Néstor Sotelo

## Mayor Sotelo

### Allies

Night Corp/Militech/Network 54/Mexican Cartels/Valentinos/Biotechnica/Arasaka Corporation (in appearance)

### Affiliation

Night City Government/Parra Properties (Night Corp)/Novaterra (Night Corp)/State Congress of Morelos (former)/City Hall of Cuernavaca (former)/Attorney General of the State of Morelos (former)

Néstor Sotelo is an influential and wealthy politician, lawyer and businessman originally from Mexico and based in Night City since 2040, having multiple ties to various Valentinos leaders, top executives of Night Corp, Biotechnica and even Militech in a much more discreet way. Sotelo was Mayor of Night City from 2054 to 2070, being the main political force in the metropolis throughout that time, being backed by Night Corp. In 2070 he lost re-election against him alderman, Lucius Rhyne, who was supported by a revitalized Arasaka, after which Sotelo would be relegated to seeking a less important position as City District Attorney. In his first years in Night City, he came to work as an executive in corporations that were inevitably acquired and turned into mere subsidiaries by Night Corp, added to the fact that he is also an experienced lawmen, has allowed him to keep several contacts both in the corporate world and in the political leadership of the metropolis. After the victory of Jefferson Peralez as mayoral candidate, he would appoint Sotelo's wife, the councilor "Xime Lasso", as the new Vice Mayor, also successfully nominating former mayor Néstor himself as President of the Board of Police Commissioners of Night City. In Heywood and the city center many people think that it is inevitable that Sotelo will return to the city mayor sooner or later.

## History

Néstor was born on June 1, 2006 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, a decadent Mexican city whose best days had passed despite the future efforts of Sotelo Pérez himself to raise up his native land, seeing this only prevented by the financial, political and social chaos generated by the Corporate Wars, which directly and indirectly led Cuernavaca to total bankruptcy and social precariousness. Néstor had a brother ten years older and a sister 6 years older, all three of whom grew up in a relatively affluent and influential family, with his father working at a local NISSAN plant, while his mother was an important employee of SSM (Servicios de Salud de Morelos). By 2023, his sister María Fernanda had emigrated abroad, while his brother David had already worked in various places before marrying a doctor named Dania Joya, doing a diplomat at the state university while working in a study of architecture in the “Cuernavaca Corporate”. In 2025 María Fernanda Sotelo published a semi-biographical book that would quickly end up becoming a best-seller in various parts of the world, by then having already prospered a lot due to her hard work, plus thanks to the royalties from her book she would become a millionaire. In 2026, 2027, 2032, 2035 and 2039, his sister would publish other books that would be equal to or even more successful than the first, for which his heritage only increase, dedicating several million to charitable donations for the reconstruction of Night City, at the same time that since 2030 she also obtained huge royalties and high salaries for the production of a successful series based on her first book, serving as Script Supervisor and Co-Producer in this one, repeating those positions in another equally successful series produced from 2035 and a blockbuster film released in 2037, all being based on other of his most successful works.

His older sister, now quite wealthy, would end up paying for Nestor to attend his last two semesters of college at Asukaga-Berkeley University School of Law. In 2029 he would graduate with honors, returning to Mexico in an "idealistic" attempt to save his hometown from disaster, eventually serving as Coordinator of Advisors of the Secretary of Government of Morelos, Counselor of the Local Judiciary and State Court Civil Judge. Many would consider that he lost the genuine intention of repairing his city after realizing that even if he did, he would once again be plunged into another inevitable Corporate War that he predicted would break out in about a decade, a defeatist situation that apparently pushed him to simply pretend to genuinely work for the common good, while actually drawing as much personal benefit as he could from the state and municipal coffers, while his ties to local cartels secured him large amounts of money in monthly bribes. He would also create a powerful political machine at the service of his intimate compadre, the businessman Isaac Parra, who in a little less than a decade was able to obtain around 125 millions of dollars thanks to the political corruption directed, manipulated or influenced by his appreciated political operator, friend and confident. David Sotelo would create Novaterra, a studio of architecture, construction and real estate developer in 2029, naming his younger brother as General Counsel, to be in charge of bribing and making off-the-record deals with politicians and public officials, amoral, dishonest and manifestly corrupt behaviors that despite the guilt of David, would be the main reason for the great success of the company, which would generate 3.5 millions of dollars in profits during the period 2029-2039, although 15% of that would go to the pockets of Néstor himself, who in 2030 acquired that percentage of the corporation. For her part, by 2040, María Fernanda's fortune was estimated at around 4 millions of Eurodollars (although much of it would be invested in a nascent Biotechnica), buying 45% of the shares of Dark Studios (the company founded by her brother David) in the same 2040.

