Marvin Gaviria
Marvin Gaviria | |
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 Marvin Gaviria in 1956 | |
| 25th President of Zamastan | |
| In office September 22, 1946 – September 29, 1972 | |
| Preceded by | Tyler Kordia |
| Succeeded by | Elene Abotsford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 7, 1909 Little Tribe River, Pahl, Zamastan |
| Died | September 29, 1972 (Age: 62) Tofino, Zian, Zamastan |
| Manner of death | Assassination by sniper rifle |
| Nationality | Zamastanian |
| Political party | Conservative Capitalist Party (Zamastan) |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Spouse | Padma Tio Gaviria |
| Children | Randall, Thomas, Henry |
| Parent(s) | Walter Gaviria, Pricilla Gaviria |
| Education | Zamastan Southwest University |
Marvin Gaviria was a Zamastanian politician who was the 25th President of Zamastan, serving from 1946 until his assassination in 1972. He is widely considered to be one of the most popular presidents in the history of Zamastan, known for his humor, charm, and youth, as well as his administration's sweeping economic and social reforms. A member of the Conservative Capitalist Party, Gaviria's campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential debates in Zamastanian history. An advocate for capitalist systems around the world, Gaviria's strong economic stances against communism propelled the nation into the new world following the World War with new jobs programs and a uniquely revitalized education system. Gaviria was also known for his endeavors on the international stage in diplomacy, creating some of the first ever diplomatic connections and lasting international alliances with other nations.
As President, Gaviria faced many testing crises. Gaviria oversaw Zamastan's participation and Allied victory in the World War, and continued to serve during the Cold War aftermath in a tumultuous time in the history of the world. In the mid 1950s, Gaviria oversaw military operations in Pahl, where the military fought small pockets of pro-communist insurgents. In 1956, he oversaw the testing of the first nuclear weapon which started a global arms and influence race, especially as the rise of communism began to take root in Ausiana in the nations of Beleroskov and Yuan. In response to this, Gaviria instituted a policy of propping up capitalist governments in Adula, sending support to Dabattan forces during the Kossmilian Wars, Hanjoyo Hong in Qolaysia, and East Chanchajilla during the 1972 conflict. In 1970, Gaviria was faced with a sudden and sporadic outbreak of fighting in Second Danaska War, seeing the Zamastanian Armed Forces pitted against the invading Gladysynthian forces. Gaviria was instrumental in laying the framework for the Coalition of Crown Albatross, which would be established three years after his death.
On September 29th, seven days after he was elected to his 13th term, Marvin Gaviria was shot down during a speech at Congressional Hall in Tofino. The perpetrator was never identified, the rifle used in the shooting was never recovered, and the case was never solved. It remains the greatest mystery of Zamastan history. Spawning countless conspiracy theories, the assassination was considered one of the most mysterious unsolved crimes in the history of Zamastan and the world until it was revealed by the Zamastanian Intelligence Service in 2019 that he had been killed by a team of seperatist Mayottean assassins. Gaviria's legacy has been enshrined in Zamastanian culture, politics, and entertainment. The movie Gaviria, directed by Carmeno An'rto and starring Anthony Avi-Davis as Gaviria, grossed over $Z1.9 billion in the box office, making it the sixth highest grossing movie of all time. Capitol Park in Tofino was renamed Gaviria Park by President Elene Abotsford in 1974.
Early Life
Childhood
Marvin Jayden Gaviria was born on December 7, 1909, in the city of Little Tribe River in the region of Pahl, Zamastan, to his father, businessman Walter Forrester Gaviria, and his mother Pricilla Amanda Gaviria. Gaviria's patrilineal ancestor migrated to Zamastan in the 19th century, from Quetana, and the Gaviria's flourished as merchants and landowners.
