Ostaran Times

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Ostaran Times

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Martial Law declared in Mayari
By: Filomeno Sandvik
Published: Treizen 22, 1585


President Alberto Hidalgo has already faced severe criticism from numerous groups for his government's creeping authoritarianism, beginning with his proclamation last year to postpone national elections for ten months

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In an unprecedented move since the inception of the Second Republic back in 1520, President Alberto Hidalgo has announced the enactment of Martial Law throughout the entirety of Mayari.

Executive Proclamation No. 705 was publicly announced this Friday (Treizen 20 afternoon) by the President himself, in a nationwide television and radio broadcast. The official daily government gazette of Mayari also carried the proclamation in their headline and in their website, well advance of any major news agency within the country's borders.

In his address, the President of Mayari has identified the "increasingly escalating frequency and severity of violence" by the  CPM-MPRA (Communist Party of Mayari-Mayari Peasant's Revolutionary Army) as the primary factor for the enactment of nationwide Martial Law. In line with this, the President has cited several instances ever since last year which shows the "threat to peace and order" posed by the underground movement. Foremost among these incidents was the attempted assassination of Mayari's Vice President Rafael Cardenas through the use of a car bomb near the end of Vintyr the previous year.

The Executive Proclamation had three main "general orders to be immediately implemented." First of these was the granting of absolute control to President Hidalgo of military and police authority as well as legislative power, to be used in order to "curb national disturbances." The Congress of Mayari has been shut down and it is alleged that President Hidalgo has already ordered the Mayar Armed Forces to seize control of judicial functions over the courts come next week.

The second general order suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus in Mayari, which allows the Mayar government to arrest individuals "involved with the revolutionary movement and seditious actions." The first wave of arrests to come following the announcement of Martial Law were members of the opposition Socialist Action Party and the National Party. In a surprising move, critics of the Hidalgo administration from within his own Freedom Party have also been detained, including former president Senator Jacqueline Sagaysay.

The detention of members of the opposition the same day of the proclamation was followed quickly with the detention of the leaders of the MPDM and other organized labor groups.

Finally, the third general order illegalized all political parties and other "organizations colluding with the revolutionary movement or substantively harming stability in Mayari." Such organizations included labor unions, domestic and foreign think tanks, student groups, and major media establishments in Mayari.

Under Mayari's constitutional processes, a unilateral declaration of nationwide Martial Law by the President is allowed but shall be assessed by a bicameral conference of Congress following thirty days whether it shall be allowed to continue or not. The suspension of Congress and arrest of the opposition makes this nigh impossible now. Neither President Hidalgo in his broadcast nor the full text of the proclamation also makes mention of a specific date when Martial Law will be lifted. In his broadcast, the President has only stated that the state of affairs shall be returned to normalcy upon the "eradication of the CPM-MPRA."

The CPM-MPRA has not yet released a statement in response, but they are expected to continue engaging the Mayari Armed Forces with no end in sight. The Communist Party of Mayari has been leading the oldest socialist revolution in Ostara and continues to be a powerful force despite how long a time since they first raised arms.

The CPM-MPRA concluded another major operation yesterday when they seized three coastal towns and the capital of Ablan province after a month-long battle with the Mayari Armed Forces. An estimated 300 non-combatants have been caught in the crossfire and killed over the course of the fighting.