Silvio Betanjour

Silvio Betanjoir
Présidente of Grande Inyursta
In office 29 April, 1896 – 11 January, 1916
Preceded by	Gerardo dul Gerais
Succeeded by	TBD
Subprésidente
In office 12 January, 1895 – 29 April, 1896
Personal details
Born	October 31st, 1860 Monte Paz, Grande Inyursta
Nationality	Inyurstan
Political party	Parti de Dura & Unitas
Spouse	Natalia Relucie de Martinez
Children	*multiple*
Profession	Rancher

Silvio Jacques Betanjour de Hujino, also known by the moniker "Silvio B" was a businessman, rancher and the former Président of Grande Inyursta, serving four-and-a-half consecutive terms from 1896 through 1916. Betanjour remains a controversial figure, known for scandals, suppression of political enemies and an overall "gangster-style" term as presidente; though still lauded and seen as a folk-hero-turned-leader by many.

As Presidente

Following the assassination of Presidente Gerais, Betanjour wasted no time in pointing the finger at the Valenjia clan. He made no major changes to Gerais's cabinet, with the exception of firing his Secrètaire de Defençéa and replacing him with Benoit le Busche, his own private security manager.

Feud with the Valenjias

Despite it being a somewhat well-known likelihood that the Valenjias had Presidente Gerais killed on their orders, no local or provincial police would investigate the matter. Using his connections, Betanjour assembled a team of "loyal" and high-performing law enforcement officers along with his own private allies to pursue legal action against the Valenjias. To bolster their ranks, a number of special internal security forces from the army were enlisted into the service. This is considered to be the forefather of what would become the Policea National D'Inyursta (PNI).

As Betanjour's personal police force went about their "investigation", the Valenjia's were pushing legal action of their own. Firstly, Ernesto D'Enclaude, their chief family attorney, went about in the wake of the federal police forces and collected evidence of violated rights, unlawful search-and-entries, cruel interrogation tactics, bribes etc. Then, the Valenjia's offered a large sum to anyone from Silvo Betanjour's past or private life to come forward with scandalous information; meanwhile, using their connections in the media printing industry to lambast Betanjour as a criminal, a hack, and a tyrant day in and day out. Lastly, family patriarch Montie Mano Valenjia, approached former presidential runner-up Jean-Pierre Dezonado about the possibility of running again.

Eventually, the youngest son of three, Dario Valenjia, would ultimately be charged with financing the hit against Gerais - though historical accounts reveal that Dario himself willingly came forward with this information. Betanjour would push to have him charged with treason and facing a very public execution; however, with his grandfather's layers and the jury stacked with his own peers, Dario would only be found guilty on a much lesser charge of conspiracy to commit criminal activity.

Victorious only on paper, this feud would set the stage for Betanjour's long drawn out gutting of the Inyurstan legal system.

Granjèchampé

Betanjour is known for codifying Granjèchampé, an already de-facto state of affairs, into legal precedent when he mobilized and deployed the regular army to enforce rent contracts. In addition to physical force-of-arms, Betanjour's admin also micromanaged affairs and specifically appointed judges who would enforce rent contracts. Despite this being an obvious move to hurt the Valenjias and their allies, who had been using peasant land for mass crop agriculture, but providing a myriad of delayed payments, legal excuses, intentionally poor communications, etc.; it was extremely popular among the rural poor of Inyursta. Furthermore, the move had the effect - likely intended - of causing many peasant landowners to then see contracted rental usage of their land as a "get rich quick" scheme, and began inflating rent prices on the wealthy crop agricultural barons who had been using their land for mere pennies per acre a year.

While the rich agricultural baron families would later find ways of reducing or otherwise mitigating the codified reforms under Betanjour, the legal nature of Granjechampe stuck until Carmòn Solévereu's reign, and was immediately re-implemented following the Inyurstan Civil War.

Marriage

In 1899, as part of the ongoing press offensive against Silvio Betanjour, a scandal was leaked that he frequented a lady of the night back in his hometown of Monte Paz. More scandalous yet was when it was revealed that this woman was seen frequenting the Bâitmas Executív in Fjorda de Rivéra (the then-capital). Présidente Betanjour then took the situation into his own hands, and publicly proposed to his favorite comfort girl, Natalia Martinez. Of course, Silvio took this opportunity to come just short of demanding that the better part of the Inyurstan government come in attendance.

The ceremony was held in San Ignacio rather than the capital. On the day of the wedding Natalia, the now-known prostitute, opted to wear a red wedding dress and red veil - starting the trend of NovÍas Roujes (Red Brides).