“ Publicly, they're all about "vote against the puppets of the American imperialists" but disavowing violence. Privately, they seem to be a little more aggressive than that. ”
The El Frente Democratico del Pueblo, more commonly known as the FDG, is a political party in Cuba.
Background[]
When Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro passed away in the year 2006, it let to the succession of the office of President of Cuba open to speculation and violence in the following years. Up to the year 2010, dozens of Cuban militia groups started taking charge in the country, vying for the domination of the Cuban government and earning the support of the population. When Cuba decided to hold democratic elections in 2010, the FDG, a supposedly peaceful political party hoping to earn the presidency, nominated their leader, Ariel Priego, as their presidential candidate. The FDG moved to publicly call for peace across the island nation, and despite their anti-American beliefs, they discouraged violence against the American government, which had been assisting the fledgling Cuban government in preparing for the elections and tearing down the country's communist foundation.
In reality, the FDG were planning to take the presidency by using force to intimidate the opposing parties, and were willing to go so far as to assault American peacekeepers if that's what it took to secure power.
The Conflict[]
While Priego deceived the Cuban public into buying into his falsified calls for peace, he dispatched his guerrilla forces to smuggle weapons into the country and to mount a solid defense against both American forces and opposing Cuban militias. In response to this political threat, the interim Cuban government called for U.N. peacekeepers to safeguard the elections to avoid the use of force from manipulating the popular vote. The American government sent the largest contingent of troops to deal with this crisis, sending them to hundreds of election centers across the island. The FDG immediately began a resistance, and Cuba erupted into open violence.
The FDG were first identified as the U.S.'s primary OpFor (opposing force) after a botched smuggling operation on a plantation operated by the guerrillas. The FDG was sending a fresh shipment of guns to the plantation forces when a team of U.S. Special Forces popularly known as the "Ghosts", ambushed the plantation and seized the weapons. They then traced the forces who delivered the guns back to a training camp hidden within the jungle, and the soldiers were sent there to eliminate the installation. Despite the presence of two heavily fortified guard towers and dozens of trainees, the Ghosts eliminated the base contingent and took the base. The Ghosts continued the strike the enemy across the rural outback on various missions following this.
The FDG suffered an enormous loss when the Ghosts attacked an old airstrip located on Isla de la Juventud, a large island south of the western end of the mainland. They managed to shut down the enemy's means of delivering weapons and drugs across the country through the shut down of the base's aircraft, and then they destroyed an ammunitions dump to deprive them of weapons. These defeats saw the FDG begin to disintegrate, with dozens of former fighters defecting to the American forces. Among these defectors was Esteban Ordonez, who assisted Ariel Priego in his presidential campaign. Despite an almost-successful attempt to execute him, the FDG were once again ambushed by the Ghosts, and Ordonez provided the Americans with badly-needed intelligence on Priego's plans.
Election Day[]
On May 10, 2010, the elections were initiated, with thousands of American troops guarding their respective election centers across the country. The city of Cienfuegos was among the most violent cities on election day, with most of the city supporting the FDG. The Ghosts were sent here to deal with this increased threat, and were forced to stave off a massive assault from FDG forces. The Ghosts were eventually successful in securing the center and rescuing several people who were taken hostage by the enemy, resulting in peaceful elections within Cienfuegos. The election resulted in the defeat of Ariel Priego and the election of the pro-democratic interim President, paving the way for democratic reform in the politically-unstable nation. After these events, the FDG war effort fell apart.
Downfall[]
Despite the failure of the elections, the FDG remained tenacious foes in their fight against the U.S. Later intelligence revealed that Priego wanted to win the elections so that he could use Cuba as a front for smuggling drugs into Florida from Colombia, where he was allied with the FARC drug cartel. With the failure of the elections, Priego enlisted the FARC to help him send in the drugs by force, but they were stopped in tracks by the Ghosts once again. The two guerrilla groups were ambushed at a beach near Dimas where they were deploying their drug convoy. This defeat prompts the FARC to abandon the FDG and retreat to Colombia, leaving Priego to stand alone. Rather than surrender to the enemy, Priego tries to flee the country with his finest forces out of an abandoned fort located in the mountains. He would attempt to escape by helicopter and then re-launch his campaign once he recovered from his losses. This could not be allowed, so the Ghosts were sent in for one final battle with the FDG. Their goal was to capture Priego alive, for if he became a martyr upon termination, the Cuban government would be made out for criminals. The Ghosts secured the various guard towers surrounding the base perimeter, and then moved on to secure the compound itself. After a tough battle with Priego's men, they captured him and secured the helicopter pad meant to evacuate him. The military then shipped Priego and his surviving forces back to the authorities in handcuffs. With Priego's arrest and the defeat of many of their forces, the FDG surrendered and agreed to peace.