Bosqueverde

The area currently occupied by the republic of Bosqueverde was caracterized by fertile river deltas inhabited by the indigenous people Warao,^[1] as well as by game including pumas,^[6] chicken^[7] and in the triple-canopy jungles around the Sierra Angeles mountains, jaguars and edible deers. Some Bosqueverdans adopted aliases based on condors,^[4] falcons or hawks,^[6] suggesting that those animals weer also endemic. The temperature in Bosqueverde was famously high especially in summertime,^[6] with 100 degrees being common and breezes appreciated.^[7] Fluvial beaches allowed for enjoyment under that temperature.^[8]

Spanish explorers reached the area in 1501, who named one of the rivers in the area Bosque. Spain colonized the area in the following decades, decimating or displacing the Warao into Sierra Angeles when they decided to build one of their first permanent settlement in South America, Ciudad Leando, next to the Bosque River.^[1] The Spanish erected many building that remained standing in recent times and had historical value, including old mission buildings and prisons.^[2] The area was completely colonized by 1528.^[1]

In 1818, Bosqueverde declared independence from Spain. The Spanish imperial forces had several minor skirmishes with the Bosqueverdans, and finally the country became autonomous in 1820,^[1] thou Spanish was still the only language spoken.^[1][7] Bosqueverde was established as a republic, and they elected their first president in 1822.^[1] The official residence of the Chief of State ("Presidente")^[6] was the Presidential Palace^[7] in the capital city, Ciudad Leando.^[1] The country's economy was based on vegetal produce, including grapes, lemons, mangos, soybeans and sunflowers, that sustained the local currency, the Bosqueverde peso:^[1] A local custom had the Bosqueverdans lay pesos on the eyes of their dead before burial,^[9] yet Bosqueverde was eminently Catholic, with widespread veneration of the Virgin Mary. Still, there were superstitions about "fantasmas" (ghosts).^[7] The country's defense was given to the Bosqueverdan National Guard, the Bosqueverde Air Force and the Bosqueverde Army,^[1] the later of which was made up mostly of young, inexperienced soldiers,^[7] thou the Army also had access to few elite units like the Red Condors. These first-class soldiers however tended to perform well-paid mercenary work instead of simply defending their country.^[4] Bosqueverde in fact had high rates of blue-collar crime, including assault, murder, rape and theft, especially in the remote areas like Sierra Angeles that were controlled by local gangs of so-called banditos^[1] like El Halcón. These banditos were based in the jungle and, like the government, sometimes collaborated with mercenaries.^[6] The government of Bosqueverde famously employed Symkaria's Wild Pack.^[1][10]

In recent times, Bosqueverde was considered a small^[2][3] banana republic (a politically and economically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources)^[3] that many foreigners, including Americans, were unable to place in the map.^[3] It was however a member of several international groups including Interpol, the Latin American Economic System, the Organization of American States, Rio Group, UNESCO, and the United Nations,^[1] and had a consulate in Miami, Florida.^[11] Due to its high criminality and poverty, especially in recent times, Bosqueverde received foreign aid from the United States and other countries, and got some economic influx by illegally exporting cocaine.^[9] Corruption reached higher authorities in the legal system of Bosqueverde, with judges being willing to influence their decisions if a local crimelord was generous with their favorite charities - or if a first-degree relative was kidnapped.^[4] Prisons were harsh and barely respected the rights or the health of the immates, those being not the priority of brutal guards and wardens; and even edged weapons could be smuggled inside the jails;^[6] guards could also be bribed.^[7] The judicial system approved of death penalty, at least for those guilty of war crimes and human right violations (besides the use of death penalty); public hangings were used as execution methods.^[7]

At some point, Bosqueverde was up for the world cup,^[6] the decisive match taking place at Ciudad Leando's Estadio E. Jacovone,^[7] the largest stadium in the country,^[1]

Presidential changes and civil wars[]