## Arrival at Night City

The three Sotelo-Pérez brothers would finally be fully reunited and together with their parents in the first months of 2040, when they moved to a Night City that was then promising due to its reconstruction situation, when Néstor arrived in the devastated metropolis as Consul General of Mexico, while David had accepted the tempting offer to work as Principal Architect in the redevelopment project of Night Corp, the main force behind the reconstruction of the city, in addition to taking advantage of it to also get Novaterra to report millionaire profits with the development of affordable and at least decent housing in the slums, while also being Night Corp's contractor for architectural and urban design and redevelopment. For his part from his work as Consul General of Mexico in Night City, Néstor would focus on supporting as much as he could the population of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-American in the city, although he would also show disdain for Asian and black minorities, declaring textually to N54 the following: "The recovery and greatest possible aggrandizement of my people are my only concern, priority and duty in this position. I have nothing against Asians, blacks, and much less other Hispanic peoples, but my resources are limited, to the point that I can barely adequately cover the needs and support my people need, so other minorities should have their their own consuls or community leaders to support them, since neither Mexico nor myself can afford help more at this time". Maria Fernanda and David Sotelo Pérez would live in luxurious Charter Hill condominiums since their arrival in Night City, in the case of Néstor living in his apartment in Corpo Plaza, with extensive private security being provided by the Mexican Consulate despite the financial crisis. Around half a million emigrants from Morelos in the NUSA and Mexican-Americans with ancestry from that same state in central southern Mexico would move to a Night City in the process of reconstruction from Chicago, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Texas and even other Californian cities, this being directly promoted by Consul Sotelo, who assured them good job opportunities in the construction, maintenance and services sectors, fulfilling that promise, for which practically 100% of these would end up settling in Wellsprings along with some 300,000 mexiquenses emigrants and their descendants, who had also been attracted by the Consul General (an additional 800,000 mexiquenses would settle in The Glen and approximately a million in Vista del Rey). His behavior considered partial and of special favoritism towards the people of Morelos and to a lesser extent also the people of Mexico state caused Nestor not to be ratified again as Consul for the new six-year term 2042-2048, despite the fact that he was actually loved by the entire emigrant community and Mexican-American in Night City, Néstor himself would care less about losing his public job, since he would have arrived in the city with almost 4 millions of Eurodollars, in addition to fulfilling his true objective with the power that he managed to have those two years as Consul General, creating a "Nueva Cuernavaca" in the form of the majority population of Morelos in the more than remarkably prosperous sub-district of Wellsprings.

Since his arrival in the city, Néstor would not limit himself to his function as General Consul, but would also end up sitting on the Boards of Directors of Parra Properties and Novaterra, being Executive Vicepresident and General Counsel in the first and director of operations and member of the board of directors of the second. In 2050, "Parra Properties" was the lead real estate developer behind the creation of the glitzy new version of the North Oak subdistrict, which would become the new home of the city's wealthy elite, with Parra hiring the prestigious Novaterra as the architecture studio in charge of designing this enormous project.

In the year 2054, Sotelo enjoyed enormous popularity thanks to his good deeds during the city's darkest times, which is why he turned out to be the preferred candidate to be Mayor of Night City, receiving financial support from both Biotechnica and Night Corp, at the same time it also had the approval of Militech. He would be considered a ruler with a conciliatory and kind character, being accessible to ordinary people and a mediator between the different corporate interests in the city. Likewise, he was also seen as someone totally determined to maintain the autonomy of Night City from the NUSA, being a quasi-fanatical regionalist. Sotelo would enjoy special support in Heywood and the City Center.

