Andean Wars

The Andean Wars were a series of continuous conflicts fought in the Andean region. It began in 1935 as a regional conflict, later escalating into an ideological battle as part of the Cold War era. It would end in 1993 with the signing of the United Nations administration in Charcas. The wars mostly involved nowadays Peru and Charcas, with the appearances of Cundina, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, the United States, the Soviet Union, between many other.

= War of 31' (1931-1935) =







The war of 31' was a war between the United Republic of Peru-Charcan and a Cundinan, Ecuadorian alliance from 1931 to 1935. It was fought for the control of the disputed area of Maynas.

The United Republic of Peru-Charcas (commonly known as the Andean Union) was a federal republic formed in 1906 through the union of Charcas and Peru. This nation saw a somewhat prosperous beginning, although the economic impact caused by World War I and the Great Depression would end up stagnating the country.

When the Viceroyalty of New Granada was created in 1717, it was clarified the lands above the Marañón and Amazon River were part of this Viceroyalty. Yet in a Spanish royal decree in 1802, the whole "Comandancia General de Maynas" was given to the Viceroyalty of Peru. After the decisive Peruvian victory in its war of independence. While Spain would still claim Maynas, stating that the royal decree actually never came to be effective and that it was still part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. The area was given de facto authority to Peru, and were basically allowed to do whatever they wanted, with exception of a few settlements beyond Ecuador's Andes range. The reason why the Spanish gave up so quick was mostly uninterest in the region since it was a deep undiscovered jungle.

Thus, throughout the following decades, Peruvian settlements in the zone started to be peacefully constructed without arising tensions with the Spanish.

Nevertheless, this unique situation changed when Ecuador and Cundina were given independence in 1912. These two countries had territorial ambitions, and the Maynas region provided access to the Amazon river. This made Cundina and Ecuador interested over the region, and demanded a division of the territory multiple times. The Andean Union though was satisfied with their De Facto authority over the region and thus ignored their demands. This resulted in the building of Cundinan and Ecuadorian settlements over the region to impose themselves in the area. Although the most provocative action made was the construction of the Leticia settlement in 1927, a town bordering the Amazon river and the Andean Union's de jure territory. While this significantly arose tensions and the Andeans rapidly built a fortification close to the village, the Andeans did not oppose and admitted the construction of this town.

In 1928 Cundina and Ecuador made a secret treaty dividing the areas uniquely for themselves. An year later this treaty would unintentionally come to light, and the Andean Union quickly started to mobilize troops over Maynas. The war seemed inevitable, and in 1936 the Cundinans would blast down an Andean merchant ship passing near the city of Leticia and the Ecuadorians would take an Andean fortress, marking the beginning of the war. The fortress was easily seized back by the Andeans a month later, and in November 1935, the Cundinans would take the Andean city of El Encanto, to which the Andeans would respond with the taking of the city of Leticia.

Originally the Cundinan and Ecuadorian administrations thought a victory against the Andean union would be easy since this was an unstable and declining nation. While the Andeans did face serious socio-economic difficulties, they did not know its military still stood as one of the most prominent of the regions. In addition, an internal conflict would arise in Ecuador the same year of the war, this would lead to the Andeans quickly taking the province of El Oro, the revolting city of Guayaquil, and subsequently all the southern part of Ecuador. One Andean key victory was carried out by Jose Quiñones, a pilot of the Air Force who impacted and blown his aeroplane with him inside into an Ecuadorian counter-air defence, subsequently dying; Quiñones would be remembered as a Peruvian national hero. In just a year, the Andeans would occupy Ecuador and focus all its troops on Cundina. After long years of battle, Peru-Charcas would occupy the city of Cali and start having quick and decisive victories inside of the Cundinan territory. The Cundinans, alarmed by the Andeans and in fear of a further advance into their territory, would sign a peace treaty in 1939 in which Peru would take the whole "Comandancia General de Maynas" for themselves, and receive payment from Cundina and Ecuador for war reparations.

= Andean Civil War (1940-1946) =





The Andean Union have had a an agrarian economy with a low standard of living. The First World War and the Great Depression lead to further impoverishment and unrest across the country. However the adding of the War of 31' and the Second World War made the situation unsustainable. Despite Charcan participation in the war, they ended up not gaining any territories, all being given to the Peruvian half. Charcans began to feel underrepresented in a union where Peru was clearly dominant, leading to a spark of Charcan nationalism. The Charcan Liberation army, largely supported by their population, began seizing towns and cities across Charcas, demanding for their independence. The Andean goverment unsuccessfully tried to opress these revolts, marking the start of the conflict between the "Unionist" against the Charcan "Separatists" as they were known. Taking advantage of the fragile situation, multiple other factions started rebelling and seizing control of various settlements. This resulted in a multi-sided civil war by 1944 between the Unionist government, the Charcan Separatists and other various socialist, anarchist and indigenist groups. The government would remain prominent in the coastal areas of Peru, Separatists would take most of the Charcan territory, while leftist groups would expand between Western Charcas, and Southeastern and inland Peru. The unexpected expansion of socialists across the country was a surprise for the rest of the belligerents, since they were not expected to be a significant threat.

