El Toro

## Ramón Hurtado

El Torro

Laura Hurtado (Foster Daughter)

Esmeralda Hurtado (Foster Daughter)

Guillermo Hurtado (Son)

> "*You think this will change anything? I will return, no matter how many times you kill me! Put me in any Hell you can think of, and I will still walk out of it alive! Then I will destroy you, and slaughter your first born children! I will slaughter your whole family and every one of your friends as they beg for their lives before my feet! I am inevitable! I WILL END YOU!*"
> ― El Toro to Edward Maglio (also his last words before his death)
>
>

**El Toro** (real name **Ramón Hurtado**) is the head of The Eternals. Born in Colombia, he created The Eternals due to a vision he claimed to have received from Jesus Christ, claiming that He mandated Ramon to create a new nation to prepare for His Second Coming.

## Biography

### Creating the Eternals

Not much is known about Ramon's early life. However, it is known that he ran away from home due to "personal circumstances" to Bolivia, where he created the Santa Rojo Cartel after supposedly receiving a vision where Jesus Christ told Ramon to create a new nation to prepare for His Second Coming. The result was The Eternals.

### Santa Muerte Cult

Sometime after the creation of The Eternals, Ramon claimed to have had another vision in which he was visited by someone named "Santa Muerte", Saint Death. She supposedly showed Ramon a future in which Jesus Himself came to rule the Earth from Venezuela, the "New Holy Land." This led him to create the Cult of Santa Muerte. Acting on this so-called "vision", he wrote a new bible detailing the "Good News of Santa Muerte", AKA "The Gospel of Death", which supposedly aimed at showing people the "Light".

### Taking over Venezuela

In an attempt to make his vision come true, Ramon tried to influence Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela the same way he was able to influence countless others: bribery. The plan backfired when Nicolas refused.  Ramon had a fallback plan, however: he decided to enlist the assistance of a network of assassins known as the Babylon Coalition, and influence and convince top generals of the Venezuelan military, as well as a majority of Venezuelan politicians, that Maduro's policies would doom Venezuela and Ramon promised a better government for the people of Venezuela, one where "freedom abounded for all." The Babylon Coalition obliged, but made El Toro swear that in exchange for their assistance, he'd have to abide by rules and regulations instituted by the Babylon Coalition, one of them being to honor all oaths and agreements made between the organizations. El Toro soon had access to tons of resources for his coup against Venezuela, as well as full access to the Babylon Coalition's chain of Crown Hotels, used by the Babylon Coalition members as hideouts.
The plan worked and a large majority of the Venezuelan government and the military pledged their allegiance to Ramon and the Eternals.
With a large majority of Venezuela behind him, Ramon proceeded to execute a coup against Maduro, publicly executing him on national television.

### Violating the Oath

As his regime continued, El Toro eventually grew paranoid and power-hungry. It got to a point where he began to view *anyone* as potential threats to his regime, not just the Free Venezuelan People's Army that he was fighting against, and began terrorizing foreign tourists and the population of Venezuela through brute force and intimidation (and thus violating his end of the bargain). In retaliation, the Babylon Coalition promptly terminated the partnership, revoked his Crown Hotel membership status, and declared war on the Eternals, seeking to kill El Toro for his betrayal.

### Death

Now obsessed with vengeance against the United States, El Toro hatched a plan of his own that he hoped would draw the Righteous Crusaders, the CIA, the team of hitmen, and the rebels into one place, where he hoped to kill them all in a deadly trap. To that end, he deployed the remnants of his men to kidnap Maritza Sparks. He then broadcast a message to the world, publicly announcing to the international community that he was going to murder the CIA agent as a show of "strength" against the United States and her allies.

