A 51-year-old man was driving calmly when the police stopped him at a routine checkpoint.
He showed blue plates that appeared to be diplomatic and an identification card in the name of Martín Carlos Adrián Lemurión, citizen of the Republic of Lemuria.
When asked for his actual identification, he refused: he claimed diplomatic immunity and cited Article 5 of the Constitution to defend his “right to self-determination”.
He said that he had even written letters to former Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren and former President Gabriel Boric explaining his role as representative of this nation that existed only in his head.
Biometric verification brought him back down to earth: he was an ordinary Chilean man, with no criminal record, no diplomatic passport, and no Lemuria on the map.
He was formally charged with forgery of a public instrument and identity usurpation, with monthly check-ins and a ban on leaving the country.
The Minister of Security summed it up in one word: bizarre.