Puertego

The People's Republic of Puertego commonly called Puertego, is a    currently under the rule of President Matthias Torres the leader since 2001 though since the enacting of various capitalist policies the legitimacy of them calling themselves Marxist-Leninist has been questioned. It is bordered on the north by Pelaxia, on the west by the Natiserve Bay, and in the east by Patraja. Puertego covers 1,002,931 square kilometers and has an estimated population of 65 million. Puertego comprises of 12 states and 1 district.

Puertego was first a collection of tribes that inhabited its modern-day borders and the land around it until the first empire of the region came to be. Puertego was originally colonized by Caphiria under the nickname of Puerto Negro by anti-slavery advocates for the port being corrupted or evil because of the large number of slaves moving through and that were in the colony, things got better slowly with the numbers of slaves slowly decreasing until the outlawing of slavery in 1798 where all of them were freed. However, after the abolition of slavery in the territory the rich landowner class who benefited from it were not happy with losing all their free labor along with the land reforms attempted to be put in place by Pelaxia made them begin to desire more autonomy over the region, this desire for autonomy kept growing and growing until they desired full independence from Pelaxia which they hoped to achieve by stoking fear of Pelaxia in the people of Puertego hoping they would revolt after provoking the Pelaxian government, they managed to achieve this after a civil war against Pelaxia letting them gain their independence in 1904. After independence the country fell into the sphere of influence of the Caphirians who installed multiple puppet dictators from among the landowners to run the country as a banana republic with conditions barely improving for the workers, corruption running rampant, and any industry that wasn't mining or agriculture going bankrupt. The country stayed like this until 1958 where multiple protests and revolts finally got the government to begin transitioning to democracy, however both Urcea and the Caphirians almost immediately became heavily dividing issues in the country's elections with the Puertegan Conservative Party and the Puertegan Labor Party cyclically taking power and cracking down on the other when they gained power until 1972 when the Caphirian government authorized a military coup where a fascist dictator took power, banning political parties until he was overthrown by a communist revolution in 1980 with the country being ruled as a one party state until 1992 where a civil war between the hardline Communist Red Flag party and the reformist Communist White Flag Party broke out ending in 1997 when the Communist White Flag party won and assumed control of the government. The Communist White Flag party is still the incumbent party in the nation's government and them having lost either their majority in parliament or a presidential election for one of their candidates, President Matthias Torres has served as the President of Puertego for 22 years since 2008 as a member of the party and has taken large measures to liberalize the country's economy preventing stagnation.

Puertego is a regional and middle power in international politics. Puertego is considered a developing, lower-middle income, and newly industrialized country, a large portion of their economy is made by natural resources and industry. The government of Puertego is considered an authoritarian regime which maintains elections that are regular and free though not fair while also having strong authoritarian powers such as the ability to crack down on freedoms such as speech, assembly, association, and the press with the country constantly being ranked one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists having at least 220 actively serving prison time for charges of trying to incite public disorder pressed on them by the government and having an extremely poor record with human rights including torture, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions, and unfair trials among many others along with massive levels of corruption and censorship. The country tries to maintain a balanced policy in foreign affairs to try and keep trade good with all countries, making concessions to them without swinging too far to one side.

Puertego is a member of the League of Nations.

Etymology
The name Puertego comes from a combination of the Spanish words Puerto Negro the countries former nickname by anti-slavery advocates to mean that the country war corrupted or evil due to the large number of slaves that came from it and were moved through it, however after the Puertegan Communist Red flag party gained power in 1980 they changed the name of the country to its current name in order to avoid any former implication the nation could have had with slavery.

History
What is a general overview of your country's path through history?

First era
How was your country originally settled?

Second era
''What were the first political structures of your country? Did it have any very early rivals or was it controlled by a foreign country?''

Third era
What were your country's first major moves on an international level?

Fourth era
Did your country ever have a period of significant decline or internal struggle?

Fifth era
Was your country subject to imperialism later in its life, or was it an imperial power?

Sixth era
How did the 20th century affect your country?

Geography
What is the general explanation of how your country exists within the world?

Climate and environment
Is your country hot or cold?

Government and Politics
''The government of Puertego is officially a Unitary Marxist-Leninist Presidential Republic with the National Assembly being the nations unicameral legislature containing 250 members, Puertego's constitution officially claims that the country shall remain committed to socialism however this commitment has been called into question by many due to the governments increasingly capitalist reforms to the economy such as setting up Special Investment Zones, Getting rid of price controls, and banning unions and workers cooperatives. The National Assembly of Puertego is make up of 250 representatives from different districts around Puertego who serve 10-year terms with a 1 term limit elected via closed list party list proportional system, the National Assembly has the power to vote on and introduce new legislation and policies, appoint judges, declare war with the president's approval, overrule the president's veto via a unanimous vote, and alter the constitution via a unanimous vote and the express approval of the president as well as being the highest court of appeals. The judiciary maintains no independence from the government and maintains the death penalty which it sentences an average of 90 people to a year.

