Rafael Sanz Durán

Rafael Sanz Durán was a famous Darnussian politician in the late 25th and early 26th century. He was one of the major more lenient politicians in the ultra-nationalists political party Darnussian Liberation Army. Sanz Durán was elected as president of Darnussia four times before his mid-term death in Janruaty 2540.

Early Life
Rafael Sanz Durán was born in Ghacrow to a half-Lusitânian father and Darnussian mother in October 2469. Sanz Durán lived his early childhood among the large Lusitânian minority in Alkavon, but his family moved to Lenz, a samller city near the Luthori border. In Lenz he was first time involved with The Klan that was currently under the command of Marcus Manticore, notorious white-power politician and leader of the political party National-Socilaist Party of Darnussia. Klansmen constantly harassed Sanz Durán Family for their Lusitânian roots, which eventually led to the divorce of his parents. Rafael's father moved back to Ghacrow, while rest of the family stayed in Lenz.

Rafael Sanz Durán was later involved with Darnussian Liberation Army, a separate faction from The Klan, but that was also under the NSPD-banner. He eventually joined their youth organization to get rid of his reputation as Lusitânian, and quickly started to rise among the ranks.

Rise of Sanz Durán
Sanz Durán, now a student at Red Stad University, did not join the NSPD that was openly against the minoroties in Darnussia, but he became one of the leadeing figures of DLA Students Union. It was there that he decided to aim for politics, but not under NSPD. He joined the Jewish-Christian Alliance of Patriots, and was elected to parliament for the first time in December 2499. Even though Sanz Durán was among the elected, it wasn't a day of celebration for him as the NSPD regained the spot of the largest party and Marcus Manticore was elected as president of Darnussia for the first time.

During his first term in parliament, Sanz Durán was attacked at the front of his Doressa house by three Klansmen of the NSPD. He was injured with stabb wounds, but survived and spoke later the same week in Parliament against such racist attacks. He made it clear that from his point of view, The Lusitânians were as much Darnussians as the Narikatonites and Mainlanders. His speech was cheered by many of the left wing politicians, but disliked by the extreme right, most notably the NSPD. President Manticore also spoke on the matter ans made it clear that there was no such organization as The Klan and that DLA was the only subordinate of NSPD. He stated that even though the attackers were NSPD members, it was a personal attack not related to the party in any way.

Sanz Durán was re-elected to parliament in 2501, 2503, 2506, and 2509. He was voted by many members of the Lusitânian minority and the centerist voters, but also by the core voters of the Patriots. In 2509 a big change came for him. The powerstruggle behind NSPD with the two subordinates, the official DLA and the unofficial Klan was at it's peak and Sanz Durán, who was still a member of DLA Students Alumni, was called to a student reunion. There it became reality to him; NSPD was going to be split in half. Many of his old DLA Student Friends had risen in DLA and NSPD and were now considered imporant members of both organizations. They asked him if he was interested in joining a new party they were going to create, the independent DLA. Sanz Durán agreed.



But Marcus Manticore was faster than his opponents in the NSPD. He was a renowned politician and known for his fast responses to anything that threatened his position. While other NSPD leaders were sending the Klansmen to oppose the rising influence of DLA and fight them with violence, Manticore decided to scrap the NSPD. He gathered the DLA leadership that was still loyal to him and excluded others from the party. Officially few months later, he announced that NSPD didin't exist anymore. Darnussian Liberation Army had taken it's place. Everyone but one NSPD member of parliament joined the DLA, but that spot was filled by a surprise name: Rafael Sanz Durán, who jumped from Patriots to DLA in mid-term.

Sanz Durán Era
Sanz Durán started imediately affect the DLA's policies, which greatly angered Manticore. He however also saw the great potential in playing with two different policies to gain more support for DLA. Sanz Durán was surprised when he was granted a minister post in the cabinet. He was also the speaker between DLA and the left-wing parties, makint it even possible to create one of the weirdes cabinet coalitions of all time: DLA and New-Revolutionary Communist Party.

With Sanz Durán as one of the leaders of DLA, they gained more popularity than NSPD had ever had. He was feared by the more hard-lining politicians among the party, as there was nothing they could do to exclude him. Even Manticore had to give up some of his proposals because of Sanz Duráns opposition.

In 2520 Manticore was 82 years old and finally losing his grip from the party. In the elections for new leadership he was faced for the first time by Rafael Sanz Durán, and lost. Rafael Sanz Durán became the leader of DLA, and in his speech that day, he refered to Manticore as one of the most patriotic and influential politicians of all time. Manticore himself was not present in the event, which only fueled the common belief that he and Sanz Durán had a grudge against eachother. Sanz Durán realized the meaning of such beliefs and how they might have hurten his position and asked Manticore to become the presidential candidate of DLA, a position that was usually obtained by the leader of the party. Manticore agreed and was elected as President of Darnussia for the last time in 2524. He died in 2529 and his vice-president was no other than Rafael Sanz Durán.



Sanz Durán's reign as the vice-president was swift, but he was elected again for the post at the next elections. Many believed that DLA was now completely his party and that the more lenient policies were going to stay, but the rise of young new politician, Anton Robervou, turned everyones head. He was a vocal critic of Sanz Durán and his policies. Robervou, who came from the same University background as Sanz Durán, created a subgroup known as DLA hard-liners to continue Manticores legacy. He called Sanz Duráns political changes in DLA as "Duranism", and the term was later applied to such moderate right-wing policies in Darnussia.

Fall of Sanz Durán
It became more imminent that Sanz Durán was going to share Manticore's faith. A younger, more inspiring politician was on the rise and Sanz Durán himself once called Robervou "The second coming of Marcus Manticore. It is like a resurrection, only in a much prettier package". Manticore became the Prime Minister while Sanz Durán held the presidency. The two factions within DLA, hard-liners and duranists, were splitting up, which worried and stressed Sanz Durán. Despite of his attempts to negotiate with Robervou, nothing was achieved. Only his own sudden death changed the situation. Early elections were aranged and Robervou was quickly raised to DLA Presidential Candidate, which resluted in a disasterous loss. However, that loss united the party under Anton Robervou, who later became one of the all time longest reigning Presidents of Darnussia.

Rafael Sanz Durán was burried in Ghacrow Lusitânian Cemetery among his family.

Legacy
Rafael Sanz Durán was known as the last notable politician with Lusitânian descent. His rise to the leadrship of the ultra-antionalist DLA was considered to be a small miracle. Sanz Durán was able to turn the DLA into respected political party. While NSPD and the DLA had been held outside of the cabinet before him, his lenient policies were accepted and DLA was able to enter and even lead cabinets. Many DLA politicians later called themselves Duranists, including Jean-Paul Avenon and Sanz Durán's own granddaughter Alicia Sanz Durán.