Jacinto Álvares

Jacinto Álvares (2 October 1880 - 4 March 1945) was a Watanese and  who founded and led the Watanese National Fascist Party (PNFW). He was president of Watan from his inauguration on 1 January 1938 to his deposition and subsequent execution on 4 March 1945. As a dictator of Watan and close follower of, Álvares inspired and supported the international spread of fascist movements during both war and inter-war periods.

On 17 October 1941, Álvares elected to enter the war with its long standing ally Ventora on the side of the Alliance powers. Despite initial success, the subsequent slow crumble of the central Alliance front and the several bombings conducted over Watan made Álvares lose the support of the population and members of the Fascist Party. Álvares was deposed from his role as President in late February, and in early March 1945, in the wake of near total defeat, Álvares and his wife Rosinha Álvares attempted to flee to Ventora but both were captured by Watanese Noyonist party members, bound and gagged, and subsequently thrown onto the grande passeio in central Queluz. Both Álvares and his spouse were beaten to death by the disgruntled crowds on 4 March, 1945. The bodies of Álvares and his wife - along with several of Álvares' henchmen - were then publicly paraded through the streets of Queluz to affirm their deaths to the public. Álvares and his wife were buried in an unmarked grave in southern Watan.

Early life
Álvares was born to Antonia and Tadeu Álvares in Ajos, Viticampa in 1880. Álvares' family was not particularly wealthy, living within a small house and a limited budget. His father, Tadeu, worked as a train conductor and was thus largely void during Álvares' upbringing, his mother Antonia raising him until the age of 13 when Tadeu retired following an injury to the spine which left him partially paralyzed. Antonia worked as a farmer on the Álvares' family crop fields, mostly growing grapes for wine and other cash crops. Álvares also grew up with four older brothers, though two of the four brothers died of bacterial meningitis by the time Álvares was 13. Álvares would take over the family's farming business at this time as well, as his two remaining siblings had been drafted for mandatory military service.

When he wasn't plowing fields, Álvares was known to frequent libraries and book stores across town, often taking particular interest in historical as well as engineering books. Álvares was known to not like fiction books as they "provide too much of a romanticist view on dull life" as he would proclaim later in life. His father was a soldier during the Queluz Revolution on the side of the Traditionalists, fighting for Watan to keep the crown. As the Republic of Watan was generally new at this time and Álvares frequently requested stories from his father of his views and time at war, Álvares took interest in reading of Traditionalist views and the Queluz Revolution as a whole. As Álvares respected his father, he found it difficult to read biased viewpoints relating to the revolution against his father. Álvares would soon start writing books of his own by the age of 17. These books did not gain commercial nor local success due to their controversial viewpoints.

Due to Álvares' stupendous grades during grade school, he was eventually chosen for a fully-paid scholarship to attend Gammel University in Gladomyr in 1899. Being the first in his family to attend college, Álvares sought to work the hardest he could in college in order to make his family proud. Álvares proceeded to seek a doctorates in mechanical engineering which he completed in 1905 before immigrating back to Watan, this time taking up residence in Queluz due to a job offer at a major engineering firm. Álvares had avoided the nation's mandatory draft by seeking higher education abroad. Álvares continued to work at the engineering firm until several years into the First World War, where he voluntarily joined the army at age of 29 in the case of Watanese invasion.

Time in military
Álvares joined the military at the late age of 29 in 1909. Joining the 22nd regiment, Álvares never saw combat within his four years of service which eventually landed him the rank of Corporal. Although never facing combat, his fellow service members reported that Álvares "showed high intellect, and although was easy to talk to, spent a majority of his time alone in his bunk". At the conclusion of the First World War, Álvares took it upon himself to leave the military. Álvares received a formal discharge in 1914.

In post-military life, Álvares was hired as a professor in engineering at the University of Queluz for 10 years before retiring from that job as well. After this, Álvares began searching for political careers and slowly worked his way up the political ladder of Watan, finding a particular interest once again in fascism and the Queluz Revolution. In 1929, after being elected for several other miscellaneous governmental jobs, Álvares ran for the title of Watanese Minister of the Interior and won by a margin of 10%.

Rise to power
After Álvares became Minister of the Interior, he increasingly became interested in running for president of the republic. Álvares would campaign once in 1934, although he would lose horrifically once the results had been shown. After studying how several other leaders in his same predicament had been elected leader in the past, Álvares realized that he had to play the election with smarts. In 1935, Álvares founded the Watanese National Fascist Party (PNFW) and declared himself leader of it. Although initially not garnering much attention, individuals would soon fall into this category after many campaigns and other ventured explored by Álvares which would result in a lot of attention pointed towards him.

Although many thought his ideas were sound, many others believed them to be controversial or even harmful to the Republic and those who reside within it. Álvares' strategy was that of bringing those who had nothing else under his wing, promising things under fascism which would bring them to those who needed it. He specifically targeted the poor or other lower class citizens to rally behind him to fight against those who wanted them to remain poor. This worked largely on the poorer provinces of Watan, mainly those of the inner landlocked regions such as Matania, Saldenia, or his home province of Viticampa. He also chose to sympathize with those who fought on the Traditionalist side of the Queluz Revolution. This exploded his popularity tenfold, and with his personality being seen by some as "outrageously charismatic", Álvares was known to give speeches and addresses which were viewed as powerful and motivating by those who he had promised wealth or freedom. Álvares would run for president once again, this time advertising and attending rallies at a scale unheard of in the nation, and eventually won the title of President of Watan in 1938 by a landslide.

