Mina Carrero

Mina Inez Carrero was a major politician from the late 26th century. She was the 12th President of the The Terran Republic .

Early Life

Mina Carrero was born in the city of New Penzance on the world of Avalon in the year 2535. Her parents were both working class, with her father a police officer and her mother a former Marine corps medic.
Mina grew up one of six siblings and she was raised with values of hard work, honour and service. She had intended to join the Republic Marine corps and took a Marine Corps scholarship to attend Merlyn College, where she studied Business Management, with a minor in Military History. Mina played rugby for the college whilst in college, where she became captain during her senior year.
Mina Carrero met Thornton Hill whilst in college. The two dated on and off for around ten years, before getting married in 2566. The couple adopted a daughter, Sara, in 2576.

Marine Officer

Mina entered Marine Corps officer training on Earth in 2557. According to her transcripts at the academy, she was a so-so student but excelled in combat leadership, rifle drill and fitness drills. She set the course record in her year for the 200 metre activity course. She also played rugby for her training battalion.
Mina graduated from the academy in 2558 at the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, carrying her company pennant during the "passing out" ceremony. Her first assignment was as a platoon leader based on her home-world of Avalon.
She was deployed to Operation Liberator, leading her platoon during a landing operation on Fasserik. She was mentioned in dispatches and promoted to 1st Lieutenant. After Operation Liberator concluded, she was made a company executive officer and deployed to New Silesia.
She was promoted to Captain in 2563 and became a company commander.

2nd Zzenddi War

With the outbreak of the 2nd Zzenddi War , Captain Carrero was redeployed to her home-world of Avalon and promoted to the rank of Major. She was given command of a battalion of marines based at the capital city of Tintagel City.
In 2571 she played a key part in putting down Burning Path's attempted coup on Avalon. She personally lead marines to arrest many members of Governor Winnant's staff and then took part in a skirmish with Burning Path militia. During this battle, she suffered light wounds from a fragmentation grenade.
In 2572 she fought in the desperate defensive campaign on Avalon as the Zzenddi invaded the planet. Initially she lead a battalion but as the fighting raged on and the casualties increased, she ended up commanding an ad-hoc formation equivalent to a brigade. She was given a brevet promotion to Brigadier General during the fighting on Avalon.
General Carrero was wounded in action in 2573 leading an ambush against Zzenddi warforms in the Solstice river district. She was treated by doctors and made a full recovery.
According to the marine records, General Carrero fought in at least twenty different engagements, winning the Navy Cross and earning more than a dozen commendations. She was wounded again in 2575 and evacuated to a rear area after nearly five years of continous fighting.
With the arrival of the Marine and Colonial Infantry relief forces, General Carrero was relieved of her duties and allowed some time in a rear area where she served as a staff officer to General McCallum.
With the conclusion of the war, she was given the permanent rank of Colonel. However, she confirmed that with the end of the war she would muster out of service, citing the burnout of the war as requiring her "to do something else."
Colonel Carrero does not often talk about her experiences on Avalon but her former marines speak of her in glowing terms. It is known that out of her graduating class from the Marine corps academy (62 student officers), only she and three others suvived to the end of the war.

Politics

With the conclusion of the war, Mina Carrero took up consulting work for Sarissa Arms and relocated to Mars. However, she had become increasing political with the end of the war and in part driven by the release of the "Dhaka Papers", as well as her view that frontier worlds were being neglected by the Federal government, post-war, she got started in politics.
She was courted by several party's but decided to join Vishnu Elpis . Seen as a very attractive candidate for office on Avalon, she was recruited to run for Governor on her home-world in 2580.
Her campaign, which focused on her narrative as a war-hero and a native of the planet, saw her win office in a landslide election. Many top political commentators singled her out as a future "Presidential level candidate" due to her poise, natural charisma and compelling back-story.

