The two houses of the Huenyan Federal Legislature today approved a plan to allow the Sanctarian Defense Forces to build and maintain a naval base at the port of Ixtenco. The plan calls for Sanctaria to be granted an initial thirty-year lease for naval facilities and an airfield to be constructed at a currently under-utilized section of the port.
The Chamber of Executives, the noble house of the Federal Legislature, unanimously approved the measure by a four to zero vote. The leader of the Chamber of Executives and reigning Huenyan monarch, Great Speaker Texōccoatl, praised the plan as “a solidifying of ties between Huenya and the rest of the world” and as a cornerstone of Huenyan goals to ensure stability in eastern Caxcana.
The debate in the Chamber of Deputies, the elected house of the Legislature, was a bit more confrontational. The left-leaning bloc in the Chamber, led by the Greens, denounced the measure. “This measure will only raise militarism and tension in Caxcana, not reduce it. By bringing in foreign powers from outside Caxcana, the measure will only serve to antagonize Xiomera and Xiomeran nationalists in Huenya. It will also introduce elements that will be completely outside our control or influence into the equation. This is a bad move for Huenya and for peace,” Tilcara (Green Party-Collimat) told the Chamber, summing up the Greens’ opposition. The Greens were joined in opposition by the Democratic Socialists, Peoples’ Party and Communist Party legislators.
The debate grew heated when some of the more right-leaning legislators responded. Pisaca (CP-Jaujamat) said that those opposing the base were “naive, foolish and possibly stupid” to oppose the measure. He went on to declare that “if we follow the appeasement policies of the Greens and their leftist counterparts, we fought for independence for nothing. We may as well just give ourselves back to Xiomera if we’re going to let the Empire have a veto on our foreign policy because of the cowardice of the leftist bloc.” This led to a brief shoving match between some of the legislators present, but order was restored with the timely intervention of Federal Police and a warning from the Speaker of the Chamber, Anquetzin (UP-Chuaztlapoc) that unruly legislators would be ejected from the Chamber. The Chamber eventually approved the measure by a vote of 189-51. The Centrist Coalition legislators sided with the Unification Party, the Conservatives and further-right parties to deliver the winning vote, while the Greens and every other leftist party voted unanimously against the measure. Within hours of its approval by the Legislature, Vice-Speaker Tiacihitli signed the measure into law, making it official.
Despite the heated debate in the Chamber of Deputies, most Huenyans appear to be solidly in favor of the Sanctarian base. A DTNS poll conducted on January 13th showed that a solid 76% of those polled were in favor of the base, with many echoing the hopes of its legislative supporters that the base would help ensure stability and deter potential aggression against Huenya by the Xiomeran Empire.
Across the border in Xiomera, the vote did not fail to attract the notice of that nation’s leaders. Prime Minister Toquihu heaped scorn on the Huenyan decision. “The Huenyan government, in its total lack of pride or shame, seems totally content to sell itself and its ‘nation’ out to every foreign power that comes to them. Eiria, Milintica, Lauchenoiria, Laeral, now Sanctaria…..I am frankly surprised the Huenyan government buildings don’t serve as brothels, seeing as how political prostitution is their sole achievement.” The Xiomeran Prime Minister went on to denounce “yet more foreign powers from outside the Huenyan subcontinent seeking to intervene and interfere in what has traditionally been Xiomera’s sphere of influence”. He added that Xiomera “will continue to assert its rights and its legitimate goals of state in our area.”
