Escamillo Cadrilla

Cadrilla in 1954

Escamillo Edgar Cadrilla (14 April 1880 - 10 June 1955) was a Kastelon born Lesovian general who ruled the country as president-for-life from 1915 to his death in 1955. His regime is remembered for dismantling Lespian Supremacism in Lesovia, improving the rights of minorities in the country, and increased modernization and industrialization, yet at the same time rampant corruption and nepotism, unregulated capitalism and systematic oppression of women, LGBT, and political opponents.

## Early Life

Escamillo Cadrilla was born in a rural farming village in the Lesovian province of Kastelona to an impoverished farmer's family. Like most rural Lesovian households, Cadrilla's family was deeply religious and had a great reverence to the Church. The young Escamillo would witness firsthand the systematic discrimination, oppression and exploitation brought to Kastelon farmers by Lespian nobility and landlords.

## Military Career

### Marinta War

For most rural Kastelons, the only way to escape poverty was enlist in the military. Cadrilla left his hometown in 1896 at the age of 16, and entered the Infantry Academy in Madrisk. He was bullied for being a rural "peasant", but he persevered and graduated in 1899 as a lieutenant. The Marinta War had broken out by then, and as Lesovian forces struggled to retain control over the colony, Cadrilla was quickly deployed to Marinta. At that time, the rebels' guerilla tactics resulted in heavy casualties for Lesovian military officers, and also provided an opportunity to earn promotion through merit on the battlefield. Cadrilla proved himself a capable and competent officer, and was promoted to major by 1906, the highest rank a non-Lespian commoner could reach, and the youngest Lesovian officer to ever be promoted to that rank.

By late 1906, it was evident that the Lesovia could not hope to hold onto Marinta anymore, and Lesovian forces began pulling out from the region. Marinta would gain full independence in November of 1906 as the Provincial Federation of Marinta. When Cadrilla returned to Lesovia, he was sent to the capital city, Lostana, where he was treated as a war hero by some.

### Lesovian Revolution

Cadrilla met Avelino Fernando, vice president of the republican Liberal Democratic Party, in 1910. Fernando tried to persuade Cadrilla to support the republicans. Cadrilla initially refused, as he was a deeply religious traditionalist who disagreed with the republicans' secularist and progressive ideals. However, Fernando argued that as Cadrilla was a non-Lespian commoner, he would never make it past the rank of major, which convinced Cadrilla to side with the republicans.

The Lesovian General Elections of 1915 saw the leftist Republican-Socialist Coalition gain a majority in parliament. King Pedro IV was concerned by the results, and postponed the appointment of the coalition's leader as prime minister. Because of this, the republicans and syndicalists launched a coup when news reached out that Pedro died of a heart attack, abolishing the monarchy and declaring the First Republic of Lesovia

The First Republic, established by the leftist Republican-Socialist Coalition, immediately faced resistance from the nobility, clergy, and conservatives. The Krenadites declared the province of Krenats et Laansa independent as the Liamist Republic of Krenats, numerous generals in the provinces refused to recognize the republic as legitimate and launched rebellions, supporting the crown prince Alexandre as the rightful King of Lesovia. Most of the military commanders in Lostana were either imprisoned or had fled due to their loyalty to the crown, leaving much of the republic's high command empty. Out of desperation, the republic named promoted Cadrilla directly from major to general, and sent him to pacify the Krenadite separatists.

Cadrilla continued to prove himself to be a competent commander, and the Liamist Republic was dissolved in 3 months. In Laansa, the capital of Krenats, Cadrilla promised the local Liamists that their faith would be protected and that they would have the autonomy to rule themselves, which gained him popularity among the locals. Cadrilla was then sent to Gavia to crush the revolt led by the Marquis of Gavia (who would later found the Principality of Novo Gavia). He successfully expelled the Marquis from Lesovia within 2 months, and was recalled to Lostana afterwards.

### Rise to Power

Cadrilla returned to Lostana as a war hero once again, only to find that the republic was in flames. The Republican-Syndicalists' attempt at enforcing secularism had caused massive unrest, and Lespian Supremacist paramilitaries such as the Knights of Lespia had managed to recruit many moderate Lespian commoners into their ranks. Like many other military personnel of the republic, Cadrilla saw their attempt at secularism in a deeply religious country as the reason of its failure.