Mariátegui was a socialist thinker, theorist and journalist. He advocated for a united socialist South America, where Indigenous and European values could coexist peacefully alongside, without any imposing over the other. The ideas and revisions to Marx made by Mariartegui who was affectionately known by his Quechua name, "Amauta" resulted in a new variety of Marxism known as Amautaism. This ideology held a positive view of the nation's cultures, tradition was embraced and considered one of the few values not taken over yet by capitalism. The Amautaist doctrine saw itself as the direct continuation of the Inca society. This contrasted the classic Marxist beliefs of culture and superstructure where it is viewed as a "mean for the dominant class to maintain its hegemony over society" or the Maoist doctrine of "Cultural Revolution" which sought to destroy the traditional elements of society.

After three years of internal war, no side appeared to be moving significantly further and the war started to look as if it would not have a near conclusion. This concerned the United States and the USSR, who feared the Andean Union would eventually turn either a completely communist or capitalist state.

This ultimately resulted in the Rio de Janeiro Conference of 1946, intended to settle the Andean conflict. It involved several nations, including diplomats from the United States, the Soviet Union, the Central American Republic, the Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Andean Union and some of the armed group factions. The conference ultimately agreed the Andean Union would split into three countries, The Northern portion of Peru and Charcas would become two U.S.-backed states named the "Republic of Peru" and the "Republic of Charcas" respectively, while the Southern half of Peru would turn into a socialist multi-party constitutional monarchy named "Peruvian People's Commune", restoring the title of Inca and offering it to the latest heir.

= Peru War (1951-1956)=

The new Republic of North Peru had to face the difficulty of its hastily drawn borders by the World powers. This resulted in lots of guerilla groups remaining inside from the Andean Civil War. Another noticeable problem to face was the lack of popularity for capitalism, which in comparison to socialism, which was found less appealing by the Peruvians due to their cultural and historic context. The Central Intelligence Agency intervened in the North Peruvian elections, leading to the fraudulent election of U.S.-backed military dictator, Manuel Odria. His government was fiercely authoritarian for the purpose of cracking down the rebel armed groups, although this backfired in a mass dislike towards his figure. In fact, his repudiation and the deteriorating conditions turned in more people aligning with the leftist ideas imported from their socialist neighbour. Rebel groups, added to the massive protests in cities, made the situation extremely difficult to handle.

In South Peru, Mariártegui had been elected as the new premier. Mariartegui was considered one of the most important thinkers of Peru and had been one of the leading socialist figures during the Andean Civil War.

While the economy had an unstable beginning due to the destructive effects of the Andean Civil War, Mariartegui and its staff quickly started to design the new political-economic model to pursue. A series of economic measures such as an improvised "five years plan" and an agrarian redistribution gave the South Peruvian economy a short breath. This helped to modernize the military and fund the North Peruvian guerrillas groups. One of the main accomplishments achieved by Amauta's government was the unification of the various North Peruvian socialist groups into a single entity known as the "United Socialist Movement of the Andes" (USMA/MUSA) for the purpose of coordinating, strengthening and solidifying their insurgency.

After the creation of the USMA, the insurgent's power grew significantly, with Western aid becoming the main reason for the North Peruvian upholding. Taking advantage of the North Peruvian critical situation, a surprise attack was launched in 1951 by the combined forces of South Peru, the USSR and other socialist countries, marking their official entrance to the war. This would become the first conflict in the Americas as part of the Cold War. In spite of the fierce North Peruvian resistance, South Peru occupied its entirety in less than 4 months. The rapid and humiliating defeat, made clear to the Americans that they would need to make stronger efforts against communism in South America if it was needed to be stopped.

One month before the seizure of North Peru, Chile joined the war with the hopes of stopping the South Peruvian advance by making it a two-front war. Initially with the Chilean army victoriously pushing towards Peruvian territory and occupying important cities like Moquega, Ilo and Arequipa. Nevertheless, North Peru capitulated before anticipated so Communist Peru was ready to mobilize its entire forces towards Chile earlier than expected. The war with chile would last just one year. The situation would turn around very quick with the mobilization of the experienced Peruvian troops from the North Peruvian front. Peru would retake their occupied land by Chile, and after the Battle of "Noches Rojas", also push into Chilean territory, taking important cities like Tacna, Iquique and Calama. Chile would surrender after the occupation of Antofagasta by Peruvian forces in 1952.

The aftermath of this war saw the complete annexation of North Peru through the treaty of Piura, reunifying the Peruvian nation. On the other hand, the treaty of Antofagasta forced Chile to recognize the restoration of the Tarapacá province to Peru by rescinding the treaty of Ancón. With these two treaties South Peru saw an overexpansion of their territory by approximately 140%.

