo Venezuela, isolating the country and ruining his chances of staying in power.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Aware that he needs a good economic agenda to keep himself in power but can't constantly rely on populism, González balances himself between economic liberalism and economic nationalism, leaning towards one of the two depending on the economic situation.
• President for Life: He can potentially become one if he survives the coup attempt and amends the constitution to remove term limits.
• The Purge: If he survives the military coup attempt, González will arrest the perpetrators and use the event to imprison his opponents in the armed forces on the basis of alleged involvement in planning out the coup, thus placing the military firmly under his control.
• Red Baron: He is popularly known by his nickname; El Pelón, meaning "The Bald One".
• Red Scare: González is an extreme anti-communist who detests any form of leftism. During his election, he played up fears of a communist takeover and claimed Venezuela was being destabilized because of Colombian agents working in tandem with the political elites.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In OTL, Nestor González was a niche general in the Venezuelan army who became prominent when he joined the opposition in the streets to demand Chávez's resignation, becoming something of a symbolic figure for his actions in the 2002 coup attempt. In this timeline, González was far more successful and eventually rose to the Presidency, whereas Chávez was exiled to Colombia and died there as a unknown figure to the Venezuelan public.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the OFN/OAS intervene in the Guyana War and invade Venezuela, González will flee to Spain and leave the army to fight the invading Americans.
• Start My Own: He was disappointed with the existing conservative parties and created the Venezuelan Nationalist Movement, eventually merging with several niche nationalist parties to create the Patriotic Front.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: His election in 2006 was met with horror from Venezuela's political establishment given his extremist views, and González's rise to power marked an end to Venezuelan democracy.
• Villain with Good Publicity: While he is a right-wing military strongman, he is quite popular among Venezuelans, who perceive him as a "clean" leader who isn't tainted by the corrupt political establishment and has brought a small amount of stability to Venezuela since taking power.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: González lived under several elected governments from every side of the political spectrum and watched as they all fell apart and were unable to resolve Venezuela's woes, radicalizing him into believing that democracy and party politics were ineffective and the solution to Venezuela's problems required firm leadership.