March 1st, 2028
The Standoff at Rio Huaypetue
ANP checkpoint, with a modernized Soviet-era APC
The militants are armed with a mix of shotguns, and clubs, or whatever else they could arm themselves with. They also set up a roadblock on the only road connecting Huepetuhe to the rest of Andea, severing the town's lines of communications with the rest of Andea. Making matters worse, Huepetuhe's scheduled resupply trucks were interdicted along their route by AIDESEA militants, leading some to believe that the attack was deliberately timed to starve out the town.
In response, the Andean National Police has organized an airlift to keep Huepetuhe supplied and has called for negotiations with AIDESEA. However, AIDESEA has rejected negotiations, saying that the airlift's real purpose is to send ANP reinforcement to Huepetuhe. Afterward, AIDESEA militants have begun massing four kilometers away from Huepetuhe, a sign that AIDESEA may soon attempt to overwhelm the isolated town.
Huepetuhe's is guarded by twenty-six serenazgos (local police officers). While greatly outnumbered, they have urged the Huepetuhe's residents to remain calm. On the other hand, the ANP has threatened "severe retaliation" against AIDESEA should they attack Huepetuhe. To some, this is a worrying regression towards Shining Path-era policing.
The Andean National Police was formed in 1985, amidst the Andean Civil War. Initially specializing in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations, the ANP evolved into one of the largest and most militarized police forces in America. Even though the ANP has often been misidentified as a military force in the past, its status as a civilian organization has kept it under the control of Andean authorities, rather than being integrated into the FSR Armed Forces. However, the ANP also became known for its human rights violations, a legacy which stuck even after the ANP began reorganizing itself to focus on civil policing in 2001.
The recent extremism has proven worrisome to Andean authorities. As a result, Lima has authorized the deployment of ANP reserves towards the provinces but fell short of requesting a military intervention. The big question now is whether AIDESEA will attempt to storm Huepetuhe. AIDESEA's leader, Alberto Pizango, has called for violent resistance to the Andean government in the past. But the Rio Huaypetue Mine represents the first time he actually carried out his threats. Many indigenous activists, however, claim that the Rio Huaypetue attack was needlessly divisive and counter-productive. Although the indigenous conference in Paraguay was supposed to unite all indigenous groups throughout the FSR, whether or not the conference will be successful is now put into doubt, as opinions are split on the Rio Huaypetue incident.
Allegedly, some AIDESEA members are hopeful that they could carry out an indigenous uprising. However, others aren't so optimistic. One of our reporters has contacted a Shining Path member, who is still hiding from the Andean police. Before the meeting, the reporter was blindfolded and taken to another location. However, once there, the ex-Shining Path member stated that the situation has changed dramatically towards the Andean government's favor since 1992. He added that any sort of "people's' war" against the Andean government, much less the FSR, was "hopeless." Modavef has also stayed quiet on the Rio Huaypetue incident.