General Hector Carranza of the Bosqueverdan National Guard^[1] was a cocaine dealer who for several decades^[8] exported his product to the U.S. east coast.^[8] Carranza then staged a military coup in Bosqueverde, deposing the previous democratically-elected president and assumed dictatorial power, purportedly to improve the efficiency and end a legislative deadlock. However, Carranza and his top officials junta immediately used their position to profit from organized crime and government-sponsored racketeerign. This led to a fall in the popularity of Carranza's military junta. Eventually, a group of dissident military officers, students and liberal professionals allied to end Carranza's regime, and succeeded at a bloodless coup. Carranza was forced to flee into Sierra Angeles, where he continued his illegal activities,^[1] and eventually became a folk hero^[4] even if he was causing a huge number of deaths while getting rich.^[3]

Carranza was replaced^[1] with democratically-elect^[1][2] President Ricardo Dominguez,^[1] Dominguez's approach to the position as a "benevolent dictator"^[2] fail to appease the pooreses sectors of Bosqueverde's population,^[1] eager for more representative reforms. General Emmanuel Raposa of the Bosqueverdan Army led a socialist uprising against Dominguez,^[1] the "Raposistas",^[6][7][1] including mad^[2] torturer César Bajete, and also hiring foreign mecenaries including Bo Ollsen^[6] and Marc Spector.^[12] Raposa personally led his men to Ciudad Leando in a forced march through the jungle,^[11] then his army laid siege to Ciudad Leando^[1][6] during summer.^[6][2] At that point, Raposa's partidaries had the military superiority and were expected to win the civil war.^[2] Dominguez made a deal with Raposa so that Dominguez would legitimize Raposa as ruler of Bosqueverde, in exchange for one million U.S. dollars in gold krugerands. Raposa accepted, and Dominguez kept the treasure in a locked strongbox in the palace, locked.^[5] Raposa promised Dominguez a military escort^[2] to take them to a plane to fly to Europe.^[5] However, Raposa decided to betray Dominguez, murder him and recover the money: He sent a group of mercenaries to the Palace, with orders to capture Dominguez alive^[6][2][1] but Raposa told only their leader, Ollsen, that his real objective was to kill Dominguez and get the money.^[6][7][1] Reaching the palace, Ollsen manipulated Spector^[5] to shoot Dominguez dead^[6][2][5][1] when Dominguez made a movement to get a key, which Ollsen said could have been a gun. Ollsen then made a deal with Dominguez's wife Carmilla, who had witnessed this, to share the gold with him, least he'd take her to Raposa as a political prisoner; Ollsen would instead tell Raposa that Dominguez had died accidentally before revealing where the loot was. Mrs. Dominguez agreed. Ollsen smuggled the gold under Raposa's nose, not without difficulty, and was then able to spend his share.^[5] Señora Dominguez claimed that the two mercenaries had forgiven her.^[2]

Following Dominguez's death,^[12] Raposa easily took power.^[12][6][1] Raposa paid Spector well for his loyalty, reputation, and results;^[2] Spector's actions had been key to Raposa's victory;^[12] Spector and Ollsen then left Bosqueverde for other countires.^[6][5] Breaking his promises, however, Raposa established a ferocious dictatorship in Bosqueverde,^[13][14] repeatedly violating human rights^[12] and spilling so much blood^[2] that his regime was considered the bloodiest in Latin America. Raposa had no problem shooting innocent civilians if he got something of it.^[11] He appointed Bajete as his right-hand man,^[2][1] and the general of his Secret Police, putting him in command of his death squads,^[1][6] later infamous.^[1]

Dominguez's supporters refused to recognize Raposa's legitimacy, and arranged guerrilla attacks against the new President's interests. This led to ten years of civil war,^[1][6] the second in recent times,^[1] that devastated the population with poverty, disease and mutilation^[1][6] while battles took place village by village.^[1] Critical of the organization of the resistance was Hector Silva, professor at Ciudad Leando University^[1] and former friend of Dominguez.^[1][2] During that time, relevant bandito leader El Halcón died.^[6]

Silva's democracy[]