Governor of Avalon

Governor Carrero was sworn in as Governor of Avalon in June of 2580. She inherited a divided, demoralized administration after the discredited Winnant administration. She appointed longtime friend and fellow Marine officer Salter Byers as her chief of staff.
Governor Carrero battled with the planet's legislature to get funds to restock offices and posts throughout the planetary government and she won praise for refusing to pander to her own party and largely appointing or hiring the most qualified candidate, rather than those who were members of her own party.
She inherited a budget crisis and she had to work with local charities to try and bridge the gap of social welfare. Avalon also had a considerable rebuilding cost, estimated to cost around 15 billlion adjusted dollars. She worked with the Federal government to find funds and allocate them.
Governor Carrero gained a repuation for blunt speaking, poise and fierce integrity. She fired her legal counsel after she was informed that he had been taking money from lobbyists and ruthlessly replaced her Chief of Staff when it appeared he lacked the political finesse to wrangle the legislature.
Governor Carrero was also praised for her pragmatic and swift response to deal with the "Snow Plague".
Governor Carrero finished her term in 2589 with very high job approval ratings. She was supportive of the SWA, though she stopped short of calling on Avalon to join the grouping.

Crime Wave in Avalon

Governor Carrero inherited a sharp crime wave on Avalon, apparently prompted by a clash between Yakuza gangs. She increased the Avalon police forces budgets, granted them new powers and even drafted in PMCs to help out with raids against hard targets such as drug labs.
She also increased funding for drug rehabilitation and worked with charities to try to make sure that criminals were given a chance to rehabilitate.
She clashed with the legislature, however, over her personal opposition to the death penalty. She often cited that "it was not proven to be a deterent". She also expressed her personal view that criminals who were executed "got off too easily." In the end, she was forced to agree a compromise that introduced a death penalty for murder and terrorism.
During her term, she reduced violent crime on Avalon by 15% and recidivism by an impresssive 40%. She was widely lauded by other governors for her tough approach on crime.

Onyx

With the formation of Onyx , through the merger between Valiant Party and Vishnu Elpis, Governor Carrero agreed to follow the merger, joining Onyx. She hailed the merger as "Pragmatic, standing up for the planet's rights issue." She was considered a moderate within the new party.
Governor Carrero was widely considered one of the party's most powerful and popular members and her name was mentioned widely as a potential candidate for President in 2590.
At the Onyx party nominating convention from Nysa City on Mars. Governor Carrero took on Senator Jander Speck.
Senator Jander Speck, formerly of Valiant, was seen by many as the most likely nominee. However, he was unable to secure the party's nomination on the first ballot, with Governor Carrero narrowly winning but without enough delegates to prevent a second ballot.
There was a recess and much horse trading and in the second ballot, Senator Speck backed out and called on his delegates to back Governor Carrero. In the subsequent second ballot, the Governor of Avalon won with over 80% of the vote to confirm her as the Onyx party nominee for President.
She chose neonate politician Colonel Estelle Bancroft.

Presidential Campaign of 2590

Governor Carrero took part in the 2590 campaign and focused on the core message of Onyx of "responsible reforms, reduction of Federal overreach and a strong national defence". She was generally well thought of as a candidate, though she did clash with Governor Tiberius Corvo (ISO) during the campaign.
Governor Carrero took part in the Presidential debates and whilst she benefitted from lower expectations of her as a debater, she was considered one of the stronger performers.
Come polling day, Onyx finished 2nd with 16% of the General Assembly and fifteen Senators. Many pundits felt that Governor Carrero's personal popularity was held back by the negative view of Onyx by other party's but she was considered to have a "middling chance" to be President of the Republic.
After the Isolationist party refused to back Senator Tarco Tumnas (RHC) for President, Governor Carrero was suggsted as a compromise choice and after nearly six weeks of debate, she was voted in by the General Assembly as President of the Republic.

President of the Republic

Mina Carrero was sworn in on 1st of June 2590, forming a coalition with the Isolationist Party , Ravenheart and fellow new party, Fortress.
She named former marine and political fixer Raadi Al-Bayaz as her Chief of Staff, who them assembled a young "but hungry" team of senior staff.
Senior Staff

• Chief of Staff to the President - Raadi Al-Bayaz (ONX)
• Deputy Chief of Staff - Max Perry (ONX)
• Senior Counsel - Numan van de Saar (ONX)
• Communications Director - Anna Kirsch (ONX)
• Press Secretary - Mirahdo -(ONX)
• Legal Counsel to the President - Joann Wolf (IND)

First Carrero Cabinet

• Vice President - Estelle Bancroft (ONX)
• Attorney General -Solomon Montez (FOR)
• Secretary of Defence - Alana Ashwell (ISO)
• Foreign Secretary -Fletcher Navarro (ONX)
• Treasury Secretary -Percival Tiago (RHC)
• Interior Secretary - Jonas McKinnon (RHC)
• Intelligence Secretary - Dr Edwin Graves (IND)

The Carrero administration was tasked with dealing with the growing SWA crisis. The mere election of the former Governor of Avalon appeared to calm down the SWA worlds. President Carrero promised to do all she could to influence the new constitution but pointed out that "in the end, there was a built in limit on what she could do."
President Carrero was also forced to deal with the growing border crisis between the Salborian Free-State and the Rorn Republic. In the end, the Republic threatened a trade embargo, which forced the Salborians to back down without any fighting breaking out.

