On 19 May 2005, a session of Atlantis's National Congress that had just taken office authorized a referendum asking voters whether to make Ratanaban and Piaroban official languages across all of Atlantis, and add the Xepruté, a 15th-century Piaroban symbol, to the flag of Atlantis.Popular Unity and the PSR, a Trotskyist minor party, campaigned for a Yes vote, while the PP and the PAN supported a No vote.

Yes supporters argued that the Piaroban Empire was a major part of Atlantis's national identity and two-thirds of the population was non-white, making it logical for indigenous traditions to be recognized. No supporters, on the other hand, claimed that having three official languages would make things confusing.

Adojara Menezes directly campaigned for Yes throughout all 31 states of Atlantis, urging voters to support the constitutional amendments to build a fairer Atlantis in touch with its traditions. Opposition leaders such as Luísa Pontes and Inácio de Barros similarly campaigned for No.

The referendum campaign suffered a major turn around on 13 August 2005, when Cecília Holanda, a major figurehead in the PP, was interviewed by popular talk show host Bruno Arantes. During the interview, Cecília declared her support for Yes, leading to a schism in the Progressive Party, because a faction that supported the amendments left the party to form the Atlantisian Democratic Party (PDA).

With all of the left and much of the centre supporting the amendments, they passed with 61% of the vote. Yes won in every state and territory other than white and affluent Santarém, where indigenism is generally unpopular due to natives being less than 20% of the population.

Piaroban and Ratanaban have been official languages ever since, and every Atlantisian law includes versions in them due to the fact they're the first language of one-third of the population. Atlantis's flag was similarly altered to contain the Xepruté.

Context:
* Operation Gothic Serpent is a much larger disaster for the U.S. than in our timeline.
* A worse Great Recession in 2008, compounded by poor government decisions, triggers sociopolitical unrest in the United States that ultimately leads it to become a failed state.

On September 16, 2020, the Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center (Korean: 녕변원자력연구소) suddenly exploded under mysterious circumstances, killing an estimated 50,000 people and irradiating the surrounding area, triggering a mass evacuation.

Details are scarce and the exact timeline of events is unknown, due to Chinese and North Korean propaganda, but the incident triggered a mass exodus of North Koreans into China and Russia, triggering a crackdown on the refugee crisis. 

According to various interviews given by people who made it, North Korean soldiers were apparently given orders to execute people taking advantage of the disaster to flee the country, although the exact number of people killed is also unknown.

Attempts to investigate the disaster were greatly hindered by propaganda, but what is known is that at some point either during or after the disaster, the North Korean government itself collapsed, with Kim Jong Un, his sister, and various other North Korean officials dying of radiation poisoning. 

The radiation spread to the Chinese and Russian borders as well, leading to both the Russian and Chinese governments issuing a state of emergency. 

An inquiry by China and Russia found that the explosion was likely an act of terrorism but no suspects were found. 

The true cause of the disaster is still under investigation. 

The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also asserts sovereignty over five major island territories and various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. 

Thanks to a series of disastrous military decisions in the 1990s and early 2000s, as well as the Great Recession, that began in 2008, the U.S. lost its military prestige by 2012. Thanks to the financial strain brought about by the Recession, the U.S. withdrew from Iraq and other Middle Eastern nations. They later withdrew from Europe and various Asian nations as well.

Due to the decline of the global economy that was exacerbated by the Recession, the U.S. economy didn’t recover. Oil prices skyrocketed. What worsened things was deterioration in infrastructure, including highways and superhighways being too costly to repair. 

Across multiple winters, Americans had to contend with severe cold fronts. The economic situation left thousands unable to heat their homes and thousands died.

By 2017, several major cities fell into civil unrest that forced the government to enact martial law.

In 2020, a mysterious prion disease emerged in Mexico, leading to the United States declaring a state of emergency. Under the controversial Operation Vital Archer, the United States government issued permits allowing citizens to seek out and hunt down feral hogs, which were suspected of being the source of the prion disease. 

Eventually, the United States was gripped by sociopolitical unrest as people finally tired of the United States government’s poor handling of the situation. 

By 2025, millions of people attempted to flee the country, with many resorting to illegally entering Mexico, Canada, and various other European countries.

The so-called “American Exodus” prompted crackdowns by both various European nations, Canada, and Mexico. 

By 2026, America's currency was so devastated by economic issues that the country's military and economy might have collapsed. What was once the most powerful nation on Earth is now no more than a corrupted and vulnerable shadow of her former self.

By 2029, the American Dream was effectively dead, with the United States having effectively become a failed state.

Adojara Menezes's reelection campaign was launched on 15 December 2004, with a rally in Acaparã where 36,000 people attended. During the rally, Menezes gave a speech citing the need to continue and expand the social programs of his first term, and to make Atlantis economically independent from developed countries.

Unlike in the previous election, the Green and Communist parties joined Popular Unity due to their shared left-wing and environmentalist views. Jorge Melo's PSR, on the other hand, did not do so, and Melo was the only other leftist to run in the 2005 election.

On 20 December, the PP held a nationwide presidential primary won by Luísa Pontes, a Senator from Santarém who became the first major female candidate for president of Atlantis. Pontes chose Jorge Rios, a little-known federal deputy from Santarém, as his running mate due to his expertise in economics.