The kidnapping was successful; Maritza was duped into sending her team into an empty hunting lodge devoid of intel, and in the ensuing ambush, the CIA team was nearly killed. Meanwhile, Los Eternos gunmen kidnapped Martiza after incapacitating the CIA hit team in an ambush. On national television, El Toro plotted to execute Maritza in front of the entire world at a hunting lodge that Los Eternos transformed into a hideout. However, the CIA hit team, the rebels, the Righteous Crusaders, Corvus, Black Manta, Deathshade, and Father Rose were able to reach the hotel, where a bloody shootout occurred between Los Eternos and the joint team of fighters. Despite suffering heavy casualties, the team was able to reach the lodge, where they shot down El Toro's helicopter as it attempted to leave the premises while Edward rescued Maritza Sparks.

Martiza told Edward that El Toro was plotting a partnership with other cartels and various criminal gangs. In addition, El Toro had forged an alliance with the Babylon Coalition, only to betray them when he violated his end of the bargain he'd made with them. Before she could elaborate, Maritza was shot in the back and killed by a surviving Los Eternos *sicario*, who was in turn gunned down by Eddie. Meanwhile, El Toro engaged in a shootout with Arrowhead and her CIA team, which resulted in the death of CIA assets Rooster and Okapi, though El Toro himself was able to escape with his life.

Following this, El Toro recaptured Marsha Maglio, then attempted to blackmail Edward and his team into surrendering by threatening to throw Marsha off the roof to her death if they refused. Edward was able to bluff his way out, before Marsha attempted to break free from El Toro, who easily overpowered her and knocked her unconscious. He then pulled out a knife and attempted to stab Edward, but the latter was able to disarm him. The drug lord then engaged in a vicious fistfight against Edward, which ended with Edward emerging victorious, killing El Toro by breaking his neck with one punch.

## Personal details

### Personality

Described as a "walking contradiction", he is considered a religious man. He is also known to be cruel and sadistic, especially towards his enemies or people who dare to challenge him. He is also a habitual liar, though he constantly denies it, and he claims to be peaceful, yet actively orders or participates in millions of murders in Venezuela.

### Personal appearance

El Toro is a huge man, a towering 6'4" and weighing a hefty 260 pounds. He was born with black hair, but at one point shaved his hair bald, believing it to be a "necessity to strike fear in others." He speaks with a deep, menacing voice that intimidates just about anyone-except for battle-hardened warriors like Edward Maglio (Edward was initially intimidated by El Toro's deep, menacing voice, but eventually got so used to it that he lost all fear of El Toro by the final battle).

### Habits and beliefs

El Toro considers himself a "god", which really says something about the power he has. He is considered by many to be a "self-deluded maniac".  El Toro himself, on the other hand, has claimed to be a "Messiah" on many occasions, having claimed the very title of Messiah numerous times when speaking to his audience. Many in Los Eternos have also come to believe that he is Venezuela's "Messiah." However, Christian fundamentalists have called him "the Antichrist" (though it is known that he is not the Antichrist foretold in the Biblical Book of Revelation).

He is also considered the "Adolf Hitler of South America", with many comparing his cartel and its takeover of Venezuela to Hitler's Third Reich.

He is also highly intolerant of failure, having a track record of ordering his own men executed for failing him and/or plotting to betray him. It is due to this intolerance of failure/disloyalty that he sends hitmen after La Fantasma after discovering that she betrayed him by defecting to the United States of America.

He is also highly knowledgeable on the Christian Bible, having used it as a basis for starting his cult. He also frequently used the Bible to justify his atrocities against his perceived enemies, which makes him similar to al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

In other words, he is a self-deluded religious psychopath and habitual liar who is hated on by pretty much everybody who isn't part of Los Eternos.

## Trivia

* Interestingly, El Toro is killed in much the same way he killed CIA asset Okapi: he gets his neck broken in one punch by Edward Maglio.

## Quotes

*"You think this will change anything? I will return, no matter how many times you kill me! Put me in any Hell you can think of, and I will still walk out of it alive! Then I will destroy you, and slaughter your first born children! I will slaughter your whole family and every one of your friends as they beg for their lives before my feet! I am inevitable! I WILL END YOU!"*

*"(laughs) Really? Well, I look forward to testing that faith...because you haven't seen **MY Hell**(sets El Toro on fire with a flamethrower)!"*

- El Toro and Edward Maglio during the final showdown