The Afrarnum Scandal (A Strange Century)

The Afrarnum Scandal was a scandal that rocked the US government during the 2020's. It lead to the strengthening of the Great Republican Revival and ended 20 years of Democratic control of the White House, even with a good economy.

Beginnings
In 2022, the private space company SXJ had record profits, in excess of one trillion dollars. The company's CEO, Carlos Gracia, was from New Orleans, Louisiana, and saw the devastation of the rising seas. He met in secret with then president, Hilary Clinton, to discuss the building of a barrier that would surround the Gulf of Mexico. Clinton said that the project would have to include the skilled construction workers of Mexico, and so the duo had a private conference with the Mexican president, Antonio Caesar. President Caesar signed on to the project. Garcia then met with the presidents of all the Caribbean nations, and told them that they must pay a fee to be included into the project. Only the Bahamas paid up. This left the nations of Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Aruba to face the rising seas on their own.

The Cuban Revolution
In late 2022, construction of the Great Barrier Against Nature, known to the Caribbean countries as the Wall of Death, began. The fifteen million people of Cuba first call upon Clinton to help, but at a round table discussing negotiations with Raul Castro's son, Alejandro, Clinton decides that Cubans can go "to another country for help." When Alejandro announces that Cuba will build more sea barriers and create artificial mountains with the help of 3-D "Earth Printers", the people rise up in Havana in a deadly riot, killing 78 policeman and the police killing 600 rioters. A raid on a government food and weapon stash in Santa Clara arms the rebels with old, Soviet-era guns. The US government withdraws from Guantanamo Bay, closing it down and leaving the terrorists behind. White House officials say that all the terrorists "were given back to their countries of origin for trial."

Over the course of 2023, things deteriorate for Alejandro Castro. The large city of Santiago de Cuba is captured by rebels, and Alejandro begins preparing Havana for a siege. The Siege of Havana lasts for two weeks, until communist officials discover the Alejandro hoarded jewels and food in his residence, and they kill him and open up the city for the rebels.

Afrarnum
After the rebels captured the city of Havana on July 22, 2023, Francisco Rivera, a former communist general, seizes control of the rebel army by poisoning their leader, John Freeman. He is appointed "president" of the new nation of Afrarnum (named after he heard an "angel calling 'Afranum' in his dreams") by the terrified second-in-command of the rebels. He then ties all of the remaining communists to a taxi, and allows the Cuban public to do anything they want to them. A video of the incident, entitled "The End of Castro" is posted on various media websites, and gains thousands of views before the US government takes it down. Outraged, the internet hacktivist group OutsidetheBox (a successor group to Anonymous) reposts the video hundreds of thousands of times. President Clinton has the CIA kidnap the only known member of OutsidetheBox, Casey Vulchar, a high-up member. The scandal dies down after the media turns to a new sensation, the Russian music video "My STD". Afrarnum receives no aid from any country as most countries don't know of its existence. Dictator Rivera enforces curfews, rations food, and calls on forced labor to build a high-up city in the mountains, New Cienfuegos. He also destroys the people's weapons and ammunition, giving all of the prestige and money to the Guerreros de Sangre, his elite class of all-male white enforcers. To scapegoat the troubles of Afrarnum, he blames the mestizos on all of the troubles of Afrarnum. The guerreros be sangre kill all 50 thousand on the island and begin naval expeditions with old soviet submarines to the other Caribbean islands. In December, Jamaica is invaded and hundreds of thousands are killed by the force of just fifteen thousand.

The Scandal: Part One
Several CNN and NBC reporters begin traveling to the area beyond the wall around early 2024. They see the invasion force of Fransico and the mass slaughter and rape of inhabitants. Speaking with residents, they find out that "The US left us alone in a dark hour." Bringing the report back to the USA, several reporters were visited by secret agents, urging them not to publish the work. CNN goes against the government, even with several billion dollars offered to keep quiet. In a documentary entitled Beyond the Deadly Wall, the horrors of Afrarnum are exposed, along with several government attempts to keep the naysayers quiet. Clinton's popularity, which had stayed around 64% for most of her presidency, dropped to 33%. Clinton and other high-up officials were attacked for being monsters, allowing the people of the Caribbean to be abused by a cruel dictator. Clinton used a presidential order to send 800 peacekeepers to Afrarnum. The affair was mostly forgotten about as the election became closer and closer.