Generally, Álvares was held to great standards within his first months of office. Although a vocal group still withheld their original standpoint of Álvares' presidency potentially hurting the nation, many more were disillusioned by Álvares' many promises to the people of Watan. In truth, Álvares never truly planned to enact many of the false promises he had proclaimed he would authorize in the first place. Instead, Álvares slowly began taking Watan's government and slowly chipping away at it in effort to create a totalitarian government without the majority of the nation realizing. Álvares sought to make Watan a totalitarian dictatorship with him in charge to enact fascist goals abroad.

During his reformation of the government, Álvares saw little hate from his supporters, and indeed found support instead, though some of his supporters had grown impatient at his stalling of enacting laws which helped the poor and other minority groups of Watan.

Fascist Watan
Between 1938 and 1940, Álvares progressively dismantled virtually all constitutional and conventional restraints on his power and built a police state. A law passed on 9 November 1938 changed Álvares' formal title from "President of the Council of Ministers" to "Head of the Government", although he was still called "President" by most non-Watanese news sources. He was no longer responsible to Parliament. While the Watanese constitution stated that presidents were responsible only to the sovereign, in practice it had become all but impossible to govern against the express will of Parliament. The 9 November law ended this practice, and also made Álvares the only person competent to determine the body's agenda. This law transformed Álvares' government into a de facto legal dictatorship. Local autonomy was abolished, and delegates appointed by the Watanese Senate replaced elected mayors and councils.

On 7 April 1939, Álvares survived a assassination attempt by Aritz Rabellino, a Ventoran woman whose daughter had been deported after her arrest. On 30 August 1939, Noyonist Érico Leite attempted to shoot Álvares in Foz do Vidal. Leite was shot on the spot. Álvares also survived a failed assassination attempt in Queluz by anarchist Sandro Matos, which ended with Matos' capture and execution.

All other parties were outlawed following Leite's assassination attempt in 1939. In 1940, an electoral law abolished parliamentary elections. Instead, the Ampla Commission of Fascism selected a single list of candidates to be approved by plebiscite. The Ampla Commission had been created five years earlier as a party body but was "constitutionalized" and became the highest constitutional authority in the state. On paper, the Ampla Commission had the power to recommend Álvares' removal from office, and was thus theoretically the only check on his power. However, only Álvares could summon the Ampla Commission and determine its agenda. To gain control of the South, especially the Ladige Valley, he appointed Arturo Carbonero as a leader of the city of Telana, with the charge of eradicating violent crime in the city at any price. This was in order to garner the support of the valley.

Carbonero did not hesitate to lay siege to towns, using torture, and holding women and children as hostages to oblige suspects to give themselves up. These harsh methods earned him fearful respect. Carbonero's inquiries brought evidence of collusion between the Watanese Mafia and the Fascist establishment, and he was dismissed for length of service, at which time the number of murders in Telana had decreased from 200 to 23. Álvares nominated Carbonero as a senator, and fascist propaganda claimed that the Mafia and violent crime in Telana had been defeated. In the 1940 census, support for Álvares was sitting at 93.12%, growing from 75.2% in 1939.

Western scare
The Western scare arose in 1940 when the Second World War reached its close neighbor and ally Ventora when it joined Haksarad in expelling Velorenkyan forces from Esharat. Unsure of what to come, many Watanese citizens became panicked at the possibility of Watanese interference in the Second World War. Seeing as Watan had never been involved in any wide-scale conflict in its history, this became a problematic issue for the social climate of the nation as it struggled between the decision whether to support Ventora or not. This left many communities in Watan scatterbrained, and also resulted in the loss of stock in grocery stores and other shops and citizens bought emergency food in case of the worst. Álvares was also not taking the situation lightly. After much deliberation on Álvares' end, Álvares and [ventoran leader] reached an agreement to send Watanese troops to Esharat to help fight against Velorenkya.

Deployment of troops
A draft in Watan commenced after Álvares declared war on Velorenkya. Large masses of troops were moved to Esharat by boat or by sea, eventually taking them straight to the front lines. During the war, the Watanese faced some of the largest casualties in the central front due to their haphazard training and inexperience with war.

Bombings
Following Watan's involvement with Velorenkya, it was only time that Watan's major cities be bombed from the air. Watan recieved its first aerial strike on 13 April 1942 in the center of Queluz, which saw the deaths of up to 200. Up until this point, the battles Watan was interfering with were generally seen as distant, though these bombing runs brought the battle straight to home. As bombing runs increased in frequency, the citizens of Watan became even more unsupportive of Álvares and his decision to bring Watan into the war. Álvares' approval rating decreased dramatically as his tower of cards collapsed underneath him. It was becoming increasingly clear to the people of Watan that Álvares had never sought to help them, only to control them.

Disgruntled former supporters and all Watanese alike began to despise Álvares. Though assassination attempts were rare due to the danger, some individuals would take to spitting or throwing rocks at him if he made a public appearance. Álvares made several futile attempts to salvage his relationship with the people of Watan, though these largely failed, and Álvares' approval ratings continuted to tank all throughout the war. Bombs repeatedly dropped on Watan as pleads to end the war dropped on Álvares, though he would never do this. With Álvares being seen in a new light, as did his totalitarianist scheme. All of these were reasons for hatred for Álvares all throughout the war, bringing together nearly every group of people throughout the nation. In the 1944 census, approval ratings for Álvares were at a staggering 3.8%.