In mid 1915, Cadrilla met General José Luis Correa, a fellow Kastelon officer, who proposed that they launch a coup and overthrow the First Republic, which Cadrilla agreed. On September 17, 1915, Cadrilla and several other Kastelon officers overthrew the First Republic, suspended the liberal, progressive and secular constitution, and declared martial law until "a new constitution is written"

## Lesovia under Cadrilla

On October 30, 1915, the Lesovian parliament (of which there were only 10 members left) unilaterally passed the new Constitution of the Second Republic, which had rolled back almost all of the First Republic's progressive reforms and imposed further restrictions on the rights of women and homosexuals, as well as outlawing all leftist political parties. The remaining right-wing conservative republican and fascist parties were forcefully merged into United Lesovia, of which Cadrilla was the president. The new constitution converted the role of the President from a ceremonial figurehead into an absolute supreme leader, and Cadrilla was "elected" president by the parliament (of which there were only 10 members left). The head of state would issue decrees and make decisions that would be enacted and executed by the Prime Minister and other ministers. For his contribution in the coup, José Correa was appointed Prime Minister, a role he would hold until his assassination in 1923

In the first years of Cadrilla's new regime, the regime instigated the White Terror with the support of the Catholic Church of Lesovia and conservative, anti-secular, anti-monarchist landlords and nationalists. The White Terror, a series of politically motivated mass killings, targeted Loyalists to the Lespian crown, Loyalists to the First Lesovian Republic (1915), Liberals, socialists, Lespian supremacists, intellectuals, homosexuals, and etc. leading to the deaths of up to 1 million people. Cadrilla also gave the Liamist provinces of Krasnastan and Krenats et Laansa significant autonomy and self-rule, and the clergy used their newfound near-absolute political power to appease Cadrilla by instigating mass killings of their own, killing up to 30 thousand people.

Throughout his 40 year long rule over Lesovia, Cadrilla is estimated to have been responsible in the deaths of at least 1.5 million people, making him one of the worst dictators in the modern history of Yulea

## Death

Cadrilla's health begun deteriorating in the late 1940s. As a devout Catholic, he never smoked or drank, but the stress of managing a country for 40 years and holding his regime together, as well as the constant paranoia of assassinations and coup attempts would have taken a toll on the old president's health. Cadrilla appeared less and less in public, delegating most of it to Prime Minister Franco Fontana and Foreign Minister Alejandro Machado. There were rumors of his death in 1950, 1952 and 1953, but all of them were proven to be false.

Cadrilla almost completely disappeared from public by 1954. He was absent in important occasions such as the celebration for the 39th anniversary of the 1915 Lesovian Revolution, the formation of the ECSC under the Treaty of Lostana, and the state visit of Pope Benedict XVIII. Rumors of his death spread again, and Fontana publicly denied that Cadrilla had died, stating that his health was in "perfect condition". The rumors were disproved when Cadrilla reappeared for the unveiling ceremony of his 5000th statue and the celebration of the 39th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Second Republic, but he disappeared from public after that. In January 1955, Cadrilla appeared in parliament for the "Final Decree", in which a new addition to the constitution essentially made it illegal for a secular government to exist. Cadrilla could be seen not being very lively during the 1 hour in which he was present in parliament, before he left earlier than schedule

On June 2, 1955, Cadrilla sensed that his time was running out. He summoned Fontana, Machado, and Major General David Cruz to the Presidential Palace, presumably for the designation of his successor and plans for what to do after his death. However, Eduardo Salazar, Head of the Secret Police, reached the Palace earlier and prevented Fontana from seeing Cadrilla. Salazar then stormed the Parliament with armed Riot Police and declared himself Cadrilla's successor live on TV. In order to prevent a military intervention, Salazar then had the Secret Police raid the residence of Defense Minister Rodolfo de Calans and place him under house arrest. However, at the same time, students from the University of Lostana and other places of higher education rallied on the streets and the CNT-FAL and Knights of Lespia reemerged, engaging in street fights with the Riot Police. Lostana descended into anarchy as the military garrison stationed in Pavelos were redeployed to Lostana under General Cruz, despite having no authorization from the Ministry of Defense.