Matthias Torres

President Matthias Torres (January 15th, 1968-present) is a Puertegan politican and former general in the Puertegan Revolutionary Army. He has served as the President of Puertego since his first election in 2008 and is still currently serving as a member of the Puertegan White Flag Communist Party of which he has been an official member of since 1998. President Torres is considered one of the three core leaders utilizing the Puertegan Path to Socialism with the others being Victor Sanhueza and Erik Alférez.

Born on a family-owned banana plantation south of San Lina Matthias Torres was the 3rd child of five and only one of two that survived into adulthood. After Torres inherited his family's farm, he decided to sell off the land to a natural gas company and went to college founding his own law firm after he graduated. He joined the underground WFCP after he was imprisoned with Erik Alférez at the age of 31. When he assisted Alférez's escape with the help of several others, he was given a high-ranking position and once the White Flag Communist started a civil war in the nation, he was elevated to the role of general in the Puertegan Revolutionary Army. As a general he played important roles in many operations conducted by the army until their victory in 1997.

Once Torres assumed political office it was as a member of Alférez's cabinet serving as a minister under both Alférez and Sanhueza. After the impeachment of Sanhueza, Torres ran for president under the White Flag Communist Party promising reforms to begin to grow the economy and lift the countries citizens out of poverty while keeping the "spirit of Puertego and what it means to be Puertegan" alive, in the end of the 3 official candidates in the 2008 election, Torres won with around 85% of the vote however international observers have criticized this election as neither free nor fair with opposition parties repressed and harassed by police and ballots thought to have been heavily tampered with, most international observers estimate that Torres should have only had 25% of the vote far beyond the margin needed to win. Torres has won 4 other presidential elections with none of them being considered free or fair by international observers and the estimated votes he actually received according to them ranging from 11%-20% despite state election figures saying he won with margins in the mid to high 80's. Additionally, his accused roles in the assassination of exiled political opponents have been controversial.

As president Torres's rule has been considered authoritarian and many human rights groups accuse him of a number of offenses, additionally his regime has been one notorious for extreme corruption with Torres himself estimated to have embezzled amounts equaling $600 million as well as many of his appointed ministers having been wrapped up in corruption scandals. However, under Torres's rule the economy of Puertego has grown substantially with a current GDP growth rate of 9.2% with the country experiencing the fastest GDP growth in its history alongside inflation reduction policies.

Early Life
Matthias Torres was born on January 4th, 1970, in the state of San Lina on his family's banana plantation on the outskirts of a rural village, he was the middle child in a well-off family of landowners and went to school in the city of San Lina while being taught by his father when he came home on how to properly run their plantation. However, at 17 a cholera outbreak in the village wiped out his entire family leaving him as the owner of their plantation. Shortly afterwards the state-owned natural gas company offered to buy his land off of him which he accepted and used the money he acquired from the deal to move into San Lina with his house at the time now designated as a historical site in Puertego.

After moving into San Lina Torres enrolled at San Lina University and studied law in his time there eventually graduating and starting his own law firm in the city and using the profits he obtained from it to further his education eventually obtaining a masters in law, he primarily defended business and landowners trying to sue the newly established communist government for seizing their property without compensation, records from the time show he handled around 52 of these cases. Preforming all these cases trying to protect landowners from the government painted a large target on his back for the communist party ruling at the time which came to a head after he took a case defending Erik Alférez from government accusations of treason in a court case widely condemned as a kangaroo court which sentenced Alférez in less than 2 days and arrested Torres alongside him for attempting to assist a treasoner. Alférez was sentenced to death while Torres was given 30 years in prison and had his business seized, while in prison with Alférez Torres was inducted into his ideology and organization of the Puertegan Path to Socialism, some of Alférez's other supporters helped in breaking the two men out of the prison where Torres became a respected and high-ranking member of the organization trusted with the recruitment of new members into the organization and collecting funds for the organization often through ransoming government officials family members.

After several years of being a high-ranking member of the organization however the situation between the incumbent Red Flag Communist Party and the White Flag Communist Party which Torres was a part of eventually erupted into a civil war with Torres being given the position of general and was considered by Alférez to be a key part of the war however many of other generals in the army told a very different story about Torres saying that he was a frustratingly indecisive general who only led successful military campaigns due to the suggestions of his subordinates who he never acknowledged for his victories. However, after the war Torres was still recognized by Alférez as an important figure and was almost immediately assigned to the government as the minister of internal security. He maintained this position until the impeachment of Sanhueza in 2008 which he played a major role in drumming up support for in the National Assembly, after Sanhueza's impeachment and execution emergency elections were held in Puertego with the White Flag Communist Party under Torres thought to have undertaken many acts of repression in this time including having police beat and harass opposition party members, arresting many important members of opposition parties on fabricated charges, censoring and shutting down news outlets supportive of opposition parties, and stuffing ballots in contested areas, the government has vigorously denied these accusations saying that Torres truly was as popular with the people as the government sources claimed.

Economic Development
Torres is credited for being responsible for the largest economic growth in Puertego's history due to his economic reforms of creating SIZ's and heavy deregulation in order to more easily allow for foreign investment into the Puertegan economy, he has also overseen many privatizations of previously state-owned industries such as the government run cement, steel, and aluminum factories. However, despite the economic growth achieved during his reign much of the population still lives below international poverty lines due to purposefully stagnated wage growth from the government's attempts to make Puertego an attractive place to invest in, Torres has also rejected reimplementing much of the state welfare that was present in previous administrations. However, despite the poverty Puertego still has one of the fastest growing economies with 9.2% annual growth and inflation having fallen rapidly due to his policies, Puertego remains a very attractive place for foreign investors due to the policies he implemented.

Personal Life
Torres has tried to develop a sophisticated image among both the population of Puertego and with foreigners abroad however when he gave foreign journalists permission to interview him, they described his personality as "having a professional and studios air to him that fails to cover his hawk like intensity" as well as "A chronic impatience, barely suppressed anger, and impulsive scorn for critics of him, his government, and his country". Matthias Torres married Alana Torres on October 20th of 1999 and has had multiple children, he uses this to portray himself as a conservative figure that heavily values family values and claims that he wishes to provide an example for all Puertegans to follow in encouraging them to have large families.