In 2055 Night Corp bought 51% of the shares of "Parra Properties" for 5,600 million Eurodollars and Biotechnica acquired the 60% of the shares of Novaterra for 150 million Eurodollars, with both corporations keeping their respective founders as Executive Directors of its now subsidiary companies. In addition, Isaac Parra obtained a seat on the board of directors of Night Corp and 3.5% of its shares, so he would quickly become one of the most important senior executives of the corporation, while David Sotelo would only obtain 0.5% of the shares of the Night Corp and a seat on the board of directors of the corporation, although he would become one of the most recognizable faces of the company, since through Novaterra and following the guidelines of his parent company, he would focus his efforts on urban planning and real estate development that is as respectful as possible with the environment, for which he became a benchmark in the sector at NUSA as one of the "architects of the future" most prestigious on the planet, with his company headquarters occupying the "Dark Building" in Downtown, Night City. David Sotelo would retain 15% of the shares of Novaterra, while María Fernanda retained 20% and Néstor 5%. After Night Corp acquisition of Novaterra in 2055, the estimated net worth of the younger Sotelo Pérez would be 22,500,000 EUR/USD, while María Fernanda would possess around 80 millions of Eurodollars (would invest several million in both Arasaka and Biotechnica), and David Sotelo would have about 63.5 millions. Currently María Fernanda lives in a luxurious villa in North Oak, while her brother lives in the old "Gutiérrez Apartment" in Charter Hill, which was designed by him and acquired by him after the disappearance of the recently divorced Nina. Gutierrez. The apartment that V can rent in The Glen was the home of David Sotelo and his wife until their recent move to Charter Hill. For his part, the Mayor Sotelo owns both the apartment that V can rent in Corpo Plaza and a luxury penthouse in Downtown, City Center. In 2060 "Mafer Sotelo" joined the Council of Shareholders of the Arasaka Corporation in NUSA, also being part of the Board of Directors of the North American division of Biotechnica. Mafer's wife, Isis Gutierrez, was appointed in the same 2060 as Vice President of Cognitive Development and Pharmaceutical Quality Supervision of the NUSA Biotechnica division. In 2062 Maria Fernanda Sotelo opened the luxurious club and restaurant "Embers" in The Glen, Heywood, a recurring meeting place for the city's economic elite. It was Vice President Gutierrez's office in the Biotechnica building that was raided by Netrunner Sasha Yakovleva, who not only stole information, but also leaked confidential company data to N54 in 2076. Yakovleva's sacrifice was of little use, since Gutiérrez would end up going to his brother-in-law, the then Police Commissioner of Night City, Néstor Sotelo, who took advantage of his close ties with Militech so that they in turn pressured N54 not to reveal the information leaked to their media and will instead delete the data completely to keep Biotechnica's transgressions secret. This fact greatly upset both the Maine crew and Sasha's sister, Stella Ramos, who developed a deep resentment against the wealthy Sotelo-Pérez family, who had managed to obtain a privileged position as executives or allies of Biotechnica, Arasaka, Militech and Night Corp.

Since the arrival of the great wave of migrants from Morelos and their Mexican-American descendants to Wellsprings between 2040 and 2042, Néstor has only strengthened himself as a leadership figure in that sub-district, becoming even more powerful in the area with the passage of over the years, this to the point that by 2077 he was considered the "Cacique of Wellsprings", not only managing the politics of the area at will, but also various corporate and even criminal matters, having close ties with important leaders of the Valentinos at Heywood. Néstor Sotelo would also be an important figure at the time of the formation of the Valentinos in Night City, practically creating and organizing them at least in Wellsprings, since in 2041 he brought David Salgado Solís, Carlos Iñiguez Flores and Edmar Jaziel Martínez Gutiérrez from Morelos, three criminals related to drug trafficking, fraud, robbery and money laundering, in addition to being since then the three main leaders of the Valentinos in Wellsprings by imposition of Sotelo himself, whose consular guards were practically thugs at his service who they imposed order on the streets of the sub-district at that time. From Mexico he also brought the sisters of the aforementioned Carlos Iñiguez, Ana and Regina, the first being a former high-ranking officer of the Cuernavaca Municipal Police and the Criminal Investigation Police of the Morelos prosecutor's office, while the second was a criminal lawyer and a former public official, both of whom were closely linked to Néstor during his political career in Morelos. Once they arrived in Night City, Sotelo would hire Ana Iñiguez as a detective in the NCPD's narcotics division, making her one of the highest-ranking officers in all of Wellsprings, while Regina would continue to be a defense attorney, having as clients high-ranking criminals with ties to the Valentinos, although it would also get him a high-ranking position in the District Attorney's Office. Several other old friends of Néstor's would be brought over from Mexico and placed in key positions to increase and consolidate their hold over Wellsprings, with Jaziel and Carlos becoming co-owners of the popular North Wellsprings "Minnie Day's", an establishment famous for as well as being a luxurious nightclub, hotel and restaurant, also very discreetly offering braindance services and "premium joytoy's" inside, while David Salgado is the owner of the successful and highly lucrative dollhouse "Dollop of Sunshine", also located in North Wellsprings, with this popular club being practically as luxurious and technologically avant-garde as "Clouds" in Japantown. Salgado, Iñiguez and Martínez hand over 10% of their monthly earnings to Néstor Sotelo himself in exchange for political, legal and police protection, since Sotelo was a hight executive of Parra Properties and Novaterra from 2040 to 2054, Mayor of Night City in the period 2054-2070 and after the victory of Lucius Rhyne, District Attorney of Night City. Minnie Day's is Sotelo's favorite restaurant, who almost daily has lunch or dinner at this establishment, in addition to holding numerous meetings with political colleagues and representatives of some corporations inside.