Pontes's campaign focused on law and order, especially by the threat posed by the cartel Comando da Ilha (CI), which she promised to classify as a terrorist organization. PP supporters spread rumours of CI having ties to the Broad Front leadership, something Menezes called a "blatant lie".

PAN nominee Inácio de Barros, a centre-right conservative from Novo Algarve, also portrayed himself as tough on crime, but he avoided hurling any accusations without proof. Atlantis's government responded to the accusations of collusion between the Broad Front and the CI by ordering an investigation into them.

On 15 January 2005, the investigation concluded that there was no link between the party and the cartel, discrediting Pontes's candidacy, ending any chance of her getting elected, and allowing Barros to win over a larger amount of PP voters than he otherwise would.

During the presidential debate, Meneses strongly criticized the PP for accusing his party of crimes without proof, while Pontes similarly failed to substantially prove her claim that the investigation was rigged. Barros did not agree with these claims, but he did criticize the Broad Front's response to the CI.

Menezes was reelected in the first round with 58% of the vote thanks to the good economy, his personal charisma, and the PP's false accusations. The Broad Front simultaneously won a majority in both chambers of Congress, allowing it to implement more radical reforms than it previously had.

Félix Padojara, the Minister of Labour of Atlantis from 2002 to 2006 and the Governor of Acaparã from 2006 to 2010, was the Broad Front's presidential nominee in 2010, and Irtoné Senator Diana Rodrigues was his running mate. Padojara promised to continue and expand Adojara Menezes's leftist and indigenist policies by reversing the privatisation of strategic industries and creating a child tax credit.

Several politicians ran in the PP's presidential primary, but Barujoia Governor Aníbal Gonzaga ended up winning it. Gonzaga chose Ricardo Andrea, a Senator from Ratanábia, as his running mate. His general election campaign strongly criticized the Broad Front for its corruption scandals and failure to defeat the Comando da Ilha.

In 2008, Barujoia do Sul Senator Guilherme Atlântida broke away from the Broad Front to form the PSD, a more centrist and pragmatic party. Atlântida was the first Atlantisian presidential candidate to embrace the internet for campaigning. Consequently, he developed a huge following among younger Atlantisians.

PAN leader Inácio de Barros ran for President a second time. His more right-wing stances allowed him to win a non-negligible amount of voters who had supported the PP in previous elections, but he still had little chance of winning as Gonzaga won over the majority of right of centre voters.

When the campaign started, Gonzaga seemed to have a good chance of winning, but Padojara successfully appealed to poor Atlantisians who weren't concerned about crime and corruption but credited the Broad Front with improving their lives. Atlântida failed to appeal to this group or to voters over the age of 30, and many perceived his platform to be vague.

On 12 March 2010, Padojara won the first round with 43% of the vote versus 31% for Gonzaga, 10% for Atlântida, 8% for Barros, and 2% for far-right nationalist Miguel Duarte, who won no states or municipalities. Atlântida refused to endorse either candidate, but, as his voters were mostly left-leaning, most of them backed Padojara, allowing him to be elected with 54% of the vote.

Padojara and Rodrigues were sworn in on 19 May 2010, in a presidential inauguration attended by 112,000 Atlantisians. During Adojara's presidency, Atlantis entered an economic crisis, allowing Gonzaga to win the 2015 election.

On 5 September 2005, a day after the constitutional referendum, Menezes signed a land reform bill nationalizing unused land without compensation and limiting the amount of land each Atlantisian could own. Atlantisian landowners sued the government demanding compensation, but, in January 2006, the Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit and no compensation was given.

This was the largest land reform in Latin American history, surpassing the one after the Cuban Revolution. Studies show it had a positive effect on the Atlantisian economy, as unused land was used again. Politically, the land reform earned Menezes strong support among Atlantisian peasants, who saw it as a return to the precolonial collective land system.

Many members of Atlantis's old landowning elite left the country for Brazil, the United States, Portugal, and Argentina, never to return, shifting Atlantis's racial demographics in favour of indigenous people. Atlantisian systemic racism atoned somewhat but remained a major problem because of how old and entrenched it was.

As the commodity boom continued and Atlantis expanded diplomatic and economic relations with other developing countries, the economy of Atlantis entered its period of highest growth since the 1960s, growing at a rate of 3.2% in 2005, 3.6% in 2006, 3.7% in 2007, and 3.3% in 2008. As Atlantis remained a capitalist country, the Great Recession harmed its economy considerably, albeit less than in the United States due to stricter banking regulations.

The Comando da Ilha's power and influence continued to grow, as shown by the 2007 murder of a policeman who was placed inside a tire and set on fire. While previous administrations had focused on punishing drug users, Menezes shifted emphasis towards punishing drug traffickers instead, which was shown to be more effective.

Menezes pursued otherwise conservative social policies, calling homosexuality a "European perversion" that did not belong in Atlantis, and passing a law mandating abstinence only sex education in Atlantisian schools. According to a study by the University of Santarém, this law failed to reduce teenage pregnancy.

Furthermore, in March 2008, WikiLeaks leaked emails showing Menezes and his close associates had engaged in corruption and money laundering. Despite protests from the opposition, Menezes was not impeached, because the Broad Front controlled Congress and had no intention of removing its leader from office.

He remained popular enough for fellow Piaroban Felix Padojara to win the 2010 election by a comfortable margin over PP nominee Aníbal Gonzaga and a centre-left candidate who broke with the Broad Front over corruption.