INSCOM Intelligence Report 27MAY19 Operation Stormbreaker Overview

[MSG J. Brewer]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY COMMAND

CLASSIFIED :: SECRET :: CLASSIFIED :: SECRET :: CLASSIFIED :: SECRET :: CLASSIFIED

TO: United Assistance Task Force, Pegasus Airfield
FROM: INSCOM Headquarters, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
RE: Deployment Overview

The following intelligence report is classified and should only be distributed to authorized personnel.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON MALDEN


Location of Malden - Click to Enlarge

Area of Interest

Country: Malden
Capital: Le Port
Official Language: Spanish (Caribbean Dialect)
Ethnic Groups:
- Hispanic (94%)
- White (5%)
- Other (1%)
Government: Representative Republic led by the Malden People's Party - Republic of Malden
Population: 70,000
GDP: $75 Billion
Currency: USD


Language

The dominating language in Malden is Spanish, however, English is taught at school from a young age and most of the population are comfortable communicating in English.


Ethnic Groups

The dominating ethnicity on the island is Hispanic. The island had a large immigration surge in the 1950's by individuals wishing to escape from the violence in Cuba during the revolution. Other immigrants have slowly migrated there from surrounding territories, most notably from Venezuela in the past 10 years as people flee the overwhelming poverty there.


Culture

Malden Culture is heavily based on the surrounding islands, Cuba more specifically, however people there can also trace their ancestry back to Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Grenadines. After the immigration boom in the 1950s, and as the Cuban revolution drew to a close, there became obvious schisms between the communists that backed Fidel Castro and those that wanted nothing to do with him. Although their shared identity and culture has kept them largely similar throughout the decades, the old guard on the island still holds their resentments deep while their children know nothing of their past differences.

The older peoples of Cuban origin are colloquially referred to locally as "Malbanos." They tend to have very deeply entrenched culture taken from Cuba, however it is distinct to the island. Many of the residents on the island practice Santería, approximately 80% of Malbanos in fact. Although Christian missionaries did attempt to come to the island in the 1970s, a string of murders perpetrated by inhabitants convinced them to leave. Santería, including rituals taken from Haitian Vodou, is openly practiced in the streets and it has become an accepted manner of life on the island. The Malbanos believe strongly in their religion and it has dominated the culture since the 1950s. Up until the election of President Antonio Pérez it was the official religion of the island and practiced in all government meetings. The Malbano priests, Santeros, became very influential in the government prior to Pérez.

Recently with the influx of Venezuelan refugees much of the culture has changed. The Maldens and Venezuelans hold very little in common and it's caused a number of issues on the island. The Venezuelans are collectively referred to locally as "Nuevos." They've been arriving for the past decade or so, and recently with the collapse of Venezuela's government they've been coming in droves. They hold their own culture and values very closely, and nearly all are Roman Catholics. They despise the Malbanos and constantly refer to them as "heretical." They quickly became very tired of the Santería steeped theocracy of a government and last year elected President Antonio Pérez, who ran on a platform of removing religion from government and fixing the destroyed economy.


Economy

The economy of Malden is primarily based on offshore oil reserves, with that making up 90% of the government's income and most residents of the island doing something in a support capacity for the oil rigs. In the 1980s large pockets of oil were discovered off of it's west coast. After a brief feud with surrounding territories the ownership of the oil deposits was determined to be Malden's.

Lacking the necessary technology, infrastructure, and shipping vessels to successfully tap the oil themselves they turned to Venezuela for help. In a deal with the Venezuelan government they were provided with all of the resources necessary to harvest the crude, in return they had to use Venezuela as an intermediary to sell it. For many years this worked fine, as they were paid in USD and later Bolivar. However with the recent collapse and hyper-inflation of the Venezuelan Bolivar and it's variants the Malden government has been running dry of funds causing widespread unrest among it's population.

At this point the island's inhabitants are living on rodentia, the odd vegetable, and whatever food manages to make it there from Venezuela. Due to their total and complete dependence on Venezuela for their money they've been stonewalled from trading with the rest of the Caribbean, and in the last year they've depleted their food stores. The Malbano population saw the downturn as evidence of their deities’ anger towards the island and became increasingly angry and hostile not only towards the government but towards the Nuevo population, who were the ones in economic control of the nation for the last few years after the election of Perez. They relied upon the military for support and General Nicolas Aguilar was only too happy to oblige them.


Government

Prior to the election of Antonio Pérez the government was essentially a theocratic republic with a President at the helm. He used the country's majority religion, Santería, as some sort of guide for the decisions of government. As the majority Roman Catholic Nuevo population grew from immigration, they grew wary of a theocratic government with a different religion at the helm. They were frequently treated quite poorly by the Malbanos as well. As their numbers approached half of the island's population they voted in Pérez  who promised to put an end to it, to restore the economy, and  Upon his appointment as President he dissolved the old cabinet and replaced it with an atheistic representative republic.

The current system of government is a representative republic with elected representatives from various places on the island. Citizens vote for parties, and the parties choose which representatives to send to the legislature. The legislature is formed of only one, multi-party, house with 50 members. The democratically elected President of the island is Antonio Pérez of the Malden People's Party, the President is the only position elected by name rather than party. He was elected to a 5 year term in January 2015.


Military

The military of Malden, lay in shambles after Operation Thunderstorm. Small pockets of resistance have popped up all over the island, with the largest being in the south west of the country. ROMN sympathizer Gen. Taymen Mao is now priority target number one. General Mao has reached out to former associate within south central Asia for aid and manpower. Bolstered by this support he has lead an uprising on the island and threatens U.S. interest in the area.


SUMMARY OF EVENTS UP TO DEPLOYMENT

INSCOM Intelligence Report 11MAR18 - Violence breaks out in Malden
INSCOM Intelligence Report 12MAR18 - Malden government overthrown in coup
INSCOM Intelligence Report 13MAR18 - US nationals killed and taken hostage
INSCOM Intelligence Report 29APR18 - Ambassador and LOTN Commander located
INSCOM Intelligence Report 20MAY18 - UATF Mission Complete

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