In the year 2070, Néstor Sotelo had been the Mayor of Night City for 16 years after having served as the president of "Raíces Profundas", which made him the political boss of Heywood and City Center, thus being a friend and political mentor of Lucius Rhyne, as well as being a strong supporter of the autonomy of Night City, although in a In an extreme case, he would rather reach an agreement with NUSA than see his city influenced by foreign corporations like Arasaka, for which he leads with his wife an influential block within the City Council and the hight society of the city that was in charge of negotiating and engaging in direct talks with Militech executives and federal diplomats while a division of the NUSA army was approaching the city, promising Néstor and his wife (Ximena Lasso) federal support so that they respectively be able to maintain his position as mayor and a powerful place in the Congress if he achieved the peaceful submission of the city. As soon as he learned of his political godfather's shady and passive negotiations with NUSA, Councilman Lucius Rhyne would refuse to cede all or part of Night City's autonomy, thus going directly against the mayor Sotelo wishes and plans, by gathering around him most of the members of the Night City Council and a part of the rich Hight Society, thus inviting Arasaka to return to the city, a fact that would cause the inevitable withdrawal of federal forces from the area for fear of a larger conflict. Once reinstated in the city, Arasaka would take advantage of the upcoming June elections to finance Councilman Rhyne in his mayoral campaign, thus defeating Mayor Sotelo, who was branded by public opinion as pro-Militech. Despite losing the mayoralty, Sotelo would still have enough power over the Heywood electorate and the city center to ensure that his wife retains her influential position as City Council president, this at the same time that Néstor did not give up after losing against Lucius, quickly presenting himself as his party's candidate for District Attorney of Night City, winning said elections. The councilor Lasso would use her power over her colleagues to ensure that The Glen in Heywood became the new political center of the city, this being beneficial for her and her husband, as they had enormous control over this district. After Arasaka's return, the Sotelo-Lasso couple publicly showed themselves as a neutral and mediating force between mega corporations. Even more so, the Japanese conglomerate classified the couple as dangerous due to Lasso's outstanding oratory skills and the enormous Sotelo's dominance over the monumental Hispanic community of Night City, controlling more than 3/4 of the councilors whose districts were located in Heywood, half of those in the city center and a quarter of those in Santo Domingo, as well as the entire judicial system after his appointment as District Attorney. The power of Sotelo in Wellsprings is especially notable, where they not only directly controlled politicians, officials of the government and cops, but also the Valentino’s local leaders. The reality was that Sotelo and Lasso had closer and more personal ties to Night Corp, being a genuine supporter of Night City autonomy, but circumstances forced them to additionally approach one of the two truly dominant corporations in the city to ensure his survival, at first trying to be neutral figures who would reconcile both parties, but very soon the offers of bribes and pressure from both sides would push them to approach Militech in a very discreet way, with his political party, "Raíces Profundas ", receiving large amounts of money each month from that corporation, so that in turn this political organization would convert the cash into large regular bribes delivered to its militants in the City Council. Néstor would see Militech as the least bad of his options, since in the absence of a more powerful Night Corp or a Hispanic megacorporation with a presence in the city, this company was at least originally from the same continent, while Arasaka came from outside it. Despite secretly having close ties to Militech, to this day he maintains his public image as a conciliatory figure in city politics, continuing to mediate between the respective political interests of Arasaka and Militech, although the former corporation's Counterintelligence has more and more suspicions and indications about his direct relationship with his main rival in the city, this as a result of his wife's increasingly frequent tendency to favor Militech from her position as President of the Night City Council. It is an open secret that the security of both Sotelo's penthouse and Lasso's city hall office are provided by Militech.

