Bolívar League
This is a CoreNet series on people and cultures.
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The standard insignia of the Bolívar League

The Bolívar League is an organization of like-minded colonists and manufacturers that have often clashed (sometimes violently) with the Republic over trade and other matters. They control three systems in the rimward-spinward region of Dragon Sector: Bascomb, Morimoto, and Ranger. The League planets are under an embargo from the CSFR, though this is routinely flaunted by unaligned neighboring systems.

History

The League traces their anger to a series of punitive measures aimed at cutting down on information piracy and trademark violations imposed on the region during the waning days of the CS-Spartan War. At the time, the Republic Presidium saw the measure as nothing more than a trifling distraction that was quickly dealt with.

The people on the receiving end saw things differently, and stepped up their trade, utilizing the network of gray-market contacts they had acquired over the years. More restrictions from the Republic followed; what happened next is generally agreed by historians to have been impossible to foresee.

Garrison Alvarez, a machine worker from Jessica with no previous arrests or security flags, travelled to Helenium, where Rep. Aaron Brunnerman (a key figure in the sanction measures) was touring a production facility. Alvarez was able to gain access to the complex, don a plant uniform, and assassinate Brunnerman with an illegally-modified laser rifle. Alvarez then shot both Brunnerman's guard and his aide, as well as the farm representative, killing the guard and wounding the aide, before escaping. He was caught six hours later boarding a transport off-world and tried for the murders.

At his trial, he spoke passionately about his life and the harsh conditions that the Republic measures had placed on it. Neighboring systems that had also felt the demands of CSFR oversight were split in their agreement for the assassination, and Navy presence was quietly and quickly removed from the region. Two days after Alvarez was found guilty and sentenced to death, three systems - Bascomb, Morimoto, and Ranger - seceded from the Republic.

The secession was blotted out by an upswing in violence on the Van Ryan front, and little attention was paid to the declaration until two weeks later, when a well-orchestrated coup stripped the remaining outside business leaders of power and nationalized the region's industries. The actions were quickly met with an embargo of all nonessential supplies flowing into the League systems, and a Republic-wide ban was imposed on all goods produced by the secessionists.

In the nearly three decades since its tumultuous formation, the League's planets have been relatively quiet. Trade is maintained with unaligned neighboring systems, and - despite the CSFR mandate - with independent traders operating inside Republic space. Piracy (at least, by way of outside powers) is not as much of a problem as it might otherwise be in a region of space that lacks a strong Navy presence - the League's production is not as valuable as other markets', and local freighters generally maintain a "shoot first, don't ask questions" mentality that discourages risky boarding operations.

Political Structure

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Heather Heis, first President of the Bolívar League. (2431-2482)

The League quickly moved to gain a measure of public perception of stability, naming the coup leaders as a temporary emergency government. Unlike so many other groups with romantic intentions that quickly devolved into police states, the League heads followed through on their promise, opening the channels to government positions to all the residents of the region.

Heather Heis, a logistics analyst from Colus, was chosen as the first League president after a lengthy testing process. She continued to win her post through testing for another ten years before stepping down voluntarily. One year after vacating her position Heis was assassinated by a disgruntled freighter captain. Her assailant was never caught.

The current president is William Hellickson of Whitworth, who has served for the last three years.

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