Socorran News Digests

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Government takes $20bn in loans for the Cuevas Plan

25th April 2012, Wednesday

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Treasury Secretary, Alfredo Portillo.

PUERTO DEL SALVADOR - The government yesterday confirmed the withdrawal of $20bn in loans from two notorious Gothic banks to help fund its ambitious modernisation scheme, the Cuevas Plan. The two banks, the Yohannesian Bundesbank and the Freekish HFI, will be paying over 80% of the plan's costs in a five-year deal worth half of Socorra's economy; despite estimates that the Cuevas Plan could double GDP in a decade, congressmen have raged against the loans they call the 'nation's will'.

Treasury secretary Alfredo Portillo revealed the loans, saying in a La Trinidad press conference, "It is essential for the Socorran people that this country reclaims it rightful position in the international community as a trading hub, a shipping centre and a regional nexus of technological and cultural prosperity. As it stands, Socorra is decrepit: hundreds of thousands starve, unable to write, as an agrarian society struggles to feed its farmers. We must change, and quickly, and these loans will assure the rapid and efficient modernisation of Socorra."

Portillo is the mastermind of the Cuevas Plan, having slammed the social backwardness called 'the root of all problems' by Salvador Cuevas throughout his academic career. His five-point guide for modernisation has defined the Plan and established him as the main negotiator of foreign investment. Having wet his boots with the Philae rail contract, Portillo has risen as the unabashed leader of anti-protectionism; this quiet man, condemned by his enemies as dull, clamours for Gothic investment in Socorra. His firm belief in free trade banished him from the conservative New Liberation party despite his decades of support for the party, an act condemned as 'dishonourable' by parliamentarians.

Many parties have crossed the political divide to attack Portillo; Fascist and Socialist leaders jointly condemned his plans as a 'grand folly', whilst his ex-New Liberation comrade Oscar Hijollo publicly tore his former membership card.

While the HFI deal is yet to be confirmed, the Bundesbank - a dominant force in international finance - transferred all funds to the Treasury yesterday; the bank's markets chief, Antoinette Lili Belrose warned against militarism, saying, "It is the wish of the Yohannesische Bundesbank that our fund may benefit not just the Socorran Government, but that of its people as well, through the establishment of, we hope, several civilian-oriented projects, schemes and investment." Many conservatives condemned the loans as the nation 'enslaving itself to a woman', Miss Belrose.

The Bundesbank, and HFI particularly, are known for extorting developing countries as global loan sharks; an undisclosed Milogradian official said that, "HFI takes Third World loans to wring concessions from hellholes in place of money that can't possibly be paid back." The evident dangers of Gothic loans have been ignored by Cuevas, who still promises that Socorra will be able to pay back these new debts 'as per negotiation'.

Prominent architects are designing proposals for a nationwide canal and road network, whilst urban planners have been commissioned to redesign fifteen coastal towns for industry. The as-of-yet unconfirmed route of the Philae-built railway will be developed with these planners, who hope that coast-to-coast travel could take half-an-hour with the Grand Railway. Economists expect that Gothic clothing and food-processing companies will invest in Socorra within five years due to its unparalleled infrastructure.

© El Correo Newspapers Ltd 2012. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Socorra]

Defence Secretariat outlines Plan 15 reforms

27th April 2012, Friday

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Military Police parade, July 2007.

PUERTO DEL SALVADOR - The Defence Secretariat has announced new military reforms to modernise the Socorran armed forces. Secretary Roque Villaverde described an 'overhaul' of the Socorran military, establishing a central command - the Combined Services - and a clear hierarchy alongside a dramatic 'rebirth' of military doctrine and tactics.

The Army and Navy will be unified into the Combined Services, with a new Air Force forming a third branch. The government will push for Gothic training missions and discounts on military equipment, with naval chief Cayetano Esparza rumoured to be seeking a superdreadnought flagship. Despite these calls, Secretary Villaverde has focused on Army reforms including conscription's abolishment, professionalisation and the force's reduction to 26,000 soldiers divided amongst four brigades. A Freekish-inspired 'combined arms' doctrine has been outlined by Villaverde, detailing small numbers of infantry supported by artillery and 'mechanised arms' like tanks, combat vehicles and aircraft.

Military advisers have criticised Villaverde's land focus, with Naval College publications saying 'without Freekish manpower, Socorra's strength will reside in the seas'. With national unemployment a steady 10%, military jobs will double in a remodelled Navy and revived Air Force whilst Army opportunities suffer, Villaverde aiming to retrain thousands of troops into logistical staff. An estimated 11,000 new jobs will be created by 2015, with Villaverde prioritising the poor for this new employment.