### Epilogue of Cyberpunk 2077

If V lied to Jefferson Peralez by implicating Holt, he finally ends up making an alliance with Sotelo and his political machinery, who by joining his campaign achieve a victory with 70.7% of the total votes, for which the councilor Lasso is rewarded with the position of Vice Mayor, from which he could wield great power over the city. In turn, Peralez also nominates District Attorney Sotelo as the new President of the Night City Police Board of Commissioners, this being quickly ratified by the city council.

If V tells Jefferson the whole truth about what he discovered, he falls into a state of extreme paranoia, which is why he abruptly ends his alliance negotiations with Sotelo, Lasso and the party controlled by the couple, "Raíces Profundas", thus causing Nestor's political machine to fragment, moreover he would be able to give strong electoral support to Holt at the same time that the Valentinos manage to intimidate and extort enough Heywood voters for Peralez to lose much of his support in the area. Despite the above, Jefferson does manage to win the elections, but only with 49.3% of the votes, which is why he would also be forced to appoint "Xime Lasso" as his Vice Mayor and a Néstor Sotelo President of the Night City Police Board of Commissioners in an attempt to reconcile with the other power groups in the Night City Council and the Corporations.

After his confirmation as the new president of the NCPD Board of Commissioners, he appointed the until then commissioner Graciela Ibarra as the new Chief of Police, thus leaving a vacant seat on the Board, which was immediately occupied by his predecessor in office, Jerry Fawlter, who was a good friend of Sotelo during his period as District Attorney, so thanks to him he would be able to continue having a high position in the department despite no longer leading it. At first, both popular opinion and WNS News and other media outlets expressed serious doubts about the appointment of former Mayor Sotelo as Commissioner of the NCPD, considering that a position that should have been for someone with more experience in security issues was being politicized. Despite the criticism, Mayor Peralez would continue to firmly support his appointment, stating that during his tenure as Mayor of Night City, Sotelo had managed to present considerably low crime rates. N54 would speak more favorably about the appointment of Néstor as the highest authority of the city police. Sotelo would not only appoint Ibarra as the new Chief of Police, but would also place Inspector Ana Iñiguez as Commander of the NCPD's Internal Affairs Division. In parallel, he got Regina Iñiguez appointed interim District Attorney to fulfill what was left of Néstor's time in office. After his first 6 months in charge of the police, crime rates dropped by 2.3%, which was applauded by the population of Night City, who had not seen a single-digit improvement in that rate for years.

### 2078

In an attempt to profile himself as a champion against corruption, Commissioner Sotelo and Commander Iñiguez of Internal Affairs reportedly ordered the arrest of Captain Robert Kowalsky on charges of corruption and obstruction of justice. Officer Bill Addams and Detective Gonaghal would be arrested alongside Kowalsky and other crooked or impotent officers. After making these arrests, Commissioner Sotelo would declare that he had finally "purged corruption from the police department." Despite being more competent and effective than his predecessor in office, Sotelo was still corrupt, making several shady deals with his old friends from the Valentinos. He would focus his efforts on dismantling several Maelstrom and Animal cells while acquiring top-notch equipment from Militech to properly arm as many police officers as he could, in order to continue reducing crime rates and thereby improve his popularity in the world. view of continuing with his frustrated ambition of finally returning to the Mayor's Office.

Despite his public image as the "champion against corruption of Night City", he actually ignores the multiple accusations of abuse of authority against Inspector Henry Stints, even promoting him to captain to replace Kowalsky, all due to the Stints' close ties to the Valentinos, which is why he had already done Sotelo's dirty work in Heywood on several occasions in the past. He also does not hesitate to protect and cover up for Jerry Fawlter because they did several "business deals together" during Sotelo's tenure as District Attorney of Night City.

In March 2078, Commander Iñiguez began an Internal Affairs investigation against Detective Harold Han, however Commissioner Néstor canceled the investigation when he noted that Han had been useful to Vice Mayor Holt in dealing with "especially embarrassing" matters, so that he planned to give him the same function but now at the service of both him and his wife, the Vice Mayor Lasso. Shortly after Commissioner Sotelo began his crusade against the gangs, a group of Maelstroms ambushed the Chevillon Emperor of his wife, Vice Mayor Lasso, firing a bazooka at the vehicle, with his wife only surviving thanks to the quick action of MaxTac, who despite everything could not prevent him from being left in a coma. Despite the fact that the evidence pointed to Maelstrom, Sotelo would always suspect Kang Tao as the real responsible for his wife's attack, having become angry with her since she used her power over the city council to deny his initiative on Pacifica, by instead push Night Corp as the district's rebuilder.