The president of Puertego is constitutionally the head of state and government in Puertego as well as serving as commander in chief, on top of that the constitution puts the president at the head of all ministries in Puertego and gives him the power to appoint ministers as well as decide budgets, sign treaties, veto laws, grant pardons, and draw electoral boundaries. The incumbent president of Puertego is Matthias Torres who is the third president of Puertego and has served in the role for 22 years, he has won every election he has ran in with margins in the mid-eighties every time, he has been criticized by international organizations and by some foreign governments as a dictator though he has constantly denied these claims every time they were levied against him.''

Federal subdivisions
''How is your country divided? Are there states or provinces, or is the country directly governed from the capital as a unitary state?''

Politics
''The political scene of Puertego is dominated almost entirely by the Puertegan White Flag Communist party (WFC) which has maintained a virtual monopoly on political power in the country since 1997. The political culture in Puertego is generally regarded as oppressive with the country operating under a dominant party system where there is no enshrined singular party allowed to run but due to various factors a singular party holds control over a country, this is shown in Puertego by the WFC currently holding all but 12 seats in the National Assembly due to the electoral system which places them on all national ballots by default while any party running against it must collect at least 5,000 signatures and pay the equivalent of $10,000 before it is allowed to run, additionally they have also been known to subject opposition parties and opposition party leaders to harassment, legal charges, and sometimes even violence with one infamous case being where opposition leader Sebastian Tarranoga attempted to run his party against the incumbent WFC, after collecting the required signatures and paying the required fees the government declared that a quarter of his signatures were acquired invalidly and wouldn't accept his application until he collected another 5,000 signatures and paid another $10,000 plus $4,500 in fines causing him to not seek to run further due to financial circumstances, Sebastion reported that his signature collectors were repeatedly harassed by police with two even being murdered though the government officially listed their deaths as being gang related.''

Law
''Puertego operates under civil law though with very little judicial independence and the courts being much more subordinate to the legislature than in most other countries with civil law, the 1997 constitution of Puertego is considered the supreme law of the country consisting entirely of written text with no unwritten conventions on it being considered legitimate. The Constitution of Puertego primarily covers the roles of different government bodies and the powers they have but also guarantees freedom of religion, this being one of the only freedoms written in the Puertegan constitution has been criticized by many international bodies for allowing all manner of human rights abuses and violations of civil rights to take place by the government. All manners of law in Puertego from criminal to family and property are considered federal responsibilities to enforce and uphold as is law enforcement with the government spending 12% of its budget on law enforcement in the country. The Puertegan government has the authority to declare any trial they see fit to be taken to a secret court where the media is unable to report on it.''

Corruption
''The levels of corruption reported in Puertego have repeatedly been ranked as among some of the worst on the continent with nepotism, bribery, and embezzlement commonplace in the government with it being reported that embezzlement and bribery being equivalent to 12% of the national budget combined, corruption is especially common in law enforcement, education, healthcare, and immigration. The government of Puertego passed an "anti-corruption law" in 2012 corruption still runs rampant in the country with most corruption arrests made in the country being made against political rivals and opposition of the ruling party. Corruption in Puertego runs all the way up to the top level of government with the current president Matthias Torres being suspected of having embezzled as much as 645 million dollars though this has never been proven with the president himself claiming these are lies made up by the opposition to demonize him, so far anyone who has gone public with claiming Torres embezzled the money has been charged by the government with slander. Additionally there have been many cases of the government granting land to foreign investors or to the state run mining or oil company and evicting the villagers currently living on said land with native communities disproportionately, so far as many as 5-8,000 Puertegan natives have been evicted off their land by the government.

The 2012 anti-corruption law provides no protection for whistle blowers inside it and anyone who claims to have experienced corruption without any evidence can be punished with up to 5 years in prison. In Puertego any government official that is charged with corruption can face a maximum of 35 years in prison though so far only eleven members of the ruling WFC have ever been charged while several dozen opposition figures have served prison sentences for alleged corruption charges.''