Gaviria grew up in a wealthy family. His father, Walter, graduated from Providence Law School in 1861, but chose not to practice law after receiving an inheritance from his grandfather, James Gaviria. Marvin's father was a prominent Blue Conservative who once took Marvin to meet President Elias Blanco in the Zian Presidential Mansion. Walter was the dominant influence in Marvin's early years, as Privilla had died in childbirth.
Marvin learned to ride, shoot, row, and to play polo and lawn tennis. He took up golf in his teen years, becoming a skilled long hitter. He was club champion in his late teen years at the small golf club on Qira Island, Zian, where his family had a summer cottage. He learned to sail early, and when he was 16, his father gave him a sailboat.
Education
Frequent trips to the continent of Adula — he made his first excursion at the age of two and went with his parents every year from the ages of seven to fifteen — helped Gaviria become conversant in east-Adulan languages. Except for attending public school in Quetana at age nine, Gaviria was home-schooled by tutors until age 14. He then attended an Episcopal boarding school in Emerald, joining the third form. Its headmaster, Indifren Peabody, preached the duty of Christians to help the less fortunate and urged his students to enter public service. Peabody remained a strong influence throughout Gaviria's life, officiating at his wedding and visiting him as president.
Like most of his boarding school classmates, Gaviria went to Zamastan Southwest University. Gaviria was an average student academically, and he later declared, "I took economics courses in college for four years, and everything I was taught was wrong." He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and the Fly Club. Gaviria was relatively undistinguished as a student or athlete, but he became editor-in-chief of The Southwest Pristine daily newspaper, a position that required great ambition, energy, and the ability to manage others.
Marriage
On March 17, 1936, Gaviria married Padma Tio in Tofino, despite the fierce resistance of his mother. While he did not dislike Padma, Walter Gaviria was very possessive of his son, believing he was too young for marriage. He attempted to break the engagement several times. The young couple moved into Gaviria Cronestone, his family's estate in Jade Harbor. The home was owned by Walter Gaviria until his death in 1949 and was very much her home as well. Padma never felt at home in the house at Gaviria Cronestone, but she loved the family's vacation home on Qira Island, which Walter gave to the couple.
Children
Marvin and Padma had a total of three children, though two died in infancy. Randall Gaviria was born in June of 1938, but died two months later. Thomas Gaviria was born in March of 1940, living on to become a prominent senator in Zian and leading the CCP in the wake of his father's death in 1972. Henry Gaviria was born in December of 1947, but died in 1951. The death of Henry especially had a major impact on Marvin's capacity during his presidency, and especially during the World War.
Early Career
Prospei and Fullerton
Marvin Gaviria began working at the prestigious banking firm of Prospei and Fullerton in 1932, working in the firm's admiralty law division.
Campaign for President
On 17th May 1945, Gaviria announced his candidacy for President of Zamastan, quickly becoming the main opponent of President Tyler Kordia as a member of the reemerging Conservative Capitalist Party. His early rallies garnered renown for the youth turnout, which at the time was uncommon for the electoral base in Zamastan. Gaviria's presidential campaign was a family affair, funded by his father Walter and with his younger brother Elijah, acting as his campaign manager. Marvin preferred elite policy advisors, but unlike his father, he enjoyed the give and take of provincial politics in Zian and built a largely conservative team of campaigners, headed by Thomas O'Brien and Donnell Olhander. Gaviria traveled extensively to build his support among conservative elites and voters, rallying Blue Conservatives to his side. At the time, CCP party officials controlled most of the delegates, but decided the best chance to finally win their first presidential election since Alistair Griffiths in 1898, they rallied overwhelmingly behind Gaviria.
On June 5th, 1946, Gaviria squared off against Kordia in the first televised presidential debate in Zamastanian history. Distinguishing himself as the more charismatic and youthful of the two being younger by 23 years (Kordia was 59, Gaviria was 36), Gaviria wore makeup and appeared relaxed, which helped the large television audience to view him as the winner. Additionally, radio listeners either considered Gaviria the winner or the debates as a draw, contributing to growing momentum for his campaign. The debates are now considered a milestone in Zamastanian political history—the point at which the medium of television began to play a dominant role in politics, as the majority of campaigns from the local to national level implement them.