Ten years later,^[7] and after a bloody civil war, the resistence the resistance defeated Raposa's forces,^[1] but Raposa managed to escape the country before being captured,^[6] eventually settling in Miami as a drug lord^[5] Some of his allies, including Bajete, were arrested;^[1] however, many Raposa supporters remained at large, awaiting their leader's return. A new democratic government was created, led by President Hector Silva^[6] and Vice President Carmilla Dominguez,^[2] and with a new constitution. Vice President Dominguez hid her late husband's crimes^[7] and instead presented him in a hagiographic way^[2][7] so that the people would respect him as a hero^[2] and support the democratic regime.^[7] Silva had been reluctant to take power,^[1][6] instead wanting to teach, but he had such a widespread support that he agreed to serve, at least until justice could be served.^[6] The new government immediately devoted efforts to prosecute and punish the Raposistas for war crimes and human rights violations,^[6][1] but they were unable to find and arrest Raposa^[6][11] or Ollsen,^[2] although they hired Silver Sable's mercenary force Wild Pack to apprehend Spector to stand trial, which they did;^{[12][1][15][16][17]} however, the arrest and extradition lacked many legal guarantees and the lawyer assigned to Spector did not even speak English. As Spector had became a millionaire, his arrest and trial in Bosqueverde became was covered by the media, including the Daily Bugle.^[6] Spector's allies, his friend Frenchie and his girlfriend Marlene Alraune, travelled to Bosqueverde to try and rescue him,^[6][7][18] illegally entering the country through the jungle and trying to find allies in the banditos, but Frenchie's former allies had died^[6] and they forfeited their original plan to try and stage a rescue just the two of them from Ciudad Leando pretending to be photographing old buildings for National Topographic.^[2]

The trial was held in public, in the Estadio E. Jacovone,^[7] with the Army ensuring that the attendees would not endanger the accused or the procedures.^[2] It was presided by President Silva,^[6] with Vice President Dominguez being the star witness of Spector's case.^[1][2] Although Spector's case rose doubt on the possibility that Spector may had killed Dominguez in perceived self-defense, Spector and the Raposistas were found guilty and sentenced to death on the gallows.^[2] Bajete had arranged a prison escape with help from secret police associates, a bribed guard and free friendly sympathizers who would help them outside, with their plan being assassinating Silva immediately after the escape.^[6] Spector begrudgingly joined them,^[2][7] thou Spector wanted to prevent people like Bajete and Raposa to hold power in Bosqueverde again. Once the Raposistas were free (and had murdered the bribed guard), Spector turned against them but, weakened for the time in jail, was overpowered by Bajete's men and left to die. He was found asnd saved by Frenchie and Alraune, but insisted he had to stay to save Silva - at that point, Spector knew that he had been taken for a pansy, but not by Silva. In his identity as the Moon Knight, Spector helped the Army in the defense of the Presidential Palace, and found Bajete with a gun on Silva's head; Spector, perceived as a "fantasma", knocked Bajete out, then made a deal with Silva: In exchange for Silva pardoning and releasing Spector, Moon Knight promised to bring Raposa to the Bosqueverde justice. With Bajete unconscious, the coup failed.^[7] Bajete and his allies were hanged at the Estadio, but Silva pardoned Spector;^[7][1] Spector's criminal record in Bosqueverde were similarly pardoned.^[19] The attendees, especially Vice President Dominguez, were disgusted, but the Army escorted Spector away.^[7]

