Yauhmi
| Cihuātlahtoāni Yauhmi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cihuātlahtoāni of the Huenyan Federation | |
| Assumed office 1 January 2021 | |
| Imperial Prosecutor | |
| In office 1 June 1972 – 12 September 1975 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Yauhmi July 11, 1948 Chēcuauh, Xiomera |
| Nationality | Xiomeran |
| Spouse(s) | Topilpopoca |
| Mother | Malintzina |
| Father | Timatzin |
| Alma mater | Tlālacuetztla Polytechnic University |
Yauhmi is the Cihuātlahtoāni (Great Speaker) of the Huenyan Federation. She was previously the Empress of Xiomera, prior to a coup in April 2020.
Early Life and Education
Yauhmi was born on July 11, 1948 in Chēcuauh, Xiomera. She is the daughter of Timatzin, an Admiral in the Xiomeran Imperial Navy, and Malintzina, a medical doctor who held several high-profile positions in public health for the Xiomeran Empire.
Yauhmi grew up in Chēcuauh, an affluent suburb of the port city of Huitzitaca. She spent most of her childhood on the vast grounds of the Hichuaco Imperial Admiralty Complex, the headquarters complex and academy of the Imperial Navy. She attended the calmecac Hichuaco before attending the premier Tlālacuetztla Polytechnic University. She graduated in May 1972 with a degree in law.
Political Career
Early Career
After graduating, Yauhmi took a position as a prosecutor for the Secretariat of Justice. She held that position until September of 1975, when she married the future Emperor Topilpopoca, who was at that time a serving officer on the General Staff of the Xiomeran Armed Forces.
Empress during Topilpopoca's reign
When Topilpopoca became Emperor in 2001, and throughout his eighteen-year reign, Yauhmi served in many different positions in support of her husband and his policies. She was also noteworthy for trying in many ways to soften the iron-fisted reign typical of Xiomeran Emperors. Her signature program was the Rural Development Initiatives, a series of programs meant to improve the infrastructure and living conditions of Xiomera's rural citizens. Before the Rural Development Initiatives, Xiomeran citizens living outside of the Empire's sprawling cities dealt with substandard living conditions, limited access to jobs and basic utilities such as electricity and water, limited and poor Internet access, and a lacking transportation infrastructure. Crime was also a serious issue in rural areas, due to limited police garrisons and poor response times in isolated regions. These issues were especially prevalent in the western half of the Empire. Schools, libraries, clinics and hospitals were also severely lacking in rural areas. From 2001 to 2010, Yauhmi spearheaded a massive effort to improve conditions in rural areas. By 2010, the rural areas of Xiomera had been brought up to the same standard for infrastructure and living conditions as the rest of the country. A wave of new hospitals, clinics, libraries and schools were also constructed. The Rural Development Initiatives caused Yauhmi to be seen as a maternal figure by rural Xiomerans, and someone rural citizens deeply admired.
Empress after Topilpopoca's assassination
On 8 September 2019, the Emperor Topilpopoca was shot by a disgruntled former Cabinet official, Cētlalhui, who the Emperor had dismissed in disgrace. Topilpopoca would die on 3 October 2019. Yauhmi decided to stand for her husband's position as the head of the Xiomeran government, in the electoral process known as the Great Selection. On 4 November 2019, Yauhmi was chosen to succeed her husband as supreme ruler of Xiomera.
Yauhmi's reign and the Second Xiomeran Civil War
In order to win the Obsidian Throne, Yauhmi had promised the Xiomeran military, business community, indigenous religious leaders and conservatives that she would rule much as her husband had. Previous Xiomeran rulers, including Topilpopoca, had governed Xiomera in close cooperation with the wealthy, Xiomeran corporations, and conservative political and social figures as a highly conservative, hyper-capitalist state.
Upon taking office, however, Yauhmi immediately began making decisions that would prove highly controversial to the people who had helped her take power. She instituted media reforms, ending the censorship and government review of Xiomeran journalists and media. She also ended the government program of communications monitoring and censorship known as "Happy Society" to the public and Project Tilmahcoatl to the government. Yauhmi also vastly scaled back the controversial Manauia Island Project, in a shock decision. The scaling-back of the project pleased environmentalists alarmed by Xiomeran disregard for the planet and climate change, but angered some Xiomeran officials and the business community.
Yauhmi would follow this by instituting a series of new taxes on the wealthy, and on the Xiomeran corporate and business community, to fund further planned reforms, including the institution of a social welfare program. Xiomera had previously had no social safety net whatsoever, as the general attitude among Xiomeran elites was that if people were poor or struggling, it was due solely to their own failure or lack of work ethic. The longstanding philosophy of Xiomeran Meritocracy was also a critical issue between Yauhmi and the Xiomeran elites. Xiomeran Meritocracy was seen as a fundamental foundational belief of the society, and one that Yauhmi was challenging.
On 10 April 2020, as the Empress was opening the first session of a new Huenyan Assembly designed to give the other ethnic groups in Xiomera more political power and to open the Xiomeran political process, a military coup was launched by the Xiomeran General Staff and the Security Secretariat. Yauhmi was detained by the military, and removed from power. The military declared a Provisional Government that charged Yauhmi with treason, conspiracy, corruption and anti-Xiomeran activities. Her whereabouts remained unknown, but the Provisional Government later claimed that the Empress had abdicated her throne. On 16 May 2020, the military staged a new Great Selection, and chose Xochiuhue, the son of former Emperor Xolōtl, as the new Emperor.
On 1 August 2020, Empress Yauhmi re-emerged from hiding at the city of Chuaztlapoc, having been freed from ASI custody by loyalist Xiomeran soldiers. In a speech widely disseminated throughout Xiomera and the rest of the IDU, the Empress denied having abdicated the Obsidian Throne, declared that she was still in charge of Xiomera, and declared further that any mandates from Xochiuhue and his government were null and void. The declaration, and Xochiuhue's response, would lead to the siege of Chuaztlapoc. The unexpected victory by Yauhmi's forces at Chuaztlapoc would prove to be a major turning point in the war.
Cihuātlahtoāni of Huenya
After the war, Yauhmi became the Cihuātlahtoāni (Great Speaker) of Huenya. She was accepted as the monarch of the new Huenyan state as a means to reassure ethnic Xiomerans that they would have representation in the new government. She was also chosen to help maintain continuity, as she was widely recognized by the international community as a leader and retained considerable popularity in the international community.
During her reign as Cihuātlahtoāni, Yauhmi has focused on building the new Huenyan state and engaging with the international community. As a new democratic government has begun to take shape in Huenya, the roles of the royal family have steadily shrunk. While not quite a figurehead, Yauhmi does not exercise anything similar to the absolute power she once held as Empress of Xiomera. Yauhmi has not resisted this reduced role, instead accepting a role as "mother to an emerging democracy."
Legacy as a leader
While most Huenyans, and the international community, have continued to accept Yauhmi as a leader, there have been questions raised concerning her legacy. Her previous role as Empress of Xiomera, leading a totalitarian regime which practiced many of the repressive acts she now denounces, has left her open to accusations of hypocrisy. Some Huenyans and others in the international community have expressed beliefs that Yauhmi herself should face trial for acts committed during her time as Empress. Her defenders acknowledge the complicated history of her leadership, but state that Yauhmi has changed and committed herself to making up for her previous acts in the remaining years of her life. The torture she was subjected to while being detained by Xiomeran authorities during the civil war is cited as a turning point in her beliefs and actions.
Family Life
Yauhmi gave birth to her only child, Texōccoatl, on 3rd March 1976.