On Election Day, September 22nd 1946, Gaviria clinched the election with an overwhelmingly positive popular vote margin of nearly 5 million voters, with 43.2 million votes to Kordia's 38.3 million. Effectively securing the majority of voter districts as well, Gaviria became the 25th president of Zamastan.
Presidency
Marvin Gaviria was sworn in as President on September 22nd at 12:01 PM in Congressional Hall, following the tradition of functioning government and transition immediately following conclusion of voting results.
The World War (1949-54)
Despite his pursuits of peace, Gaviria was forced to send Zamastanian forces to assist Avergnon in 1949 when the Empire of Drambenburg invaded their allies and began brutal bombing campaigns of major civilian areas. The early stage of the war was slowly and grueling, as each side was unable to gain major advances of territory and resorted to intense tit-for-tat campaigns against civilian populations, such as the razing of Titania during a Drambenburgian firebombing raid on October 19th, 1949. Eventually Drambenburg shifted their tactics to the Toyana Ocean, where they targeted shipping vessels of neutral nations in an attempt to deter nations from entering what was Grand Kaiser Geoff III von Wettin's strive for an expansive territorial empire. This ultimately backfired, bringing Beleroskov, Yuan, and Emmiria into the war on Zamastan and Avergnon's side, which would be known as the "Allies". Drambenburg's allies, which included Malvare, Styrae, and Rumaztria, were known as the League.
The main contributions of Zamastan to the Allied war effort comprised money, industrial output, food, petroleum, technological innovation, and (especially 1951-1954) military personnel. Much of the focus in Tofino was maximizing the economic output of the nation. The overall result was a dramatic increase in GDP, the export of vast quantities of supplies to the Allies and to Zamastanian forces both fighting along the Drambenburg and Avergnon borders and overseas, the end of unemployment, and a rise in civilian consumption even as 40% of the GDP went to the war effort. This was achieved by tens of millions of workers moving from low-productivity occupations to high-efficiency jobs, improvements in productivity through better technology and management, and the move into the active labor force of students, retired people, housewives, and the unemployed, and an increase in hours worked.
Upon the addition of the Dominion of the Sanguine Church in the conflict in 1950, Zamastanian and East Chanchajillan forces were able to create a new battlefront, which allowed for eased fighting for the Avergnonians. However, the DSC and Rumaztria, both League Powers, swept into the Allied nation of Vulkaria, nearly completely capturing the nation and threatening vital supply routes through the Vulkarian Pass.
Zamastanian armies participated in the liberation of Vulkaria from the DSC and Rumaztria in 1952-1953 alongside Vulkarian, Emmirian, and Ruskaynian troops. Landing on both ends of the country, Zamastanian forces fought back Sanguine fighters in the north and contingents of Rumaztrians in the south, with Ruskaynians reinforcing in the north and Emmirians to the south. The fighting in Vulkaria was particularly devestating, with the Battle of Spanning alone costing more than 120,000 lives. By the spring of 1953, Rumaztrian forces had been fully expelled from the southern end of the nation and signed an armistace, effectively dropping out of the war and ending one of three fronts. In June, the DSC was defeated in Vulkaria and two months later in August on the Eastern Front, also signing an armistace and ending the conflict in Vulkaria and Eastern Avergnon. The only battle zones left were now limited to Drambenburgian controlled territory.
The final invasion of Drambenburg began in January of 1954, which saw some of the most violent fighting in the conflict. The final member of the League Powers ultimately surrendered on November 12th, 1954, with the capture of Lerbin. 289,430 Zamastanians were killed during the course of the war and over 859,044 were wounded, making it the second-deadliest war in national history after the Parabocan War. Aunistria was annexed by Zamastan after the war.