This ordeal had an impact on Spector's international reputation, as many people believed that Spector had bribed someone to escape, which in turn caused Spector's shares to fall and several borads asking for his resignation.^[20] On a personal aspect, Spector had nightmares where the Bosqueverde people called him a murderer and a monster, demanding for his execution, then one of these men became Spector's father,^[21] and his stay in the prison had affected his physical shape for the worse.^[22] Still, Spector intended to keep his promised and looked for Ollsen, hoping that Ollsen may know where to find Raposa.^[20] Moon Knight found Ollsen on a quest after the person responsible for a conspiracy that had harmed him, and they traded information on their targets, with Ollsen telling Moon Knight about Raposa's Miami operation.^[5] After killing his personal enemy, Ollsen decided to pay off his debt for framing Spector by helping him against Raposa; furthermore, Ollsen recognized his part of the blame for giving a monster like Raposa the government of Bosqueverde.^[11] Moon Knight confronted Raposa in Florida, and managed to knock him out without killing him. Moon Knight then called the Bosqueverde consulate to ask for a ship to wait for him outside of Miami,^[11] to deliver Raposa to them, bound. With this he not only brought Raposa to justice,^{[11][1][13][14]} but also exorcised a demon from his own past.^[13][14]

Silva's government failed to successfully provide a democratic regime, and Bosqueverde became a puppet government for drug lords in the Caribbean Sea, thanks to former dictator General Carranza's success.^[3] However, the US Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Carranza^[1] during the so-called "Operation Guillotine", possibly in a Caribbean island^[3] and with dubious legality,^[8] although the Navy SEALs read his rights in Spanish and English and provided an arrest warrant signed by the President of the United States. They took him on a Los Angeles-class attack submarine^[3] to a federal prison in Miami to stand trial for racketeering^[3][1] and a dozen counts more, thou they provided him with luxuries in his cell.^[3] From prison, Carranza arranged his own escape by staging an open war between drug wars in Miami, prompting the Governor to call for the martial law and the United States National Guard; he recruited the help of local drug dealer Solomon Garland for this plan.^[3] With his men disguised as National Guardsmen, Carranza escaped prison and fled on a cargo plane to Bosqueverde,^[3][1] but in the process attracted the attention of vigilante the Punisher, who vainly tried to stop the plane from taking off.^[8]

Two months after his bloody escape, Carranza landed at Verdenoches airport in Bosqueverde, greeted with cheers from his compatriots. Carranza surrendered to the Bosqueverde authorities to be tried there for racketeering, where he could alter the conditions of the process more easily than in the United States. He was immediately transferred to a prison compound in Sierra Angeles, surrounded by all kinds of luxuries as long as he did not leave the area so as not to attract attention. Carranza had one hundred trained soldiers guard the jungle around the building, to deter new foreign military interventions by executing any intruders; and he also put pressure on the authorities: he bribed three Bosqueverdan judges and kidnapped another judges's daughter, so that they would block the extradition attempts that the Americans demanded; when the Americans threatened to cut off foreign aid to Bosqueverde, Carranza convinced the authorities that he would cover the costs with profits from his illegal cocaine trade. Carranza intended to remain hidden in prison for several months until international attention forgot his name; but as long as his name was in the headlines, he could not afford to leave the building. The building however allowed him to be accompanied by women of dubious morals, associated military officers and agents who attended to his needs.^[4]

The Punisher saw on television where Carranza was, and traveled illegally to Bosqueverde to kill him.^[4][1] When Carranza and his men detected an intruder, Carranza concluded he could not be from an official United States agency,^[4] Carranza hired the elite unit Red Condors to protect him;^[4][1] Carranza was able to send the money to an account in the Cayman Islands from his prison. Carranza also sent the Condors a map of the area and the last location of the target.^[4] When the Condors described the intruders, Carranza recognized him from Miami, and decided that this "cowboy" (in his words) could not be scared away or bribed, so he had to be killed.^[9] The Punisher took out the Condors one by one,^[1][9] then took control of their helicopter. Mistakenly believing that his enemy was dead, Carranza ordered to celebrate the victory and gave a speech about how he would build a new criminal empire as soon as he could leave prison, to obtain fortune for himself and his associates.^[9] The Punisher then rammed the building with the chopper, killing Carranza.^[9][1] This did not affect the continuity of President Silva's and Vice President Dominguez's government.^[1]

• Bosque River^[1]
• Ciudad Leando^[6]
  • Ciudad Leando University^[1]
  • Estadio E. Jacovone^[7]
  • Presidential Palace^[7]
• Sierra Angeles^[4]
  • Carranza's Prison Compound^[4]
• Verdenoches^[4]