Vodhyna Crisis

The Dhau Empire began to agitate, once again, to try and move on the border world of Vodhyna. President Carrero, working closely with Defence Secretary Ashwell, deployed a carrier task force to the border world. This seemed to provoke a matching deployment by the Dhau and the odds of an armed clash seemed to increase.
She also deployed Foreign Secretary Fletcher Navarro to try and corral allies and try to push back the Dhau. The Tazzyn Empire agreed to deploy a small task force in return for concessions.
There was isolated skirmishing on the border and this resulted in the loss of life of sixteen sailors. However, the Dhau reaction of carrying out a "devastator" weapons test was a mis-step, causing the Straetek and Tazzyn both to promise to intervene if the Dhau invaded. The Dhau pulled back and were forced into an embarassing climb down.
President Carrero was widely lauded for her leadership during this time and she gave fullsome praise to her crisis team that had "lead the effort".

"Thanks to the dedication and discipline of our Fleets and our allies the Straetek and Tazzyn, the Dhau forces have backed down from the border. The sacrifice of our sailors defending Terrans will not be forgotten, 16 sailors bravely gave their lives for our shared Terran Borders. Commander Justus Parry bravely defended our borders and will be awarded the Navy Cross for courage in enemy action. The Office of the President would highlight the need for a galactic council to prevent these kinds of conflicts from escalating further. This Council would need to be open to the galactic community"

President Carrero's address after the Vodhyna crisis.

The 2594 Constitution

The new constitution was put to a vote in 2594 and passed in both chambers, with resistance from the Anarchists and Ravenheart but support, albeit luke-warm, from the other party's.
President Carrero was wary of the new constitution and she suggested that "without some amendments, it will cause SWA worlds to break up the Republic."

The 2nd Carrero Cabinet

In 2595, President Carrero began plans to reshuffle her cabinet. Burman Riesche, a veteran fixer and lawyer for Onyx took over as Chief of Staff to the President. She also added prominent lobbyist Demba Madawi (ONX) as a senior counsel.
Her reshuffle was thrown off slightly when Foreign Secretary Fletcher Navarro (ONX) announced he would be stepping down to spend more time with his family. In a surprise move, Demba Madawi was named Foreign Secretary. This drew the ire of some SDP and RCP senators during his confirmation hearing.
The President also named prominent independent and Federalist Sevoy Panikkar (IND) to her cabinet as Minister of the Interior.
Senior Staff

• Chief of Staff to the President - Burman Riesche (ONX)
• Deputy Chief of Staff - Max Perry (ONX)
• Senior Counsel - Minka De Grun (ONX)
• National Security Adviser - General Edwin Clegg (IND)
• Communications Director - Anna Kirsch (ONX)
• Press Secretary - Haley Bridges-(ONX)
• Legal Counsel to the President - Liam Wolf (ONX)

Second Carrero Cabinet

• Vice President - Estelle Bancroft (ONX)
• Attorney General Kate Lancaster (FOR)
• Secretary of Defence - Alana Ashwell (ISO)
• Foreign Secretary - Demba Madawi (ONX)
• Treasury Secretary -Axille (RHC)
• Interior Secretary - Sevoy Panikkar (IND)
• Intelligence Secretary - Josie Pantone (ONX)

Norant Incursion

The Carrero government were forced to deal with a border clash between the Salborian Free-State and the Rorn. The Salborians had claimed that the world of Norant belonged to them and had previously agitated to take the planet.
The Salborians launched an attack against the system, defeating a Rorn / Allied task force and then occupying the planet and its down-port.
The Republic attempted a diplomatic solution, with Foreign Secretary Demba Madawi (ONX) making trips to Salborian and Rorn space. A threat of a trade embargo did not force the Salborians to back down and the Republic Navy deployed the "Republic" Carrier Task Force to Rorn space as a part of Operation Noble Guardian.
The Republic and its sister ship, Unity, engaged with the Salborians who showed better than expected combat capability but were still sorely outgunned and outnumbered. The Salborian fleet was defeated with a loss of 11 ships. Six Terran frigates were destroyed and the Republic took significant damage. 1,173 sailors also lost their lives during the battle of Norant.
The Salborians, who had taken Terrans prisoner, were forced to hand them back and the conflict ended with the Salborians back behind their own borders.

