Mark Cortez

'''Mark Cortez (マーク・コルテズ) was a former FOXHOUND member who later served as the commander of the Esteria Army Special Forces under the rank of Colonel. He served FOXHOUND during Big Boss's term as commanding officer alongside Roy Campbell for years prior to the Outer Heaven Crisis. An expert in psychological warfare, Cortez was awarded the codename of Falcon for completing over 10000 hours of one-man on-site procurement missions. However, he became disillusioned with the U.S. military during an operation, when he, Campbell, and a third man named John, were stranded in the middle of a battlefield and were deny assistance for evacuation. While Campbell and Cortez escaped, John did not and died due to a fatal wound.

After leaving FOXHOUND, Cortez became a naturalized citizen of the South American country of Esteria, where he became the commanding officer of the Esteria Army Special Forces. Ten years after his departure from FOXHOUND, Cortez secretly conspired with SVR operative Sergei Ivanovich and his men to stage a coup d'etat against the local government.

When Roy Campbell was ordered by the White House to work with the Esteria Army Special Forces to repel Ivanovich's men, Cortez used his position within the EASF to have Ivanovich's men capture Campbell in a planned ambush and placed him under house arrest. However, Cortez was unaware that Ivanovich's true motive was to draw in and eliminating the surviving members of FOXHOUND from the Shadow Moses Island incident (Campbell, Meryl Silverburgh, and Solid Snake) and use the FOXDIE virus implanted into Snake to create a biological weapon. When Cortez realized Ivanovich's true intentions, he turned against him to save Campbell and the others. Although Cortez shot Ivanonivch to death, he was mortally wounded due to a prior stab wound. He reconcile his differences with Campbell before dying.

Behind the Scenes

 * Osamu Saka, the voice of Mark Cortez, later voiced Sergei Gurlukovich in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and The End in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.