The Clinton Assassination & The Removal of Peacekeepers
On December 15, 2024, Hilary Clinton and Bill Clinton were traveling throughout Washington D.C. to celebrate unemployment that stayed below 5% for 6 years, but more likely to keep the public's eyes off of Afrarnum. US Army intel revealed to Clinton earlier that week that Fransico had taken over Jamaica completely, killing president Luan Barros and killing approx. four hundred thousand on the island, forcing many others to work on the high rise capital that would survive the rising seas, which began to rise at two-three inches monthly. The US Army also told Clinton that she should not do the parade, but she insisted. At 13:45 on Capitol Avenue, two shots rang out, one hitting First Man Bill Clinton and the other immediately killing driver Jeremiah Smithman, stopping the presidential limosuine in it's tracks. Approximately seven seconds later, two military-style grenades were thrown at the limosuine, one mortally wounding five secret service agents and a civilian, and the other exploding mid-air, lodging shrapenel in Hilary's left shoulder and chin. Carson Cleaver, the believed perpetrator, was shot by a secret service agent when he saw Carson on the roof of an apartment building holding guns.The official motive for the killing by Carson, who never said anything in his trial, is believed to be the fact that Hilary legalized Designers in the USA. Several conspiracy theories have it believed that OutsidetheBox orchestrated the attack on Hilary for the kidnapping of Casey Vulchar and the destruction of one of their cells in Chicago. Others believe the CIA to be the culprit because Hilary was going to declassify George W. Bush-era Iraq reports, and still others say the Afrarnum Guerreros de Sangre did it for the mistreatment of their country. Hilary spent most of the last month in office grieving and endorsing O'Malley.

When O'Malley came into office on January 21, 2025, his first presidential order was given in the car on the way to the inauguration. Declassified reports have the whole phone call declassified.

O'Malley: "Hello, General."

General (Unknown): "What do you want?"

O'Malley: "I want to be the greatest goddamn president the USA has ever seen. And I don't want fucking peacekeepers in a country that's gonna be under the Atlantic before the year is over. Understood?"

General: "Remove the troops to Afrarnum then sir?"

O'Malley: "Goddamn you are stupid. OF COURSE I WANT THE TROOPS GONE. I'm about to become the 46th president of the United States, and I want a legacy! And one more thing..."

General: "What, Mr. O'Malley?"

O'Malley: "Keep this secret. When the peacekeepers are removed do not tell their families. Do not allow contact. send them to Base 89. Let them do whatever the hell they want. Just do not let word get out. Keep them their until 2026, and then let them return with a hero's welcome."

General: "Yessir."

PHONE LINE GOES DEAD.

The American public was not told of the removal.

Afrarnum Destroyed
On August 6, 2025, for some unknown reason (most likely a poisoning) Fransico Rivera died in the new capitol, which at that point was almost completed. The Guerreros de Sangre were called home to the main island of Afrarnum to select one hundred thousand people to join them in New Cienfeugos. In an election that was voted upon by only four hundred people, Hernando Gomez was elected as leader of Afrarnum.

On October 28, 2025, reports of a tsunami were not heard because all earthquake watch stations on the island that had built by the peacekeepers were destroyed. Dictator Gomez had planned to have a parade that day, and so it happened. Going to it was mandatory, but the three hundred man police force could only wrangle up thirty thousand. All of them were killed in the massive tsunami that struck at 14:15. The water destroyed many of the walls, and the people that survived the tsunami had to flee to the very top of the mountain the city was built on. Hernando Gomez survived, but fled office and lived out the rest of his life as a commoner

The Scandal: Part Two
In April of 2026, several intelligence bases in the US military were hacked and sensitive documents about the Afrarnum situation were revealed by OutsideTheBox. In response, O'Malley ordered the destruction of all known OutsideTheBox hotspots, and in the HACKr WARz, as stylized online, 15 FBI agents were killed and 38 OutsideTheBoxers were killed, most in the Atlanta cell, where the hackers had built homemade nail bombs.

The citizens of the US were outraged, and in response O'Malley and Congress decided to send the Army in to rescue people for "humanitarian reasons", but secretly to be migrant workers on the new infrastructure programs. A total of 67,342 people were rescued, most put on solar and wind farm construction projects.

There was no impeachment trial for O'Malley, just lost of public support for Democrats. Most Democrats blamed O'Malley and he was cast as the orchestrater of the scandal. He almost resigned, and his dreams of being the best US president were destroyed with his only accomplishment being the Worker's Act.

In 2029, the last of Afrarnum is underwater, and ten thousand residents who chose to stay died.

Results

 * Government transperancy becoming an issue again. Access to government files becomes easier and more people can know what the president is doing thanks to government-funded "What Did They Sign?" Project, which lead to easier understanding of bills and laws signed.
 * Reforms in Washington which lead to a four-party system: the GSD, the New Liberty Party, the Libertarians, and the Constitutionists.
 * All of the Caribbean is below sea level by 2035. An estimated 2,500,000 lives are lost.
 * Martin O'Malley is not reelected in 2028. The Great Republican Revival takes hold of America.