Asperanza Rius

Asperanza Rius (b. 1975 as "Esperanza Ríos) is the dictator of Riu d'Archent. She came into power during the Argentian economic crisis of 2003. She was born to two parents of Galician descent and most likely spoke Galician at home before Aragonese. As a young adult, she legally changed her name to the Aragonese form of her name "Asperanza Rius."

Actions

Since coming to power in 2003, the government of Asperanza Rius largely reorganised the way Riu de L'Argent is ruled. In 2004, new constitution was adopted, in which the office of dictator was officially legalised. The retirement age was greatly increased (68, both for males and females), the market became less regulated. Abortions were banned completely during her rule, as well as public smoking and drinking (although she is a smoker herself). Fines for the possession and using of drugs increased. The capital punishment was reintroduced. In general, the economical situation had improved, however, the repressive laws and actions somewhat contributed to this as well (such as the ban of the trade unions and the removal of the right to strike, frequent martial law declarations in the major cities, under which the looters were being shot without warnings, etc.). Several (in)famous events happened, where Asperanza Rius herself ordered to use force and to kill demonstrators, which was seen as a great attempt to establish order by some and as overusing force by others. Such actions created a vocal, although repressed, opposition, which is supported by some foreign countries, such as Venezola. Asperanza Rius promised that she will step down from her role as dictator when she will be sure that the "Nation will be safe". It is unclear however when that would happen.

Political views

Asperanza Rius is a rightist, considered to be radical by her opponents. She shares some ideas with the neocapitalists, although she is not a supporter of the neocapitalism in general. In her opinion however, everybody should be given an "equal oppurtunity" to achieve something in life; but those who are unable to use that opportunity should not be supported by the state through the measures of social security. She largely supports the Catholic tradition and moral values, with some reservations. Hugo Chavez of Venezola is her great opponent in the international politics. She had attempted to create an organization of the South American countries with the rightist governments as opposition to Hugo Chavez and his allies, as in her opinion only when South America will manage to "drop the restraints of socialists and revolutionaries" it will succeed.

Her life

Asperanza Rius was born in a middle class family in Buenos Aires in 1975. Her father died in an automobile accident when she was aged three. After his death, her mother became addicted to alcohol and lost their wealth. She was later moved to live at her uncle's in southern Riu de l'Argent (near Bahia Blanca) where she was subjected to sexual abuse; she became pregnant at the age of 15 but had a miscarriage after her uncle had beaten her. Due to bad results and aggressiveness towards other children she dropped out of school and later joined the army (it was the first year when the females were permitted to serve in the Argentian army). During that time she had became a devout Christian, which she continued to be. In the army she had also met several members of the then minor political party Movement for a Brighter Tomorrow, which she had joined afterwards. She moved to Santiago del Estero where she worked as a waitress and later as a shopseller, but doing a minor job never amused her and due to being rude to the clients and other reasons she used to loose jobs quickly. In the political life, however, she was more successful; she became the leader of Santiago del Estero's department of her political party by late 1997. Being a charismatic person and being able to deliver great speeches, she became more and more popular, although the extent of the area where she was popular was limited. In the 1999 municipal elections, she was elected mayor of Santiago del Estero. Through heavy means (which sometimes bordered what was legal), conflicts with the central government, she had managed to largely eliminate the corruption in the municipality. She was, however, always seen as a controversial figure, and a favorite of tabloids and parody TV shows (in part due to her unusually young age for mayors and the fact that she was female). Still she was very popular in the city of Santiago del Estero, municipality of which was notorious for massive corruption prior to her rule. In 2002, she was elected to be the new leader of the Movement for a Brighter Tomorrow. When the Argentian economic crisis struck in the 2003 the popularity of the Movement for a Brighter Tomorrow increased sharply. She made many appearances on TV where she criticised the government and proposed several plans for recovering from the crisis. In the premature parliamentary elections that were called for her party won the majority of seats. In the first meeting of the parliament it was decided to appoint "dictator" to rule the country in a manner of the Roman Empire dictators; supposedly, Riu de l'Argent was in such a bad time where this was necessary. Asperanza Rius was therefore appointed as a dictator. The decision was not recognised by the Aragonese king, who is still officially the head of state of the Riu de l'Argent, but this had little influence over the decisions of Riu de l'Argent.

By the tabloid press Asperanza Rius is commonly accused of being lesbian due to not having a husband (in Riu de l'Argent people usually marry young), her style of clothes and some rumours, although she had never confirmed nor denied this herself. In one of her speeches she had said, "The God is my father, the State is my husband, and the Nation is my family". She tried to create an image of a fearless, powerful, but trustable and honest person who never lacks political will (a kind of "good-hearted authoritarian"), perhaps even masculine, which she had largely succeeded.

Opinions

Opinions on Asperanza Rius varies greatly from person to person and usually depends on one's political views, but, however, she is seen by the feminists as someone who managed to break the rules of the relatively patriarchal Argentian society. Due to her young age, relatively attractive looks, heavy repression and political measures (generally seen to be rare for female rulers; she was perhaps the only female dictator), interesting personal life and the unusual circumstances of her coming to power, she is a popular topic in various tabloids. Usually she does not comment any allegations about her personal life or her past, but she had promised to write memoirs when she would be old where she would tell the "whole truth".

By the leftists she is seen as one of the major exploiters of the workers. Various Free Riu movements have emerged in past few years, mainly in the Argentian émigré, which requests the end of her dictatorship. For the rightists however, she is the saviour of the state. She is usually supported by the people who prefers the traditional Christian values as well, although her support for death penalty is sometimes criticized by them.

She is sometimes referred to as "self-made princess".

Quotations

• The God is my father, the State is my husband, and the Nation is my family
• Only when South America will drop the restraints of socialists and revolutionaries it will succeed

Preceded by: none (new office)

Dictator of Riu d'Archent 2003 –

Succeeded by: incumbent

This page was created by Abdul-aziz.