Shadows of Cartagena, ...since SoLA is never coming out... Options

[Mercer]

I've been sitting on these notes since the last days of SR3. It probably diverges a bit from canon (there isn't much about South America that I could find, and I've never been married to canon anyway). I'll spread it out over the next few posts.

Cartagena, Occupied Colombia. November, 2064.

Occupied Colombia, eh? Who’s occupying it, and who does it belong to?

The country of Colombia changed drastically in the 30’s when the half south of the Andes fell to Amazonia, and the north was annexed by the newly formed country of Aztlan. At that point, the country of Colombia ceased to exist, and it was instead merely the name of a territory. By and large the people there still called themselves Colombians, even though their land had been either conquered or bought out.

Time goes by, and Aztlan has its problems. The territories that were formerly Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Panama all begin to rebel, seeking self-rule. Colombia, being the southern edge of the country has always had a reputation for lawlessness, especially in the interior. Refugees from the conflicts in the 30’s moved south, typically settling along the coast of Colombia. Many joined the private armies of the Ghost Cartels, whose power was localized in the border city of Bogotá, between the Aztlan and Amazonia (think Berlin during the Cold War). In the late 50’s, when the conflicts in Latin America became especially bloody, a new wave of refugees came south once again, setting up squatter camps around the cities on the coast, where it was more secure.

From 2060-2062, the rebellion was going badly for both sides. Aztlan began to fortify north of the conflict. The war had made most of the areas in the southern half of the country uninhabitable. The Panama Canal, due to its importance to world trade, stayed in control of the Corporate Court, and Colombia, despite being a part of Aztlan in name, was largely left to its own devices.

Thus was born the Provisional Government of Occupied Colombia. To put it in the terms of the movie Casablanca, Occupied Colombia is the Vichy French territory, Aztlan are the Germans, the refugees are the refugees, and Cartagena is Casablanca.

What about Cartagena?

Cartagena was one of the first Spanish cities in South America. Founded in 1504 and named Cartagena de Indias in 1522, the Spanish used it as the main exportation point of New World gold and silver. (It was named for the city in Spain which was named for the city its founders had come from, Carthage.) A Catholic diocese was founded in 1533. The city walls, built to protect the city from pirates, still stand today around the Old Town neighborhood. In later years, Cartagena became one of the main ports for the slave trade. It remained a Spanish city until it was freed by Simon Bolivar during the War of Independence in 1822.

In the latter half of the 20th century, Colombia became notorious for the actions of its drug cartels, which operated in the mountainous part of the country. These cartels amassed a great fortune in the drug business, which they invested in part in founding the ORO corporation, which would go on to form Aztechnology, which would be integral to the formation of Aztlan, which would then try to take Colombia back and exterminate the remaining cartels. There’s irony in them there hills, boys.

Throughout all this, Cartagena remained largely a tourist destination. Situated on a beautiful stretch of coast along the Caribbean Sea, Cartagena has always has as much in common with the Caribbean as it has with Colombia. Like many popular tourist destinations in this part of the world, the wealth of the tourists tends to exist along side with the incredible poverty of some of the citizens. The original slums of the city, the Loma Fresca and Mandela barrios, on the south and east of the city center, were originally swamps and dumps that refugees from the interior of Colombia began to inhabit around the turn of the century. In the 2030’s, these areas were flattened, paved over and turned into the low-income housing neighborhoods that still exist today. To the east of these barrios, more slums have cropped up as more refugees have come to the city, until the poverty and overcrowding have reached epidemic proportions.

Who runs things?

That depends on who you ask, and what you mean by “things�. The Provisional Government of Occupied Colombia is the nominal ruler, with its Presidente, various regional governors, and all the cogs and wheels that seem to find their way into local politics. But this was set up by and large by Aztlan, and is seen by many to be nothing more as a puppet show run by Tenochtitlan. As major players go, Aztechnology cannot be ignored. From the arcology in Barranquilla, a hundred kilometers northeast of Cartagena, Aztechnology is the 800-kilo gorilla in Occupied Colombia. Like most major cities, almost all civil services from waste disposal to law enforcement are privatized, but the corporations that provide these services are controlled—one way or another—by Aztechnology.

