Ciudad Rodríguez López

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Ciudad Rodríguez López
Flag	Coat of arms
Country	Verdeguay
Founded	November 25, 1650
Government  - Intendant	Diosdado Flores Vidal
Area  - City	131.2 km²
Population  - City  - Metro	697,690 1,201,639

Ciudad Rodríguez López (English: Rodríguez López City) is the capital of the Republic of Verdeguay. It is Verdeguay's largest and most populous city, and is the commercial, cultural, and governmental hub of the country. It is named in honor of Francisco Carlos Mauricio Rodríguez López, the father of the country's independence.

The city and its metropolitan area collectively form the autonomous "Capital District" (Distrio Capital), which is not part of any of the country's departments. The Capital District is home to over a million Verdeguayans.

In this teeming subtropical metropolis, glittering ultra-modern office buildings coexist side-by-side with derelict colonial architecture, perfectly illustrating the country's desire to both embrace modernity and at the same time cling to the past. While in many respects the city remains undeveloped - most roads are reduced to inaccessible mud when it rains - it is also far more developed than the rest of the country, boasting an impressive literacy rate of 85%, compared to 67% for the country as a whole.

This richly cultured city boasts some of the finest museums and examples of colonial architecture in the world; its ornately built, lavishly decorated churches in particular are a draw for tourists. Its people are modest, sensitive to a fault, staunchly patriotic, and extremely warm and receptive to foreigners. While Verdeguay is home to some of the most crushing poverty in the world, the capital is clean and orderly, with minimal street crime; even the poorest denizens of the capital are clean. Their clothing may be tattered and antiquated, but it is nonetheless kept spotless. There are no slums, though some houses still lack electricity and potable water. President Montesinos has announced that the modernization of the capital is one of the foremost goals of his government.

The majority of the country's Middle Eastern and East Asian minorities call this city home. Several street vendors, hotel owners, and restaurant managers are of Lebanese ancestry, there is a small but bustling community of prosperous Japanese-Verdeguayans, and the country's only mosque, Buddhist temple, and synagogue are located in the city - the latter serves Verdeguay's roughly 200 Jews, who coexist peacefully with their predominantly Christian counterparts. Good racial relations exist between the mestizo majority and the white, Amerindian, black, and Asian minorities, although, as in the rest of the country, there are significant disparities in the socioeconomic statuses of the different groups. Most experts attribute this to the country's history of colonialism and slavery (the latter was outlawed in 1823, but conditions tantamount to it persisted for decades afterwards). Reducing these disparities is another stated goal of the government, but what steps will be taken to achieve this, and how genuinely committed the government is to doing so, remains to be seen.

Recently, several multinational corporations and foreign embassies have begun springing up in Verdeguay, now that the country's isolation is ended. There is a small military mission from Parthia, as well as a team of SAVAK instructors; the latter are believed to be training members of the Technical Division for the Repression of Communism (División Técnica de Represión del Comunismo). A small number of expatriates have also emigrated to the city, attracted by its extremely low cost of living, pleasurable climate, leisurely atmosphere, friendly people, well-established bank secrecy, and low taxes (in fact, the country has no personal income tax).

Local manufacturing production includes footwear, textiles, and tobacco products. The government is looking into diversifying and expanding industrial production, with the cooperation of foreign corporations. The city's economy has grown explosively since the end of Verdeguay's isolation, but much of the city's population continues to live in poverty, and the main beneficiaries of this newfound prosperity have been members of the government and local elites with political connections.

[edit] Gallery

The Cathedral of Ciudad Rodríguez López (Catedral de Ciudad Rodríguez López)	Mausoleum of Francisco Carlos Mauricio Rodríguez López	Central Bank of Verdeguay (Banco Central del Verdeguay)	Skyscrapers under construction
Main square	Palace of Culture (Palacio de la Cultura)