Karkouri Detente

The Carrero administration coninued its policy of building ties with the Karkouri Regime. Vice President Bancroft and Foreign Secretary Madawi helped to negotiate a new trade deal with the Karkouri Regime, which was hoped to make up for the loss of trade to the Salborian Free-State.

Instability on New Berlin and Earth

There was significant instability on New Berlin and Earth. On Earth, rebels and bandits caused significant problems in the sparsely populated Mongolian area and Governor Reighley Warran (ISO) deployed troops to try and contain the insurgents.
Meanwhile on New Berlin, a radical seperatist militia emerged, calling itself the Volks-Frei movement. Governor Wilhelm Goetze (SDP) ended up calling for Federal aid. Later on, a pro-Federalist miltia called the Bundschutze was also formed leaving the planet in a state of instability as of 2599.

Operation Beresford

The Republic was also rocked by the news, broken by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Intelligence Secretary, that the Dhau Empire has been shipping arms and funds to seperatist militias in Terran space. The intelligence division of RPF and RepInt attempted to stem the flow but appeared ineffective at limitng the movement of these arms and funds.
President Carrero used Executive Orders 171 and 172 to reduce access to small arms, ammo and grenades and to subject more shipping crossing the Dhau border to searches by the Navy.

Tax Crisis

The Carrero administration had been elected, in part, with a mandate to cut taxes. A proposed 6-9 billion adjusted dollar tax cut was part of the 2595-2599 budget.
However, there was significant concern at the lower than expected tax receipets and the Ways and Means committee uncovered that people on SWA worlds had not been paying their taxes in full (or at all) and that the Treasury had not used all its means to enforce the tax demands.
In addition to this, former Treasury Secretaty Percival Tiago (RHC) had not directed enough resources to collect the rolling taxes brought in by the Largo administration. This resulted in the Senate oversight commitee beginning hearings.

Social Welfare Cut

The 2595-2599 budget was a contereversial one, with Treasury Secretary Axille (RHC) wanting to keep in the tax cuts, with the President's support but unable to fund the social welfare budget as expected. Interior Secretary Sevoy Panikkar (IND) objected to this, saying it would result in needless deaths.
In the end, despite clashes with the Isolationist members of the coalition, the budget was passed with borrowing and the curtialing of some programs allowing the tax cuts to remain in place and the social welfare funded at the "minimum level".
President Carrero made it very clear that she saw "social welfare as something best done at a planetary level." Whilst she was prasied for her courage, her critics accused the administration of callousness.

Gaia Crisis

The potential admittance of a new AI colony, Calico, resulted in a crisis on Gaia where Governor Cato Elazar (RHC) said that there was a strong chance the world would have to secede if a law was not passed to protect the culutre of the planet. The GA did not support the Ravenheart solution, the Cultural Exception act but in the end, a new law allowing immigration controls to be set at a purely planetary level, solved the problem, for now.

End of Term

As of 2599, the Carrero administration was suffering in the polls with voters wanting a change and disapproval over the administrations handling of the economy and social welfare issues. The big foreign policy victories, however, had made President Carrero personally very popular.
However, in December of 2599, President Carrero confirmed she would not seek the Onyx nomination "Or appear on any ballot as a candidate". She was expected to back her Vice President, Estelle Bancroft, for President once she clinched the Onyx nomination.

Post Presidency

As President Carrero's term wrapped up, she set up a major office for the transition and she began briefing Governor's Schilling and Warran ahead of the election, ahead of the usual process.
She handed over the Presidency to new President Walt Schilling in 2600 and returned to Avalon.
She spent the first two years of her post presidential term, writing her memoirs.  She offered her support to the Schilling administration after the outbreak of war with the Dhau Empire.
She took up a teaching post at Merlin College and did guest lectures at Cydonia College too.
She joined the Board of Directors at Allied West.

Related Historical Events

• 2595
  Funeral of Governor Pierce Moreland