((Thunderhawk empty your PM box))
Zepeda stands by his captors
People, I must say I am sorry. I am sorry to have failed my deed, I'm sorry to have failed my part on history. I have failed to protect this country. While my intentions have always been good: setting our noble ex-president Badajoz in charge of the country once more, so that me and he both could have completed our task.. to make Chile a great country. We wanted this country to be safe from foreign powers, we wanted our military to be grand, our industry to thrive.. but we failed, and our noble deed was stopped dead by confusion and misinformation. Our generals misinterpreted me, it was not a coup.. the idea behind this was not a military dictatorship.. we did not want to suppress the liberal values we have fought for so dearly.. our freedom of speech, pluralism, abolition of monarchy and our great institutions. No, we wanted to finish what we had worked for. We wanted to win the war and win it together. But time was not enough, and I did all in my power to lengthen Mr. Badajoz's last period.
All happened too quick. Everyone thought I was taking the country for my own benefit... but my plan was more noble than that. It was not my goal, as some suggested, to end the "liberal tyranny" in Chile, and that man who believed that should have never had associated with me in the first place. My plan was bigger than political parties, bigger than ambitions... it was the spirit of Chile. I wanted to bring Chile to glory. If that meant changing some institutions, so be it. If it meant to take my chances and proclaim the suspension of the elections, so be it.. I took my chances and got betrayed.
Who were these men? They were generals who wanted to keep power for themselves. They were not happy with being generals, they wanted the presidency. And they have it right now.. they betrayed our noble cause and took to arms, leaving the argentinian front alone... It was not enough for these men to act against the president's orders.. they acted against our motherland! They let the enemy march into our country, attacking innocent villages, pillaging little towns.. killing chileans! Our brothers slaughtered.. only for raw power. It was never intended to go this way... we never wanted bloodshed, but we were willing to defend our glorious capital of Santiago from any rebel general. These rebels won.. they were the real coup, and now you see them inside the Palacio de la Moneda (presidential palace), ruling in excess and sin.
I made an statement out of anger for the inherent wish of these men to cause more slaughter and death of fellow Chileans. I agreed to war with Argentina, but on good odds. I agreed to war with Bolivia and Peru, but with good odds. I too, agreed to peacefully cancel the elections until the war was over, but other people took their chances and attacked our administration. Even our main army defected, after much confusion. I do not blame those men who stood by our side and defected out of fear of a military coup: these men were badly informed and only took the right choice. I don't even blame that innocent colonel who thought the coup was to get rid of the liberales. I only blame the ambitious general who marched against his orders to take over the government illegaly. That is all people..
Judge me as you want, I won't hold a grudge against you.
-Mr. Zepeda