Human Rights
''In Puertego the country's repeated and blatant human rights violations remain a significant concern with some of the most common issues regarding the nation's status on freedoms of association, speech, the press, and assembly with the government passing many pieces of legislation allowing them to seriously curb these freedoms with some of them being the 2010 insurrection and riot act which allows the government to break up any gathering peaceful or not if they deem it to soon cause "lawless and disorderly behavior" and the 2011 Defamation act which allows the government to charge people with libel, slander, or attempting to incite public disorder, additionally the government has been criticized by international observers for the status of torture by police and the poor overcrowded conditions in the nations prisons. international bodies have also expressed extreme concern over the nations policy of mass sentencing, detention without trial for up to a year, and the disappearances of human rights advocates at the hands of the nations security forces and in its prisons. Puertego has repeatedly been ranked as one of the worst countries for press freedom and one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists with blackmail, threats, harassment, and violence all having been reported against the countries security forces by journalists with reports of security forces forcibly shutting down television stations and newspapers also being reported often.''

Demographics
What kind of people live in your country?

Ethnicity
What ethnic groups make up your country?

Language
''What language or languages do your country's people use? Are there any previously used languages no longer common? Are these languages native to your country or shared with another?''

Religion
''What do your country's people believe in religiously, if anything? How many groups are there?''

Education
How many people in your country are educated?

Culture and Society
What do your people do, and what are they like?

Education
''What is your country's education system like? How do the schools work? What do people think about education?''

Attitudes and worldview
How do your country's people view life?

Kinship and family
How are families or kinship groups structured in your country?

Cuisine
What do your people eat?

Religion
''What do your people believe? Rather than demographics, as above, think about how important religion is to your people and their view about their own and other religions. What is the relationship between the prevailing view and minority religious groups? Is it an official religion, and do any laws exist about free worship?''

Arts and Literature
''What type of art do your people make? Do they have a tradition of painted art, well-crafted television shows, or great music?''

Sports
''Does your country have any major sports leagues? What types of sports are played, both professionally and for fun by your country's people?"

Symbols
Are there any prominent symbols which are well known to represent your country?

Economy and Infrastructure
''The economy of Puertego is considered a mixed model economy based largely on natural resource extraction primarily via agriculture, fishing, and mining, manufacturing primarily of steel, chemicals, and textiles, and remittances from Puertegans living and working abroad with the final providing an estimated $32.5 billion each year from the 11 million Puertegans working abroad making up 8% of GDP. The economic liberalizations brought by the incumbent president have switched the country from an extraction based planned economy to a more market based one split between extraction and industry, the country has adopted much greater economic freedoms than it had under any previous governments with the Special Investment Zones established under him meant to attract foreign investment through very reduced regulations and taxes to business operating there, though the government also maintains monopolies with their state run industries which operate primarily in utilities and natural resources. Economic growth in the nation has been relatively steady with the economy growing by an average of 6-7% each year since 2008 primarily attributed to the Special Investment Zones established at the time, foreign investors in Puertego get many benefits from the government for investing in the SEZ's including temporary subsidies for their businesses, introductory tax rates being set up for their business, and tax shelters being used so that not all the wealth they make from the business is subject to taxation in Puertego, these practices have widely gotten Puertego labeled as a tax haven. The poverty rate in Puertego is around 3% of the population living on less than $1.90 a day, 45% living on less than $3.20 a day, and 82% living on less than $5.50 a day, in addition the Puertegan government offers very little in terms of social welfare for average citizens, this combination means that there is a large amount of street crime in the nation's cities and a large black market estimated to be worth around $22 billion with this being allowed to happen by pervasive corruption in almost all levels of the government. Due to a rather large focus on natural resources the economy of Puertego can be very affected by natural disasters such as forest fires or floods. Unemployment in Puertego currently sits at approximately 1.2% due to the almost universally guaranteed job offered to citizens in government run industries, the 1.2% of the workforce that are unemployed are often some of the most destitute members of society due to the lack of many welfare programs that many other countries offer, workforce participation in Puertego sits at 80% of the population or 52,000,000 citizens. Puertego has an import to export ration of 1:12 though this number is predicted to rise in the future by the government who claim that they hope to get it to 1:20 in the next ten years though the validity of this hope has been called into question, Puertego's main exports are steel, raw minerals primarily gold, copper, and tin, chemicals, textiles, agricultural products primarily rubber, tobacco, and sugar while the country's main imports are electronics, fossil fuels, medicine, food, and fertilizer. Puertego has a debt to GDP ratio of 77% and a credit rating of BB+ primarily due to the many governments that came before the current regime running deficits that spiraled the country into 4 different debt crises throughout its history, the national debt of Puertegto is currently being reduced by the government.''