But that’s just the stuff on paper. When you’re footin' it to the Shack for a pack of popplers and a box of wine, it’s not Aztechnology you’re worried about. Block to block, who runs things isn’t about corporations or governments. To the east, in the slums, it’s the gangs. In your C/D neighborhoods, these are the street rat gangs that exist the world over. As you work you’re way west, into the B and A rating neighborhoods, you’ll start running into organized crime. Crime families, the majority of them affiliated with the Ghost Cartels, tend to run the black and grey market action in the nicer neighborhoods along the coast.

Added to this (much like the Seoulpa Rings in Seattle) you have the refugees that have come here in recent years; Hondurans, Panamanians, and so on, who after years of bloody warfare with Aztlan now find themselves with nothing to lose in Colombia. These gangs tend to exist in the far east slums such as El Infierno, a rating Z sprawl. In general, gangs come from the neighborhoods, which themselves are set along cultural divisions. Cartagena’s prominence has made it one of the most culturally diverse cities in South America.

And that’s just Cartagena. You’ve got the Caribbean League on one side, and the Andes Mountains on the other. In the CL, you have each individual island as its own separate entity. All megacorporations maintain facilities of some nature in the CL, from secure resort communities for the wage slaves to entire islands bought outright (such as Saeder-Krupps control of the Dutch Antilles). There’s also the open water; with pirates, commercial shipping, the Aztlaner Navy, the Bermuda Triangle and at least five difference species of Awakened sharks. In the interior of the country, on the other hand, you have warlords with private armies, Azzie mercs, Amazonian terrorists, the Ghost Cartels centered in Bogotá, corporate run pipelines, mineral resources, agribusiness, and smugglers who run some of the wildest and most unforgiving terrain on the planet.

Amidst all of this you have Cartagena, split by similar geo-political forces. You have Azzie loyalists, Pro-Colombian revolutionists, and even those that think Cartagena should split off and form a Carrib League free city, like Miami.

What’s Where?

The west part of the city is the nice part of the city. You’ve got Old Town Cartagena that most locals call “The Fort�. It’s on a small island connected to the mainland by four main bridges, which double as security checkpoints. South of there is the center of the Cartagena nightlife, the Bocagrande peninsula. The high-rises, the nightclubs and casinos can all be found here. The north part of the city is the airport and the city center, where there are the offices and industries you would associate with any major city. Directly east of the Old Town is the Isla de Manga, home to the wealthiest Cartagenans, as well as the Puerto de Cartagena.

The east half of the city is largely residential. Apartment blocks and neighborhoods slowly give way to suburbs, as well as the Villa Olympica and a few local universities. These neighborhoods tend to become poorer the farther east you go. The southeast edge of the city is the El Infierno Z zone, which is both the main dumping ground for the city’s waste as well as home to its poorest citizens.

Southwest of the city is the Isla de Tierrabomba, which is home to its Catholic diocese, and various schools of religious instruction, including the Bateria Angel San Rafael. South of the city along the coast is the Zona Industrial de Mamonal, which is where Cartagena’s natural gas pipelines terminate, as well as where several large processing plants are located. The Aztlaner Naval base ACR Bolivar is also located here.

Further south gives way to resort areas that have fallen by the wayside during the uncertainty of the last few decades. Playa Blanca, Isla Baru and the Islas del Rosario are all formerly posh resort communities that have depreciated due to security concerns in recent years, though they remain areas of spectacular natural beauty.

Where the hell is Cartagena, anyway?

Fair point. 450 kilometers north of Bogotá, 300 Kilometers east of Panama City, Panama, and about 1600km south of Miami. 600km southwest of Aruba. It's on the northeast side of the South American continent, just north of where North America and South America meet. Look at a map, in other words.