Ciudad Barranquilla
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Cuidad Barranquilla, also known as Banana City, is a huge fictional city covering much of Central America in the Judge Dredd comic book series. Its name comes from the real city of Barranquilla in Colombia; its nickname is a play on the term banana republic.
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[edit] Description
Like Mega-City One, Barranquilla suffers from high levels of population density. Unlike Mega-City One and most of its contemparies, most of its City Blocks are rather old fashioned and do not show the same futuristic design, due to Cuidad's high level of financial inequality - most of its population live in poverty, while the elite few live in extravagance. Much of Baranquilla's economy comes from trade with other Megacities. Much of the organised crime comes from the drug-dealing narco-gang cartels, who operate under Judicial license. While it is quite close to radioactive desert, it is also close to surviving jungles, home to both Zancudo and a Mayan city named Mictlan that has been converted into a refuge for criminals & fugitives.
The main thing notable about the city is how everyone speaks in very cheesy accents.
[edit] Law
Cuidad Barranquilla is run by a Judge system, with harsh laws enforced by figures who are a combination of judge & jury and police officer. Judicial corruption for Barranquilla is one of the highest on Earth, with the Judges openly using brutality, taking bribes and generally being more like gangsters in uniform than law enforcers. The Justice Department is openly seen as a way of getting your hands on "the benefits" of the status. Traditionally, all those executed by the Judges were dumped in the mass graveyard Heurtos dos Heusos - the Bone Orchard - with its open nature serving as a form of intimidation. The Supreme Judge, equivalent of the Chief Judge, owns many companies and tourist attractions in order to finance himself. Due to this system, there have been a substantial number of coups among the Supreme Judge. The current ruler is Cholo, having helped Mega-City One depose former Supreme Judge Santiago Sangrenegra. On the surface, the new regime is openly going to be far less corrupt and has assistance from international peacekeepers in resorting stability.
A Baranquilla Judge, Corvo, was part of the international team chosen to stop Judgement Day, but he defected to Sabbat to save himself.
PJ Maybe the notorious serial killer was able to live free in Cuidad for some years. During this time the Judges turned a blind eye to his murdering and even assisted in covering his tracks when Dredd finally learned he was still alive.
[edit] Zancudo/Ant Wars
In the remaining Amazonian jungle near to Bararnquilla, a race of giant ants - the Old Ones - have existed since 1978. As chronicled in the 2000AD strip Ant Wars, they were mutated into giant form and increased intelligence (which borders of sentience) by a new form of gas weaponry. They conquered their way through Central America, devastating an entire city early into their campaign, before finally being destroyed. Some survived and remained in hiding in the jungles, eventually gaining worshippers in the form of one of the local tribes. Meanwhile, a race of sentient giant mosquitos - the Zanduco - was also created. By 2127, they had created a city in old Mayan ruins and enslaved the nearby human tribes as a food source & slave labour. The Old Ones and the Zancudo were at war until the arrival of two Judges, Sofia and Xavi, who found themselves a pawn in the war as they possessed the ability to cure the Blight, a disease the mosquitos and their slaves were suffering form. The Judges both died but took the Zancudo with them in a nuclear detonation. In true B-movie tradition, a few of the larvae survived...
With the Zancudo gone, the Old Ones now have supremacy over the jungle. What they will do now is unknown.
[edit] Regime Change
Sangrenegra was never able to fully consolidate his grip on power after the coup, leading to a mass of civil unrest and open warfare between different factions of Judges which would soon lead to the regime's collapse and civil war that could possibly lead to Barranquilla being destroyed. Sino-Cit was supporting the current regime with intent of gaining a foothold in South America; East-Meg Two was covertly funding part of the coup to secure regime change that would give them a foothold, with Sangrenegra's chief lieutenant and illegitimate son Cholo secretly working with them. Mega-City One formed and led an international peacekeeping mission - Mega-City would provide the bulk of the military units, led by Judge Dredd, while Brit-Cit and Euro-Cit provided most of the medical & technical personnel. The ulterior motive for Mega-City One, however, was to ensure there would be a regime change that would fall in their favour. Tek and Psi Division uncovered the remains of fourteen Mega-City citizens murdered by Judicial forces at the Bone Orchard, giving Dredd an excuse to launch a punitive attack on Sangrenegra and execute him for murder without violating the peacekeeping remit. Having convinced Cholo to assist in this, Mega-City One gave him the role of Supreme Judge with the intention of him serving as their puppet ruler. It's been made quite clear that they will remove him if he doesn't rule the way they want him to.
[edit] See also
- Judge Dredd
- Simon Spurrier (creator of Zancudo)