Industries and Sectors
''The single largest sector of Puertego's economy is manufacturing with it making up 64% of the economy and employing 33% of the workforce, the primary manufacturing products in the country are steel, aluminum, various chemicals, and textiles with Puertego also having become a very attractive place for companies to outsource jobs to due to the of their workforce and the low taxes and regulations on business there. Resource extraction is also a very large section of the economy with it making up 28% of the economy and employing 57% of the population, the primary resources sold off by Puertego are often minerals such as iron, gold, tin, nickle, and copper, and agriculture products such as rubber and sugar, all of the natural resources in Puertego including minerals, oil, non-food agriculture, fishing products, and even fresh water and owned and operated by government run companies. Services are a relatively small section of the economy only making up 8% of the economy and employing 10% of the population with most of the people working in this sector working in finance, banking, or utilities though construction has become a growing sector as well due to the large demand by both the government for its infrastructure and by private companies however construction is also an industry largely occupied by companies operating in the informal sector and allowed to keep existing via corruption.''

Healthcare
''Puertego offers free healthcare to all its citizens though the quality is notoriously poor with overcrowding meaning that often times patients have to share beds, unsanitary conditions, and long wait times, there is also a lot of corruption in the government run healthcare with embezzlement being commonplace in the nation's hospitals and many patients reporting doctors demanding bribes to write perscriptions for them. However there have been attempts by the government to increase the quality by cracking down on corruption in the industry with much heavier monitoring of staff and administrators, additionally the government has begun building clinics in rural communities with no access to regular hospitals and also provides cheap clean drinking water and free vaccinations to all citizens with the latter being attributed to a large reason for the country almost eradicating certain diseases like Polio. The government spends around 7% of its annual budget on its healthcare system. Puertegan life expectancy at birth is currently sitting at 72 years, in the nations hospitals there are 12 doctors per 10,000 citizens.''

Labor
''Puertegan workers are forbidden to unionize by law in any state or privately-owned company, the Puertegan government has a long history of violently putting down any attempt by their workers to unionize and or strike, things such as workers co-ops are also explicitly banned by law. Puertego has very few laws regarding labor particularly in regard to workplace safety standards, mandatory benefits and minimum wage though this has also made Puertegan workers famously cheap which is another reason many companies are outsourcing production to there.''

Transportation
''In Puertego the government maintains a national highway system running to major cities and a few of the larger towns though most of rural Puertego has to rely on dirt roads, maintenance of the road system has always been rather patchy due to embezzlement by officials meaning that the road system is often peppered with potholes. The government provides free public transport in cities with its bus routes going through them, a large reason for this is the large cost of owning a car due to almost all of them having to be imported from other countries and there being a rather limited supply. The government spends around 5% of its annual budget on transportation and maintenance of roads.''

Energy
''Almost all of the energy in Puertego is provided by non-renewable sources with the nation being a large importer of oil, natural gas, and coal as well as a large extractor of these resources in its own borders, though it has been attempting to transition to more green methods of energy production with three nuclear power plants currently under construction in the country and expected to be fully operational in the next 3-4 years along with new hydro power being introduced for the first time in Puertego's history. Close to all the nation's electricity is provided by the state-owned utility company which charges citizens an average the equivalent of 14 cents per kilowatt-hour. The government has been trying to provide more of its citizens with electricity by building the infrastructure for it but this has proven difficult for the Government due to the large amount of informal housing in Puertego's cities.''

Technology
''How advanced is your country? Is it an innovator, or does it largely import new developments?''

Military
'' The Puertegan People's Armed Forced are divided into three main branches the Puertegan People's army, the Puertegan People's Navy, and the Puertegan People's air force. The Puertegan armed forces has an active manpower of 450,000 but if needed could muster a total strength of around 3,000,000 men. The government of Puertego spends 4% of its GDP on the military equating to 16 billion dollars.

The Puertegan government has mandatory 2-year military service for all men the day they turn 18 with them not being able to get a job in the country and not being allowed to emigrate out of it unless they've either completed their military service or are currently in the nations reserves. Puertegan soldiers are often regarded as being comparatively poorly trained and equipped to the military of other countries though the government has been trying to offset this by investing more into the mechanical elements of the army with the most impressive weapon made by the government so far being the Type-22 Torres missile. The doctrine of the Puertegan military has primarily been focused on keeping peace with all three major powers around Puertego trying not to sour their relations too much with one power in particular over the others, though despite trying to keep good relations with foreign powers Puertego gets very territorial when it comes to their own territory getting them into many disputes over their history primarily over the Natiserve Bay.''