At the end of September 2078 and only thanks to his close ties with the top brass of the Valentinos, Sotelo would notice that crime rates would inevitably skyrocket due to a gang war about to explode in several districts, for which He would take advantage of the violent incident suffered by his wife to retire from his position as head of the police, arguing that he was in a terrible emotional state that did not allow him to perform his duties as he should. Thanks to his resignation, Jerry Fawlter could regain his position, but in exchange he would have to keep Chief Ibarra and Commander Iñiguez in their same positions.

### Back to life Corpo

Before leaving his position at the head of the NCPD, Sotelo had already secured a huge salary as "Senior Executive of the Arasaka Counterintelligence Division" in Night City, moving to his remodeled apartment in Corpo Plazo because it depressed him to stay in the penthouse he shared with his wife in Downtown, thus promising not to live there again until his beloved partner woke up from a coma. Once installed in the Arasaka Tower, the former commissioner would be assigned the office that belonged to Arthur Jenkins, who had fulfilled the same role that he now played in the corporation. He would work directly under a nephew of the great Saburo Arasaka, the somewhat "unusual" Niik Arasaka, who was appointed by his uncle as CEO of the US Division of his corporation. Sotelo's effectiveness in his work would cause him to be promoted in record time by Niik to the position of Executive Vice President and General Council of the American Division of Arasaka, retaining the same office, but receiving the Peralezes' former penthouse in Charter Hill as a corporate residence.

From shortly after starting work as a counterintelligence executive until a month after his promotion, he had an affair with an attractive Russian prostitute who worked at Lizzie's Bar, allowing him to live in her Corpo Plaza apartment during that time. As Vice President, he would be in charge of both the legal affairs of the corporation and public relations and the counterintelligence division at NUSA, although additionally she would also be in charge of recruiting executives, supervising high-level staff and assisting Niik Arasaka in everything related to corporate interests in Night City, in addition to attending to his "personal interests", by hiring several attractive women as executives with the sole purpose of serving as sex toys for the CEO. He would end up breaking off his relationship with Jelena when he became interested in a beautiful woman named Selene, whom he had recently hired to work at Arasaka. With the beautiful white-haired Solo moving to her penthouse in Charter Hill after entering into a romantic relationship. Sotelo would appear to be someone totally loyal to his superior except for one occasion in which he had an affair with his lover, a famous rocker with her career in decline called "Bix." As punishment for that "slip", Niik Arasaka himself would pressure a jilted Selene (Néstor's girlfriend) to become intimate with him, thus being on hand.

### 2080

Sotelo would disappear from the map in the beginning of the year, not maintaining communication with either his girlfriend or his boss, Niik Arasaka, who would immediately respond by ordering an operation to find his right-hand man, who despite this would still not appear, which would not take long reach the ears of the press, with the possible kidnapping or even murder of the former mayor Néstor being the star news for quite some time. Due to Sotelo's disappearance, all of Arasaka's operations in Night City began to fall into chaos, as the Executive Director was overwhelmed by the multiple problems generated by the absence of his vice president, who used to absorb a good part of his tasks. The effectiveness of the corporation in the NUSA became so reduced that Saburo Arasaka himself would announce his imminent transfer to Night City to restore order, although before his arrival his nephew Niik would be murdered inside his residence in North Oak, by which Michiko Arasaka was quickly appointed as the new CEO of the American division, restoring her corporation's dominance over the area alongside her grandfather.

Michiko would blame Militech for the murder of her uncle, who apparently took advantage of the disappearance of the corporation's main operational support to take advantage, although the possible kidnapping of the vice president of the corporation was still a total mystery, so the new CEO continued with her search. Sotelo would end up reappearing up to two months after he was mysteriously absent, returning when Michiko had already given him up for dead, firing him and removing his access cards to Arasaka, while his girlfriend never contacted him again, only catching up with him everything happened thanks to his ex-lover and fiancée of his deceased boss. After his unexpected return, Michiko interrogated him, with Sotelo explaining that he had been kidnapped from his own home during the night, being kept in cryogenics until his abrupt release. Arasaka was quick to conclude that Militech had kidnapped Sotelo, keeping him incommunicado through cryogenics, but they did not kill him because of his old ties to senior executives of that corporation.

