The Autumn of the Patriarch is the story of an unnamed and eternal General who rules over a nameless country as a patriarchal dictator. The General is an archetype modeled after real-world dictators like Rafael Trujillo and Francois Duvalier, and like his real counterparts he is shown as paranoid, controlling, oppressive, and obsessed with security. Developing his cult of personality, he is beloved by brainwashed masses until his intelligence ministers manipulate him into impotence and, finally, assassinate him.
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