Industrialists have criticised Villaverde's plans, saying that the military's job creation will limit future manufacturing employment. Grand Railway investor Victor Caudello said, "It is incomprehensible that the government wants industrial expansion while snapping up a tenth of our nation's unemployed in the military. Foreign companies want unemployment and deregulation, not full employment and strict, stringent government intervention."

President Salvador Cuevas hit out against Caudello, saying, "On our streets and villages today, thousands are starving, their children hungry. They live in absolute poverty, reduced to begging the goodwill of their former neighbours. In this country, we will not employ these people in sweatshops or blood mines: we are a moral, Catholic people, and our laws reflect that. We have ten-hour workdays, we have the finest working regulations in Gholgoth and we will industrialise. However, we must lift the poor from poverty and assimilate them back into society, and the military will do this."

The $5bn (exc. procurement) reforms are expected to be completed in two years.

© El Correo Newspapers Ltd 2012. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Socorra]

Automagfreek donates $500bn as 'goodwill gesture'

27th April 2012, Friday

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Flag of Gholgoth.

PUERTO DEL SALVADOR - The Freekish Empire has donated $500bn to the Combined Services in a 'goodwill gesture' to the Socorran government. Despite the Gothic Alliance's fragmentation amid several wars, Supreme Warlord Damien Dreadfire announced the donation to a remote republic within the Alliance, whose relationship has been cold owing to popular Socorran distrust of Gholgoth. The $500bn was stipulated to be used primarily for military procurement, though President Salvador Cuevas has said that a 'majority' must be used in modernisation plans.

Thanking Dreadfire, Cuevas said in a parliamentary address, "This gargantuan sum dwarves Socorra's own economy twelve-to-one, and to our treasurers is simply outrageous, incomprehensibly huge money. Without any interest, this $500bn vastly exceeds the money required to fund the Services' buildup to its top capacity: therefore, the sizeable sum left-over from Plan 15 will be reinvested entirely in modernisation projects, and within ten years this $500bn could be doubled."

Large-scale military procurement has been ordered by Cuevas; plans for an expeditionary, 'New Gothic Navy' and hyper-modern army have been detailed, added to already ambitious schemes for a power-projecting air force. Within three years, according to Naval College analyst Fernando Chavez, Socorra could match 'other Gothic nations' and the Combined Services could be 'among the best man-for-man forces'.



© El Correo Newspapers Ltd 2012. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Socorra]

The Orchard, Rodrigo

17th May 2012, Thursday

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Rodrigo (Guadarrama) and Katherine (Elena Gutiérrez).

Rodrigo, Don Vasquez’s leading post-revolutionary play, has resurged since Dictator Crespo’s death. The treasured tragicomedy, notorious for its brutal satire of politics and academia, is infamous for its colossal violence; the penultimate scene to the three-part play is famed for the ominous ‘meat pie’ following on from a vicious interrogation, a trope ridiculed constantly in modern Socorran literature. Behind the narrow-minded view of Rodrigo as a 'gorefest', however, lies a complex analysis of human rivalry and amorality.

Gothic television actor Javier Guadarrama re-entering theatre with the titular role, the inept second-generation banker who is manipulated by his academic son into politics: while many performances of Rodrigo are vapidly comic, Guadarrama introduces forgotten themes into the character, though only in his three monologues does this experimentalism shine through with fresh, serious takes on Rodrigo’s traditionally slapstick thoughts.

Rodrigo opens with his accidental murder of his Polonian wife, Elena; Rodrigo hides inner guilt amid surreal public celebration of this feat. His son, Alexander, threatens to bring in 'the tax authorities' for several unnamed crimes if his father doesn't enter politics to contest the popularity of Alexander's rival, Jorge: thus begins a scathing attack on the self-contained world of politics.

D'Cruze has staged a small revolution with his interpretation of Rodrigo; the poor slapstick that has tarnished the play since the 1980s is gone, enabling the free expression of the subtle wit characterising all Vasquez's works. Traditional lighting schemes for the play have been abandoned, lighting now correlating with morality: usually minimal, but gradually rising with spotlights on Rodrigo. On-stage darkness makes many scenes near-invisible, often the imperative monologues of Rodrigo.

The Orchard of Puerto del Salvador has enjoyed, like all Socorran culture, a renaissance since Crespo's death, and this revival of Rodrigo will certainly play some part in it.

Rating: 9/10.



Director	Horacio D’Cruze
Cast	Javier Guadarrama, Elena Gutiérrez
Schedule	20th April-20th July



© El Correo Newspapers Ltd 2012. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.