Although the whole matter was finally clarified, Michiko would refuse to give him back his old job at Arasaka, still having certain suspicions about Néstor's role in the whole matter, although she would decide not to take action against him. With no other options, Sotelo would once again be supported by Night Corp in the position of Director of Operations, thus recovering much of his influence in the city. At the end of the year his wife managed to wake up from her coma, so the two would return to their penthouse in Downtown, at the same time that Councilwoman Lasso regained her position as Vice Mayor of Jefferson Peralez.

## Possible conspiracy

Parra Properties is the owner and developer of the luxurious apartment building where the Peralez penthouse is located, which was recommended to Elizabeth by Néstor Sotelo and his wife, Ximena Lasso, who assured that PP it was a high-quality company that was renting the place 20% below the market price because its last resident committed suicide inside, a grim fact that the Sotelo-Lasso knew the Peralezes would not care about. Elizabeth Peralez would spot the tempting offer for the property and easily convinced her husband to move in soon after. The Peralezes left the penthouse after being informed by V about how Weldon Holt had paid SSI (a security company recommended to Jefferson Peralez by businessman Isaac Parra) to install a spy center in his own residence, constantly spying on them that way, for which would end up hastily abandoning the penthouse.

There are several inconsistencies in the previously reported version, since there are no official reports or unofficial indications about any suicide in the Peralez building, before they moved, nor is it clear why Sotelo would reveal privileged information to Elizabeth Peralez, who runs very little time being friends with his wife. All of the above makes it clear that Sotelo had to have other motives and specific interests to act in this way, finding the answer to this in the sober silver Jinguji ring that he always wears on one of his fingers along with much more ostentatious jewelry, being this is direct proof of his connection of some kind with the mysterious "Mr. Blue Eyes", who seems to have some kind of close relationship with the discreet but important Night Corp, the same corporation with which Nestor himself also has direct ties, as having worked as a senior executive in two of its subsidiaries, with his compadre being the current CEO of the corporation. The reality is that it was "Mr. Blue Eyes" himself who pulled the strings within the corporation so that Nestor's older brother would be offered to cooperate with Night Corp at some point in 2040, with this mysterious man also presenting himself directly to the at that time Consul General of Mexico in Night City, offering him the opportunity to build his long-awaited "Nueva Cuernavaca" in Wellsprings in exchange for his loyalty, which Nestor clearly accepted, since then becoming his main political operator, adviser and trusted man.

## Political machine

He is founder and spokesperson for "Raíces Profundas", a Night City political party primarily dedicated to the political representation of Hispanics (especially Mexicans) and keeping Latino culture alive within the metropolis limits. His political party has been active since 2046, the year in which both Lasso and all party candidates whose districts were in Wellsprings were elected to City aldermans. By 2077, it controls all the city councilors for Wellsprings, a third of those for Vista del Rey and half of those for The Glen, as well as around a quarter of those for Santo Domingo, thus being one of the main political forces of the city and the main of Heywood, although the party is also notable for its close ties to the Valentinos, who often bribe and intimidate Heywood's slum dwellers to rake in votes for "Raices Profundas" candidates. Javier Alvarado was a lawyer for the high command of the Valentinos and the main "political godson" of Néstor Sotelo, for which he would spend several years as Executive Director of the Department of Housing and Urban Development of Night City before being appointed as main "Advisor" of Mayor Lucius Rhyne early in his term. During the 2077 elections, Nestor ordered Alvarado to divert funds from the city council to pay a faction of Valentinos in The Glen to raise votes for "Raíces Profundas", whose alliance with Rhyne-Holt seemed secure, but in reality the District Attorney Sotelo would support any candidate that was convenient for him. Due to the intervention of "V" and Father Ibarra, the Valentinos hired by Alvarado could not raise many votes in The Glen as their operation was exposed and several of them eliminated, plus their colleagues in Wellsprings and Vista del Rey did comply with his part, thus assuring "Raíces Profundas" a solid and majority support in Heywood that would be key to the absolute victory of Jefferson Peralez, after Néstor Sotelo exchanged his electoral support in exchange for being the new President of the Night City Police Board of Commissioners. The exposure of Javier Alvarado's corruption caused him to be publicly expelled from Raíces Profundas, losing his position as Advisor to the Mayor after Peralez's victory, but only 1 year later he was reinstated in the government in his former and lucrative position as Executive Director of the Night City Department of Housing and Urban Development. Several lucrative establishments and midsize corporations linked to the Valentinos donate millions of dollars to the election and re-election campaigns of Raíces Profundas politicians, who once elected directly influence the NCPD and other authorities to ensure more than remarkable legal immunity for their electoral benefactors.