Economic Prowess
In 1952, at Gaviria's request, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1952 and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1953, as part of the war on poverty. During Gaviria's years in office, national poverty declined significantly, with the percentage of Zamastan living below the poverty line dropping from 28 percent to 10 percent.
Gaviria took an additional step in the War on Poverty with an urban renewal effort, presenting to Congress in January 1956 the "Cities Renewal of Demonstration Program". To be eligible a city would need to demonstrate its readiness to "arrest blight and decay and make substantial impact on the development of its entire city." Gaviria requested an investment of Z$400 million per year totaling Z$2.4 billion. In the fall of 1956 the Congress passed a substantially reduced program costing Z$900 million, which Gaviria later called the Model Cities of Zamastan Program. The bill is credited with jumpstarting much of Zamastan's late 20th century economic booms in most cities across the country.
Gaviria's initial effort to improve healthcare was the creation of The Zamastanian Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Strokes (ZHDCS). Combined, these diseases accounted for 71 percent of the nation's deaths in 1962. To enact recommendations of the commission, Gaviria asked Congress for funds to set up the Regional Medical Program (RMP), to create a network of hospitals with federally funded research and practice; Congress passed a significantly watered down version.
Despite the programs involving health care and poverty recovery, Gaviria mostly introduced policies that allowed more individualistic capitalist maneuvering of the economy. A member of the Conservative Capitalist Party, he still stated in his memoirs during his time in office that he "recognized the gravitas of the suffering of the Zamastanian lower-class, and if I have to turn to the government to help them, I decided to do so in a heart beat."
World Connections
Gaviria was strictly anti-communist, and was known for imposing extremely harsh sanctions on nations such as Yuan, Beleroskov, and nations that supported communist countries. In response, communist nations sanctioned Zamastan, but to little avail. Gaviria was a believer in global trade, and reestablished close ties with Avergnon, Ruskayn, Tinten, Rio Palito, Lutharia, Paraboca, East Chanchajilla, and Caspia. These connections heavily boosted Zamastan's economic influence, and by the end of the 20th century, Gaviria's policies were credited with making Zamastan the highest GDP nation in the CCA.
Education Reform
Gaviria fervently believed that education was a cure for ignorance and poverty, and was an essential component of the Zamastanian economy, especially for minorities who endured poor facilities and tight-fisted budgets from local taxes. He made education a top priority of his administrqation's agenda, with an emphasis on helping poor children. Gaviria launched a legislative effort which sought to double federal spending on education from Z$4 billion to Z$8 billion; with considerable facilitating by the Zian Presidential Mansion, it passed the Congress by a vote of 363 to 137 on March 26, 1967, and then it remarkably passed without change in the Senate, by 73 to 8, without going through the usual conference committee. This was an historic accomplishment by the president, with the billion dollar bill passing as introduced just 87 days before.
For the first time, large amounts of federal money went to public schools. In practice, the Education Stimulus Bill of 1967 meant helping all public school districts, with more money going to districts that had large proportions of students from poor families (which included all the big cities). For the first time private schools (most of them Catholic schools in the inner cities) received services, such as library funding, comprising about 12 percent of the bill's budget. Though federal funds were involved, they were administered by local officials, and by 1977 it was reported that less than half of the funds were actually applied toward the education of children under the poverty line. Studies soon found that poverty had more to do with family background and neighborhood conditions than the quantity of education a child received. Early studies suggested initial improvements for poor children helped by the Bill's reading and math programs, but later assessments indicated that benefits faded quickly and left pupils little better off than those not in the schemes. Gaviria's second major education program was the Higher Zamastanian Education Act of 1970, which focused on funding for lower income students, including grants, work-study money, and government loans.
The Pahlan Insurgencies
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The Pahlan Insurgencies was an ethno-nationalist conflict in the Administrative District of Pahl of Zamastan during the mid 20th century. Also known internationally as the Pahlan Independence Movement, it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "low-level war". The conflict began in the early 1950s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Sherburne Agreement of 1958. Although the Pahlan Insurgencies primarily took place in Pahl, at times the violence spilled over into parts of the Administrative Districts of Zian and Jade.
