Diego Blanco
Diego Blanco | |
|---|---|
 Blanco in 2015 | |
| President of Rotania | |
| Assumed office 19 May 1988 | |
| Prime Minister | Rolando Yetunde Ramon Olayemi Eustacio Sánchez Julio Zoido |
| Vice President | Juan Abimbola Tomas Navarro José Afolabi |
| Chairman of the National Security Commission | |
| Assumed office 5 August 1995 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Diego Adolfo Blanco Oyibo April 20, 1946 Dukpene, Tieradan West Tusola |
| Education | Tilakam Mission School University of Artosa |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Rotania |
| Branch/service | Republican Army |
| Years of service | 1968–2000 |
| Rank | Teniente General |
Diego Adolfo Blanco Oyibo (Tieradan pronunciation: [ˈdje.ɣo a.ˈðol.fo ˈβlãŋ.ko o.ˈʝi.βo ]; born 20 April 1946), commonly known as just Diego Blanco, is a Rotanian politician who has been the President of Rotania since 1988.
Blanco was born in 1946 in Dukpene, a village in Tieradan West Tusola. His family were cocoa farmers of the Nsuno ethnic group. Blanco studied at the Tilakam Mission School in Barané, where he learned Tieradan and Apelian, and briefly at the University of Artosa in 1966. He became active in the Rotanian independence movement, helping to organize protests against Tieradan colonial authority. After Rotania gained independence in 1976 he joined the Rotanian Republican Army.
He quickly rose among the ranks of the army, attaining the rank of Teniente General by 1980. With the breakout of the Rotanian Civil War in 1981, Blanco became a leading figure as the head of the forces loyal to then-president Adisa Abellán. In 1988, Blanco orchestrated a coup d'etat against Abellán, taking control of the presidency and prosecuting the war until its finish in 1990. He purged the government of Abellánists and asserted dictatorial authority over the country.
Since his taking control, Rotania has seen gradual alienation from the international community for its alleged violations of human rights. Blanco has regularly suppressed political dissidents and restricted access to elections, the latter of which have been deemed "fake and unfair" by international watchdog groups. Blanco has lambasted his critics and declared them to be imperialists, while calling for Tusolan self-sufficiency. He is the architect of the Bonaflé Agreement, a pact between various Tusolan states to increase cooperation in trade, infrastructure, and science. Under his direction, Rotania hosted the 2017 AMF World Cup, the first time a Tusolan country has done so. Blanco's economic vision has resulted in a wide-scale expansion of natural resource extraction, leading to consistent economic growth as well as environmental degradation.