Partido Legitimista (PL) - Legitimist Party
Color(s): White, Grey
Political position(s): Center to far-right
The party of the regime, the Partido Legitimista consists of an almost farcical amalgam of center-right populists, hard-nosed buisnessmen, reactionary landowners, neo-Fascists, and brown-nosing toadies of all stripes; united more by proximity to power than any serious ideological grounding. In clear reaction to the only tepid support for the Blancos regime from the Carter administration, the PL has increasing adopted ultra-nationalist and anti-American stances into its platform in recent years.
Their support base is primarily found in those whose financial security would be most stable from the continuation of the regime. These include many of the large landholders and cattle barons, as well as members of the armed forces and Guardia Civil. There does still remain a measure of support for the party among the urban poor due to their more populist measures, but its favor has drastically decreased from its previous heights.
Partido Nuevo Constitucionalista (PNC) - New Constitutionalist Party
Color(s): Orange
Political position(s): Center-left to center-right
The primary legal opposition to the Legitimists, the PNC was founded in 1963 from the union of the scattered remnants of the banned Partido Liberal and a small number of anti-Blancos conservatives. Despite accusations from the left of the party being collaborationist, a number of PNC leaders have been dissappeared under Blancos' rule and it has only narrowly avoided censure during the course of its existence.
Outside of opposition to Blancos, the party favors a middle of the road approach to the issues facing Los Altos - backing limited land reform and support for a fairer tax burden on the lower and middle classes. Their base lies in the urban middle class, small agricultural producers, and a number of leaders in the Catholic Church.
Partido Nacional Republicana (PNR) - National Republican Party
Color(s): Blue
Political position(s): Center-right to right
The Partido Nacional Republicana was founded in late 1975, arising from an internal insurgency within the Partido Legitimista when it became clear that Alejandro Blancos Rios would be dropping Cesario Pinon Lopez, a relative moderate and party stalwart, as vice-president in favor of his untested son for his fourth term in office. The flight of one-time party loyalists to the PNR has only grown since the death of Blancos in 1977, with his son's wild and erractic leadership seeing many abandon the regime.
Favoring business friendly policies and a good relationship with the United States, it is dominated by the interests of industrialists, mine-owners, and other export related businesses. It shares much of its voter base with the Legitmists, though it has significantly more support from the middle class.
Alianza Popular de Liberación Nacional (APLN) - Popular Alliance of National Liberation
Color(s): Red, Black
Political position(s): Far-left to center-left
The APLN is both an alliance of center-left to left-wing political organizations as well as an armed guerilla movement, theoretically united to the overthrow of the Blancos regime. Originally formed in 1954 and consisting of little more than bored university students and listless theoroticians after the 1961 collapse of the Communist Party of Los Altos into various squabling factions (orthodox, Maoist, and allegedly Trotskyist), the popular front was reborn in dramatic fashion in 1973, when the Partido Socialista Cristiano (
Christian Socialist Party) led by Sivia Bencomo Morando, the radical Xela Labor Union, and left-wing insurgents under Jose Castillo Roscio united in opposition to Blancos under its name.
Though formally banned, numerous independent candidates are associated under its banner, especially in the cities of Tapachula and Puerto de San Benito where the transportation unions are strongest, as well as in a number of more rural townships. Included within its membership are an uneasy mix of trade unionists, social reformers, factory syndicalists, hardline communists, and advocates for the rural poor and native Maya. While these factions are currently allied with one another, beyond simplistic calls for extensive land reform and the nationalization of (some) industry, it remains unclear of how these groups would actually function if they were to ever take power - much less if they would even be able to remain unified long enough to attempt to govern.