The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic, fueled by historical events. It also had an ethnic or sectarian dimension, although it was not a religious conflict. A key issue was the constitutional status of Pahl. Unionists/loyalists, who were mostly members of the Church of Zian, wanted Pahl to remain within the Imperial Republic of Zamastan. Pahlan nationalists/republicans, who were mostly members of the Catholic Church of Zamastan, wanted Pahl to leave the Republic. Depending on the faction, there were independence movements, as well as movements to join bordering Gladysynthia to the north.
Increasing tensions led to severe violence in August 1955 and the deployment of Zamastanian troops, and there was near consistent occupation of major Pahlan urban areas such as Abagene, Alanis, and Emerald, and many small villages until the Sherburne Agreement of 1958 ended the fighting. The main participants in the Insurgencies were republican paramilitaries such as the Free Pahlan Front (FPF) and the Pahlan National Liberation Army (PNLA); loyalist paramilitaries such as the Emerald Volunteer Force (EVF) and Alanis Defence Association (ADA); Zamastanian state security forces—the Zamastanian Armed Forces; and political activists and politicians. Paramilitaries carried out a guerrilla campaign against the Zamastanian security forces, as well as a bombing campaign against infrastructure, commercial and political targets. Zamastanian security forces undertook both a policing and a counter-insurgency role, primarily against the rebel groups. The Insurgencies also involved numerous riots, mass protests and acts of civil disobedience, and led to segregation and the creation of no-go areas.
More than 6,532 people were killed in the conflict, of whom 40% were civilians. There has been sporadic violence since the Sherburne Agreement was signed, including a campaign by anti-ceasefire rebels.
The rippled effects of the Insurgencies carried throughout Gaviria's administration. Gaviria had been the target of a Lauchenoirian-sponsored assassination attempt during his 1972 re-election campaign; on July 6th, 1972, a man shot at Gaviria's open-top car as his motorcade passed through Emerald, Pahl. Gaviria escaped unharmed, but the Governor of Pahl and two bodyguard were injured, and one later died. The would-be assassin turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. At the time, the assailant was believed to be a member of the radical Catholic Pahlan National Liberation Army, which had long been in armed protest against the Zamastanian government and society in the Pahlan Insurgencies. The shooter's connection to Lauchenoiria was never discovered.
The Tariel War
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The Tariel War was a 28 day long war between Zamastan and Gladysynthia. On September 24th, 1970, Zamastan was faced with invasion from a massive and successful Gladysynthia crossing of the Danaska River in Northern Zamastan. Tensions had been escalated between the two nations ever since the conquests by Zamastan in the 1945 Danaska Conflict. Gladysynthian forces crossed the cease-fire lines, then advanced virtually unopposed into the Sinai Peninsula. After three days, Zamastan had mobilized most of its forces and halted the Gladysynthian offensive, resulting in a military stalemate. The Gladysynthians coordinated their attack on the Tariel Heights to coincide with the earlier offensive and initially made threatening gains into Zamastan-held territory. Within three days, however, Zamastanian forces had pushed the Gladysynthains back to the pre-war ceasefire lines. The Zamastan Defense Forces then launched a four-day counter-offensive deep into Gladysynthia.
Within a week, Zamastan artillery began to shell the outskirts of Mönusÿnthys, and Gladysynthain Premiere Duncan Thomas began to worry about the integrity of his major attack. He believed that capturing two strategic passes located deeper in the Tariel Heights would make his position stronger during post-war negotiations; he therefore ordered the Gladysynthians to go back on the offensive, but their attack was quickly repulsed. The Zamastanians then counter-attacked at the seam between the two Gladysynthian armies, crossed the Danaska River into Gladysynthia, and began slowly advancing southward and westward towards the city of Danaska in over a week of heavy fighting that resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.