• Bosqueverde Air Force^[1]
• Bosqueverde Army^[7]
  • former General^[1] and former President Emmanuel Rodrigo Raposa^[6]
  • Red Condors^[4]
• General César Bajete,^[6] deceased^[7]
• Bene^[4]
• President Juan Ricardo Dominguez, deceased^[6]
• Vice President^[2] Carmilla Dominguez^[6]
• Fernando,^[4] deceased^[9]
• El Halcón, deceased^[6]
• Lhosa Brothers,^[4] deceased^[9]
• Bosqueverdan National Guard^[1]
  • General^[9] and President^[1] Hector Carranza,^[3] deceased^[9]
• Broward "Bo" Ollsen; formerly^[6]
• Porquito,^[4] deceased^[9]
• Rafito^[4]
• President Hector Silva^[6]
• Marc Spector; formerly^[12]

• Although Marvel Atlas #2 unambiguously places Bosqueverde in South America, several previous sources suggest it was in Central America, including Marc Spector: Moon Knight #24 (where Raposa's regime is said to be the bloodiest in Central America) and Punisher (Vol. 2) #92 (saying that Punisher had travelled to Central America). In Punisher (Vol. 2) #89, Bosqueverde is said to be a "Caribbean puppet" for the druglords, Carranza is arrested by Navy SEALs in an island, where he seemed to be in Bosqueverde's Presidential Palace.
  • Marvel Atlas #2 also has several spelling typos about Bosqueverde, including calling it "Bosqeverde" and using the adjectives "Bosqeverdan" and "Bosqueveran". The mountain range Sierra Angeles is called once Sierre Angeles.
• Spanish is spoken in Bosqueverde,^[7] but the authors made several mistakes in their writing:
  • Diacritics are used in words that do not use them, including "Diós"^[9] (sometimes)^[7] and "siléncio".^[9] "Sierra Angeles" should be written "Sierra Ángeles", but the diacritic is never used.^[4][1]
  • Most of the time, the inverted exclamation mark, mandatory in Spanish, is not used;^[6][7] except in one case, even if that same issue features its omission. In that case, "!¿Qué?!" is said, while commonly the exclamation mark is inside the questions marks.^[9]
  • The possessive in Spanish must coincide in number with the noun, meaning that Carranza saying "mi amigos" instead of "mis amigos" ("my friends") is a mistake no native Spanish speaker would make.^[9]
  • The man screaming at Spector says "Animale! Tú estás un cadáver." The first word should be "animal", and the person is mixing up the verbs "ser" and "estar", again something only non-natives do.^[6]
  • The word "maldición" is misspelled "maldicon".^[9]
  • Vice President Dominguez's shrine to the virgin has a slot for "ofertas"; the right word is "ofrendas".^[7]
  • Bajete uses the infinitive as an imperative in "Mirar", instead of the correct form "Mirad". This is a mistake some Spanish speakers make, but it's unusual for an educated doctor like Bajete.^[6]

• "Bosque verde" (two words) means "green forest" in Spanish.
• There are no known superhumans from or in Bosqueverde, nor the country has ever had known contact with extraterrestrials.^[1]
• El Diario Libertad (Spanish for "Freedom Newspaper") seems to be published in Bosqueverde.^[6]
• Marc Spector remembers the moment of President Dominguez's death as having been during a particularly hot August.^[6] Señora Dominguez remembers it as having been in September, one week after their wedding anniversary.^[2]
• In Spanish-speaking countries, spouses keep their original surnames, instead of taking the husband's. Rarely a woman introduces herself as "Señora (husband's first surname)" like Carmilla Dominguez did, as the surname would be believed to be the woman's birth surname; instead, she'd add the preposition "de" as in "Señora de Dominguez". In some countries, the wife unofficially adds the husband's first surname after her own, for social purposes, and always after the preposition "de"; meaning that Carmilla's name would not be Carmilla Dominguez but "Carmilla (her original first surname) de Dominguez".