His power over the City Council was demonstrated once more after he refused the bribes offered by Kang Tao to lobbied for them for the City Government to sell the Pacifica District to the corporation. During a traditional Day of the Dead festival in Wellsprings on November 1, 2077, the Vice Mayor would announce with the recently appointed CEO of Night Corp, Isaac Parra, that it would be only his corporation that would be allowed to retake and rebuild Pacifica with the full support of the City Hall, the municipal council, the Police Department and any other necessary instance. Since 2077 Regina Iñiguez Flores has been the Night City District Attorney and since 2050 her sister Ana is Chief Inspector for the entire Heywood District, having authority over her native narcotics division, MaxTac and any other NCPD branch in the area. Also since 2050 Melissa Graciela Ibarra is one of the Commissioners of the Night City Police Department, having also been a prominent police officer in her native state of Morelos until 2040, when she joined the NCPD with the rank of Captain. Vanya Pichardo is a respected Judge from the City, a native of Morelos, who along with her countrymen, Commissioner Ibarra, the District attorney and former mayor Sotelo and the lawyer Iñiguez, seem to have close ties to the Valentinos.

"HP" is a construction company based in Wellsprings, which is considered a cover company for the Valentinos, since its CEO is Suri Martínez, while the Director of Operations is Irvin Gómez, both being old friends of the politician Néstor Sotelo and the leaders of the Valentinos, David Salgado, Jaziel Martínez and Carlos Iñiguez (the latter is another money launderer for the gang). HP often makes generous campaign contributions for "Raíces Profundas" candidates in Heywood, as well as making large donations directly to the party. Marlet Garcia is the manager and owner of the bar on Wendt St, Charter Hill, an establishment in which Néstor Sotelo himself is a public partner, owning 40% of it, while he also owns 10% of "Port Café" in Downtown, a luxurious establishment mostly owned by the older sister of the current Vice Mayor of Night City.

## Love relationships

Néstor is married to a pretty lawyer and politician 3 months older than him named Ximena Lasso, who despite her kind and even somewhat tender personality, is actually equally or even more corrupt than her husband, using politics as a mere means to obtain wealth while being an unscrupulous lawyer. Lasso has been serving as a councilor for decades, presiding over the powerful municipal body for more than 20 years. The couple maintains a harmonious relationship, being quite similar, apparently loving each other deeply, publicly showing themselves as an ideal and blameless marriage, although in reality Ximena has considerable problems with alcohol and Néstor never completely lost his old habit of frequent prostitutes.

He is a VIP client of the exclusive "Dollop of Sunshine" club in Wellsprings (Clouds' direct competition), this since practically the establishment's foundation, being a regular visitor to it until today. His adoring wife, Ximena, seems to be totally unaware or deliberately ignorant of her husband's taste for the "dolls" of Sunshine and other luxury brothels such as Minnie Day's or Buxon Betty's.

## Vehículos

•Villefort Cortes V500 Valor Gold: Ostentatious limousine for official use by Néstor Sotelo in his functions as city politician and corporate executive. The vehicle is driven by a chauffeur/bodyguard, with an experienced thug with ties to the Valentinos being the car's co-driver.

•Rayfield Caliburn White: Luxurious vehicle for the Vice Mayor's personal use, although he currently uses it quite little, preferring food from his armored limousines and drivers.

•Rayfield Excalibur: This luxurious transport was given to him by the City Council as an official vehicle after he became District Attorney, keeping it after being appointed Vice Mayor.

•Chevillon Emperor 620 Ragnar Black/Red: High-end executive vehicle of "Xime" Lasso

## Properties

•Luxury apartment of the Sotelo-Lasso in Downtown, City Center, Night City.

•V's apartment in Corpo Plaza: Rentable for V, but owned by Sotelo since his arrival in the city sometime in 2040.

•Lapis Lazuli Suite at Kompeki Plaza: Given exclusively and free to you as if it were a private apartment, as one of the benefits of your lucrative association with the Arasaka Corporation.