Galvez

 

The Peace Walker Incident

  
Under the moniker of "Professor  Gálvez" he travels to Columbia in 1974 in order to enlist the help of Militaires Sans Frontieres. He explains that a large force has recently arrived in Costa Rica, one too organized and resourceful to merely be a guerilla outfit, they had been operating under the pretence that they had been hired by the government although their importing of vast amounts of advanced technology seemed to suggest otherwise. Fearing it could be the work of the CIA  Gálvez hopes that Big Boss and MSF can remove the force and prevent a prolonged occupation of Costa Rica, in return he grants them use of an offshore facility somewhere in the Caribbean Sea.
   
Snake is quick to refuse the offer fearing that MSF could quickly become "Dogs of War" if they accepted this sort of work, explaining that such an approach is futile he instead offers the help of his various contacts in order to reach a diplomatic resolution.  Gálvez explains that his offer had nothing to do with the Government and that he had come of his own accord along with his companion Paz, who had recently been captured by the force and subjected to abuse at the hands of her captors.
   
Snake and Miller quickly deduced that  Gálvez was in fact a KGB agent, his red prosthetic hand being a large give away, Gálvez was quick to put across that he too knew Snakes true identity as Big Boss. Gálvez reveals that his real name is Vladimir Zadornov. He explained that the Russians were interested in Costa Rica due to it's value as a strategic location. Conquering Central America would effectively split America into two as well as disrupt the shipping lanes effectively crippling their economic production. Although the CIA were of concern, the main area of focus was the supply base in which Paz had originally been captured,  Gálvez believing that the CIA were planning something significant wanted MSF to investigate. He hopes to have Snake meet up with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (SNLF) who can help him stage a coup there.
 
Paz's capture had come about after she had accidentally stumbled upon a supply bases whilst out recording bird calls with a friend, the tape of which had recorded a voice that sounded remarkably like that of The Boss. Surprised at hearing her voice, Snake accepted the mission hoping to find the meaning behind it,  Gálvez admits that he would have burnt the tape if he had refused.
 
During the course of the Peace Walker mission Galvez remains relatively silent throughout, it is only when Snake finally reaches Hot Coldman, the leader of the Peace Sentinels that he again makes his presence known.  Gálvez reveals that he had secretly been allied with Coldman of the CIA, he provided the technology as means to develop the Peace Sentinels whilst Coldman offered up the land. However this again was a ruse on the part of  Gálvez who had used Snake's involvement as a distraction whilst he had secretly taken the U.S. missile base in Nicaragua. Coldman had hoped to wipe out MSF through the use of a nuke launched by Peace Walker, Zadornov prevented this but instead wanted to fire at Cuba in order to foster massive anti-American sentiment throughout the world.  Gálvez hoped that such a manoeuvre would ultimately swing the Cold War in the favour of the Soviets.
  
Gálvez then turns his attention to Coldman himself, forcing the hand of Paz he gives her a loaded gun and tries to make her take action against the man who had abused her as a captive, she refuses to comply so Galvez takes the gun and shoots him in the knee in the knee, he states that he doesn't wish to kill him yet as Peace Walker's activation codes cannot be used if he dies. He silicates the help of Dr Strangelove by threatening to kill her along with The Boss AI should she refuse to help with the launch. Gálvez states that he hoped that Snake along with MSF would help the revolution take effect and force Coldman into launching Peace Walker, he hoped to watch the events from the sidelines and thus step in and claim Peace Walker in the aftermath.  

Now that he had successfully taken Peace Walker, Gálvez tells Big Boss that like The Boss before him he had outlived his usefulness and had become a fraud just as she had. Just as he looks to have Snake in a compromising situation he is stopped by the sudden arrival of Amanda and the SNLF who arrest Zardanov. When Coldman then reveals the true extent of the targets of Peace Walker even he is horrified to see the Chaos that could ensue. After Peace Walker is destroyed, Big Boss takes  Gálvez prisoner to question back at the Mother Base.      

As a prisoner Zardarnov stages several escapes, each drawing Big Boss out in pursuit of him, this leaves him wondering how he manages to do this so often and feels there is a mole within MSF that is working with  Gálvez. After numerous escapes he reveals that there merely yet another diversion so that Paz could modify and take control of Zeke, a Metal Gear unit that had been built at MSF and recently loaded with the Nuclear warhead that had been covered from the wreckage of Peace Walker. After making his seventh and final escape attempt, Big Boss apprehends him on the upper level of the shooting gallery, it is here that he reveals the true intentions behind his actions as an agent of Cipher. Zardarnov attempts to take a cheap shot at Big Boss with his prosthetic hand but misses and is shot dead in self defence. After stopping Paz, Big Boss can be seen using the Red Hand of  Gálvez as a lighter.     
 

Trivia: 

 

• Steve Blum is the English voice actor for  Gálvez. 
• He is recruited to MSF within the game but can never be assigned an active role. Curiously his stats in each field can still be viewed. 
• Zadornov's first name, Vladimir, is Russian for "Ruler of Peace"     
•  Along with several other adversaries within Peace Walker his use of the Peace sign can be seen as somewhat symbolic/ironic depending on how one views his intentions.