On October 22, a brokered ceasefire unraveled, with each side blaming the other for the breach. By October 24, the Zamastanians had improved their positions considerably and completed their encirclement of Gladysynthian Third Army and the city of Danaska. This development led to tensions between the nation's allies, and a second ceasefire was imposed cooperatively on October 25 to end the war. Gaviria's leadership was widely praised during the course of the conflict.
Assassination
On September 29th, 1972, President Gaviria stood in front of a large crowd on the stairs of Congressional Hall in Tofino, to give an inaugural celebration speech. About 0.9 miles northwest of Congressional Hall and across Gaviria Park (at the time, known as Capitol Park), three men had arrived at an under-construction 50-story skyscraper. The two men were Mayottean mercenaries, and one was a selected hired observer. The Mayotteans climbed the interior of the building to the forty-third floor. One of the men was carrying a heavy-sniper rifle, but the Z.I.S. is not sure which one fired the fatal shot. Constructing a sniper nest in haste with bricks, nylon covering, and wooden planking, the sniper team would have had to calculate wind, distance, and the arc of the bullet path in order to hit Gaviria, nearly a mile away in a large crowd.
At roughly 2:12 PM, the sniper fired a single bullet. As he addressed the crowd nearly three minutes into his speech, Marvin grabbed his chest, buckled forward to the podium, and collapsed to the stage. Seconds later, the bang of a sniper rifle bore through the air and the crowd began to scatter. As paramedics and witnesses tended to the President, they soon realized that he had been killed at the moment he was hit with the bullet. A large, inch and a half circumference hole had ripped through Gaviria's upper chest and exited out his middle-back near the bottom of his shoulder blade.
Around an hour later, authorities found the sniper’s nest on the forty-third floor of the construction site. Security footage captured someone leaving the scene with the gun, but the perpetrator was never identified, the rifle was never recovered, and the case was never solved. It remained the greatest mystery of Zamastan history until 2019 when the perpetrators were identified from newly discovered tapes and eye-witness testimony from the construction site and people who were in Gaviria Park between the Congressional Hall and skyscraper.
Funeral
A Requiem Mass was celebrated for Gaviria at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on October 1st, 1972. Afterwards, Kennedy was interred in a small plot, 20 by 30 ft., in Tofino National Cemetery. Over a period of three years (1972–1975), an estimated 16 million people visited his grave. On March 14, 1978, Gaviria's remains were disinterred and moved only a few feet away to a permanent burial plot and memorial.
The honor guard at Gaviria's graveside was requested by his wife, Padma.
Padma Gaviria and their two deceased minor children were later interred in the same plot.
Legacy
Marvin Gaviria is frequently ranked as the most consequential President in Zamastanian history, known for his long tenure as well as his policies that cemented Zamastan's influence in the 20th century. In 2015, future-President Foley Sakzi, at the time serving as Speaker of the Chamber, wrote that, at times Gaviria misused his powers by "modern standards", but concluded, "on the whole, even counting his worst and faults, he was a great President." Historian Benjamin Uvas'm commented that Gaviria "turned out arguably to be the best President in history", praising him for his championing of civil rights, flourishing economy, and other initiatives of the administration.
Gaviria is often considered to be the best President in Zamastanian history, most often ranking above or compared side-by-side to Tomias Hapson and Cassious Castovia. He is also considered to have been one of the Coalition of Crown Albatross's (founded three years after his death) most important and popular historical figures. Many current day heads of state have pointed to Gaviria as one of their impact inspirations.
Gaviria's assassination was a blow to the optimism for a brighter future that his Presidency had brought for many Zamastanians who lived through his tenure. Freshman Senator Laura Dolbin, one of the first women elected to the Senate, had shook hands with Gaviria minutes before he was shot, later saying, "It made me realize that no matter how much hope you have it can be taken away in a second."
Capitol Park in Tofino was renamed Gaviria Park in 1974 by President Elene Abotsford.