Arius Perez

## Character Overview

President Arius Pérez was the brutal dictator of the Republic of Val Verde in Central America but was taken out of power by John "Dutch" Matrix and Delta Force and replaced by a puppet regime. He could be the Great x10 grandfather of General Perez from Alien: Resurrection and distant relative to Jack Roselli in Shaft.

## Biography (P)

In 1899 Arius Perez's great grandparents, the Sacco's, immigrated to Guatemala from Italy and married their daughter into the Pérez political family who were loyalists to the Manuel Estrada Cabrera regime. (More Sacco relatives immigrated to the United States and changed their name to Roselli becoming influential mobsters in mid-century New York and Chicago)

### Early Life

Arius was born in Flores, Guatemala in 1940vv and followed his family's footsteps, entering the Guatemalan Military. He quickly rose in the ranks due not only to his family's influence but also his reputation for getting the job done at any cost. In 1970vv he aligned himself with Esteban de Souza and the splintering of the Republic of Val Verde from Guatemala. It was due to Arius's leadership that Val Verde was able to secure Conta Mana with such ease in 1977vv. Arius married in 1978 and the couple would have 4 children.

### 1978 - 1986: Arius Pérez as Dictator of the Republic of Val Verde

In 1978vv leadership of the Republic of Val Verde was passed peacefully over to Arius Pérez after Esteban de Souza's retirement. In 1980vv Perez promoted Ramon Esperanza to General of the Val Verdian Army and began a campaign to strengthen its military. It was during Arius Perez's tenure that the government became invested in the narcotics trade. The United States Government ignored this drug scandal early on due to Val Verde's proximity to Guatemala, and their wish to suppress communism in the West. It wasn't until Ronald Regan's war on drugs that the U.S. began to put pressure on Val Verde, but at this point it was too late. General Arius and the Val Verde military regime were now irreparably intertwined with drug cartels. It was during this time that Arius became acquainted with Henriques, a U.S. Soldier who was stationed there.

by 1985vv Arius Perez would have many people tortured and killed. He justified this by saying the country needed to be led by someone who understood discipline, but that was a ruse in order to conceal the drug trade from the United States. In 1986 the U.S. Army sent in Delta Force after numerous well-publicized terrorist incidents occurred in the region linking the Val Verde Government to the narcotics trade. The result was the removal of Arius Perez and the instillation of a United States puppet government.

In 1987vv President Valesquez was put into power by the United States after the removal of Arius Pérez in 1986. Arius Pérez was extradited to the United States but due to a lack of sufficient evidence he served little jail time and established himself off the coast of Santa Barbara on Santa Rosa Island where he commanded a garrison of Val Verde loyalists.

### 1988: Arius Pérez's plot to take back control of the Republic of Val Verde in Commando

Angered and seeking to return to power, Arius ordered the killing of select members of Delta Squad who helped remove him from power and kidnapped John "Dutch" Matrix's beloved daughter Jenny. Arius uses Jenny to blackmail John into killing President Valesquez of the Republic of Val Verde; allowing Arius to return to power. Matrix refuses to cooperate and kills all of Arius' henchmen and most of his Val Verdian Loyalists on Santa Rosa Island. Matrix kills Arius by shooting him with a Remington 870 shotgun following a brief shootout with Arius' Steyr AUG assault rifle.

### Legacy

Many of Arius Pérez's relatives would be affiliated with Guatemalan politics and the military including Otto Fernando Pérez Molina, a Guatemalan politician and retired general, who was President of Guatemala from 2012 to 2015. Arius's great x10 grandson would become a General in the Space Marines in Alien: Resurrection (2365vv).