While no massacres were committed towards North Peruvian civilians after its incorporation, Odria and his associates were publicly executed, and other anti-communist followers were deported mostly to Ecuador. The American reaction to the aftermath was of extreme dread, since it came to fear that communist insurgencies would spread to the rest of the Americas. Meanwhile, Amauta's government resented the Americans for providing aid to the North Peruvians, and American companies in North Peru proceeded to be either nationalized or converted into labour-managed firms.

= Argentine Invasion of Chile (1955-1958)=

Since the end of World War One, Chile had been going through instability mostly caused by the increasing power of numerous leftist organizations and the loss of influence that the liberals underwent. When the Peruvians entered Chilean territory, many socialist forces funded by the Peruvians rose against the government. So after the war, while Peruvian troops were forced to legally leave the territory, several remaining pieces of equipment was handed to the communist guerrillas, and many South Peruvians joined Chilean guerilla militias to fight against the government. Therefore when the Peruvians left most of their previously occupied territory was handed to the socialist forces.

The Chilean Communist Armed Forces captured Santiago and placed Luis Corvalán as the new president of Chile. This was a threat to Argentina's security which at the time was ruled by anti-communist John Peron. He along with the American government were significantly concerned about the spread of communism in the Americas and that it might eventually take over their countries. Hence when the news came that Chile declared itself a socialist republic, Argentine-American and other NATO forces conjointly invaded Chile in 1958,

Puerto Montt was the first occupied city by the Argentines, then the Americans navally invaded Viña del Mar, and subsequently, the joint Argentine-American forces took Santiago, deposing Corvalán from power. The war was over in less than 6 weeks and peace was restored in Chile.

At first, western forces demanded Peru that unless they returned Tarapacá to Chile, they would subsequently invade Peru with their deployed troops. But at that point the war was getting extremely bloody and expensive. Thus, it was concluded the treaties of Antofagasta and Piura would be recognized with the warning that if another communist uprising led by Peru was to be done in Chile, then it would mean war directly with Peru.

= Colombian Civil War (1964–1992) =

The Colombian conflict war between the government of Colombia crime syndicates and far-left guerrilla groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombian territory.

= Charcan Civil War (1977-1996) =

After the end of the Andean Civil War, Charcas was given independence, keeping close ties with NATO and the Western Sphere. Nevertheless, as it had happened with North Peru, a significant amount of leftist rebel groups remained within their borders.

Charcas was between the poorest nations in South America. The White Charcan minority would concentrate most of the country's wealth and power, while the vast Mestizo and Indigenous population would circumstantially live in worse conditions than their neighbors. Furthermore, Charcas has been the country with the highest percentage of indigenous people in the Americas, accounting for 62% of their entire population. However it was one of the countries with the least protection and rights given to natives.

The Charcan white minority had historically owned the largest companies and plots of lands. They had remained in power thanks to the aid offered by NATO in exchange for their support and cooperation.

Charcan citizens would frequently compare their country with neighboring Peru (who held the closest cultural and historic similarities). They would observe how the Peruvian living conditions gap exponentially grew from theirs and how they achieved total protection to their indigenous groups.

All these factors led to an increasing support for socialism and indigenism in Charcas, using as a source of inspiration the successful Amautaist Peruvian model.

By the 70's, economic growth had overall stagnated, whereas inequality got into an alarming rate. Due to the detachment from their people, the Charcan government never took serious actions over the matter.

This is how in 1977, peaceful protests in La Paz that demanded better living conditions and representation. These were responded however with brutal repression in what would be known as the "Las Flores massacre", in which at least 300 of the protesters were killed by the local armed forces.

From that moment on, the situation culminated in a series of violent uprises against the government. And by 1978, several armed groups gained more and more support and relevance and throughout the country.

A guerrilla group in particular, called the "Indigenous Socialist Liberation Front" (FSLI) began to uprise and successfully stand up against the armed forces. By the end of 1981, thanks to the support provided by the Peruvian Socialist State, it managed to take control of Potosí, expanding towards the neighboring localities. The siege of Potosí is often considered the beginning of one of the bloodiest civil wars not only on the continent, but of the 21st century.

Although the FSLI has been the group that had the greatest relevance during the conflict, several other guerrilla groups such as uprisings of indigenous Quechua and Aymara tribes would also be part of this conflict. By 1982, La Paz was taken by the FSLI who were preparing for an offensive against the second capital of the country, Sucre.

Countries like Brazil, the United States and Chile, noticing the rapid advance that the revolutionary forces were taking, decide to take matters into their own hands and send their own militias to Charcan land in order to help the Bolivian armed forces, although it is worth mentioning that the last country mentioned was also dealing with his own internal revolts and that prevented him from taking. While on the other hand, the FSLA and the various left-aligned groups were already beginning to receive weapons and troops from countries such as Peru, Cuba and the colossal Soviet Union.

The war would continue for several more years, time in which cities like La Paz would be in constant capture between the belligerent groups and would even be divided on more than one occasion. The de facto capital of the Republic of Bolivia would become "Santa Cruz de las Sierra" since it was much further away from the conflict zones.