Second Central American War

Second Central American War was a conflict from 2003-2010 in which the US invaded Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The war resulted in a disaster that cost thousands of American lives and left thousands of veterans that struggled back home.

History
The Second Central American War took place on January 15th, 2003. The US invaded Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The War was a complete disaster which cost thousands of American lives. Eventually, the remainder of the Gang of 4 is swept away on a wave of reform.

With a modicum of civilian control and order returning to the United States, the Department of Defense and the Drug Enforcement Agency once again turned their attentions to the Central American problem. They were confident that their new military units, equipped with A V's and the beginnings of cybersoldiery, could defeat the depleted forces of the South American drug lords. They legitimized the war by declaring that the drug lords were still a danger to the U.S. economy, despite the fact that the majority of drugs sold in the U.S. were purely artificial designer narcotics, manufactured domestically ("Buy American!"). It was universally recognized that the war was nothing less than a nearly naked land-grab to supply the U.S. with a captive resource base and a solid hold over the entire western hemisphere. This move is also what delayed the final destruction of the Gang of Four. It was resisted by the Euro-corporations, which already had a solid economic hold over SouthAm.

The war turned into a struggle for domination of the rest of the hemisphere, with the U.S. pouring almost all of its military force into it, and the Euro-corps providing aid, training, equipment and money to the indigenous armies resisting the invasion. This pattern mirrored the decades-old Soviet tactic of fighting wars, "Let's you and him fight." This was not a coincidence; the Euros chose the military advisors of the Neo-Soviet Union to guide the progress of the war.

In this case, the European plan was not to directly contest the American military effort, but instead to make the invasion so costly that the Americans would lose in the end, replicating the pattern established in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Obligingly, the Gang of Four decided to invade with full force into the inhospitable territories of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, fighting in a combination of jungle and mountainous terrain against determined foes, people defending their ancestral homes and lives. Naturally, the American cost in casualties and material loss was tremendous. The war dragged on for almost eight years, draining the U.S. economy. True to the Neo-Soviet plan, the war was terminated not by military loss, but by the lack of military victory. The Gang of Four, struggling to maintain popularity with and power over the American people, had settled on a successful war as the best and quickest plan to bolster their sagging control (a time-tested and proven solution to low popularity, practiced by presidents from Johnson through Bush). It backfired, and the Gang of Four was swept from office by government reforms passed by the new Congress. The war continued to drag on at a reduced level, degenerating into a series of small fire-fights between American troops and indigenous guerrillas. Finally, the U.S. gave up and the war ended with a whimper, the Euro-corps triumphant.

As the U.S. forces began to pull out of their bases and return to the states, one of the most tragic events of the war occurred. During the war, the understaffed military had hired hundreds of thousands of civilian contractors, most of them skilled but unemployed before the conflict began. By the end of the war, over half a million of them were on site in Panama City and other military bases in Panama and Colombia. Unfortunately, severe budget cuts by the new Congress curtailed the amount of money available for the withdrawal to the U.S., and the decision was made to abandon the civilians in Panama, terminating their employment and leaving them high and dry while the rest of the regular military left. The result was the infamous Nomad March of 2010-11, which had a higher casualty count than the war, and culminated in the formation of numerous Mexican Nomad gangs and coastal pirates.

Result
After several lengthy wars with the United States in the 1990s and early 2000s, Central America emerged as a strong union of independent states, working under a pact of mutual cooperation. The US was expelled from all but the Panama Canal Zone (which it still holds by sheer military force against ongoing guerrilla aggression). But during the War, Nationalist factions in Brazil and Colombia used the Corporate fighting to support their own bids for land and influence—the result was a shattering of the old alliance that only now is beginning to be rebuilt.

Reference
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'''MACDONALD, M. ''Home of the Brave. ''1st ed. Berkeley CA: R. Talsorian Games. 1992'''

'''PONDSMITH, M. Cyberpunk 2020. 2nd ed. Berkeley CA; R.Talsorian Games, 1990.'''

'''R. TALSORIAN GAMES. ''R. Talsorian Games Blog. ''rtalsoriangames.wordpress.com/cyberpunk. 2018'''