Venezuelan War

The Venezuelan War is a name used to generalize the series of major chronological events that happen in the plot line of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Beginning
After The Betrayal, the Private Military Company and more specifically the Mercenary sought revenge against Solano. The PMC attacks his estate south of Maracaibo, seizing it as their HQ. From there, the PMC connects with already existing various opposing factions, such as Universal Petroleum, the People's Liberation Army of Venezuela and the Pirates, all are enemies of the Venezuelan government and of each other. All of them, whilst opposed to Solano on general principle, also have other interests which prevent them from aligning to take him down but make them more than willing to hire a private mercenary to advance this cause:


 * Universal Petroleum: Led by Dr. Lorraine Rubin, backed by the Americans and having established a very lucrative deal with the pre-Solano government, UP aren't happy about Solano's attempts to nationalize the oil and also seek to conceal the fact that they were technically stealing the country's oil since they paid them a mere pittance of what it was worth. Their contracts involve protecting vital personnel and equipment from Solano's forces in exchange for cash, fuel and the time of a secret meeting between Blanco and some VZ officers.


 * People's Liberation Army of Venezuela: Led by Marcela Acosta, the PLAV are a group of left-wing radicals who have been fighting against perceived oppression and capitalism in the country for decades. Closely funded and backed by the People's Republic of China, they seek to overthrow Solano, install a pro-leftist government and boot UP out of Venezuela to prevent them from stealing the oil. Though the mercenary is technically a representation of the capitalism they despise, Acosta nonetheless embraces the value of a professional who can get things done in ways her own men cannot do. Their contracts are aimed at disrupting or destroying key elements of Carmona's military, for which they provide the location for Blanco's meeting.


 * Pirates: This ragtag bunch of criminals, miscreants and general anarchists are in Venezuela solely to make a profit, legitimately or otherwise. Mostly Jamaican, they lack any strong military presence but make up for it by their extremely extensive range of black market goods, including VZ military hardware and civilian vehicles. Hated by every other faction, they are indiscriminate in their contracted work which is simple but pays very well.

Escalating local instabilities
In need of money, hardware and a reputation, the PMC quickly establishes a working relationship with Universal Petroleum by delivering a truck of guns stolen from them by Solano's men. Meeting with Lorraine Rubin, the PMC prove themselves by successfully locating and rescuing a captured executive who was being held hostage in order to force UP to leave the country, in the process also gaining their first new recruit in the form of Ewan Devlin, an Irish helicopter pilot. After doing some minor work, the PMC agrees to protect UP executive David Espinoza whilst he disposes of some sensitive documents in exchange for the time of Blanco's meeting. Having gotten all they needed from the oil company, the PMC then seek out their opponents, the People's Liberation Army of Venezuela, on the prompting of Dr. Rubin. Though distrustful of an open capitalist, the PLAV leader admits that her men could use some help in their fight. Along with money, thanks to their connections with China, Acosta also offers the location of Blanco's meeting as an incentive, since her own forces are not in any position to go after him themselves. The PMC work with the guerillas to liberate the city of Merida from control of Carmona's army, verifying the man in charge of the occupation, Lieutenant Mendez, and annihilating the VZ presence on Isla de la Fortelaza, dealing a severe blow to Solano's control of that part of the country. Along the way, they also pick up two more recruits: Eva Navarro, a mechanic, and Misha Milanich, a jet pilot.

Thanks to their work, the PMC successfully acquire the information regarding the location of their former friend Blanco, who is meeting with a group of Carmona's officers on the Maracaibo Oil Rig. Storming the rig, the merc demands Solano's location (which an officer fearfully blurts out after Blanco remains silent) and then either kills or captures the treacherous Liberian for the PLAV before blowing the rig itself as part of their deal with the guerillas. With Blanco down, this marks the elimination of their first target for revenge.

The destruction of the Oil Rig is broadcast heavily by the media, grabbing the attention of two great powers compelling them to preserve their interests over the Venezuelan Oil industry: the United States (acting under the name of the Allied Nations with the official purpose of bringing peace and democracy) and the People's Republic of China admitting their interest for the oil resources.

Acting from a heavily fortified bunker in the mountains, Solano and Carmona plan their response if faced with an invasion by the foreign powers. Whilst Solano is confident of his ability to deal with any oil-seeking superpowers through certain dealings with North Korea, he recognizes the threat being posed by the Mercenary and the PMC so he orders General Carmona to eliminate the Mercenary, something which Carmona is quite eager to do. The PMC attacks Solano's bunker in Angel Falls with a conventional Bunker Buster, but are flabbergasted when it doesn't even scratch the surface. Thinking quickly, the merc comes to the conclusion that there is only one thing capable of breaching the bunker: a Nuclear Bunker Buster.

In the meantime, General Carmona launches a large scale (for game standards), 2 stage, counter-attack on the Villa with a large platoon of tanks and anti-air batteries. Rushing back to defend their headquarters, the merc destroys the armoured units but finds that Carmona has slipped inside in the chaos and taken their support operative, Fiona Taylor, hostage. Carmona prepares to execute her with his Luger, but gets attacked by Ewan who then accidentally hits the merc which gives Carmona the opportunity to escape the Villa. With his forces destroyed, Carmona attempts to retreat but gets killed or captured by the Mercenary for the UP while making his escape, ticking a second target off the list.

Introduction of the Allied Nations and China
The destruction of the Oil Rig sets off quite a firestorm. An international reaction calls for an invasion of the country to remove Solano from power and it is taken up by a coalition of nations dedicated to doing just that and restore peace and order. This introduces the PMC to the two major players:


 * The Allied Nations are the aforementioned coalition, but by and large seem to be solely made up of Americans. Though they are described to be spending a small fortune on democratic propaganda, all of their military strength is geared towards protecting the oil refineries (a nod towards the real-life theory of the 2003 invasion of Iraq) rather than engaging the VZ. Furthermore, they are led by a CIA agent, Phillip Joyce, who openly admits that they are there for the oil but cannot let the world know about this, and nearly all of their tech is American as well. They are headquartered in a fortified encampment near Caracas.


 * China is the other major player here. Though they had been funding the PLAV in the hopes that they would seize power and sell the oil to China, the destruction of the Oil Rig and the invasion of the Americans necessitated more direct involvement. They boast a large amount of advanced equipment and are both willing and able to fight the Americans for the oil; since China needs it to fuel their own growth, they can be open about it. Their leader is General Zhou Peng, whom the mercenary had worked with during the Song Initiative in North Korea. The Chinese forces are based out of the Castle of Saint Anthony, but also control the town of Cumana and Isla de Margarita.

The intervention of the superpowers is perfect for the mercenary, since both of them are in need of help and they are in possession of the coveted Nuclear Bunker Buster.

For the Allies, the PMC assists them in their battle against the Chinese by first taking out artillery positions shelling the Allied forces in the city, then destroying a crashed plane carrying confidential CIA intel and agents before the Chinese can get anything out of it. In the course of this, Agent Joyce is crippled by an IED planted by Solano as a warning against working with the mercenary.

If allying with China, the PMC helps their operations by rescuing a captured officer and destroying Allied infrastructure in Cumana, then crippling the American oil production by destroying the refinery, the Maracaibo bridge and the UP Headquarters.

Battle of Caracas
Following the conclusion of the Battle of Caracas vs. Allies/China, Solano retaliates by detonating a nuclear device (possibly smuggled in from North Korea as part of the 'deals'), permanently irradiating the victor's Headquarters and threatening further detonations if they do not withdraw.

The winning faction's leader is ordered to pull out by their superiors, forcing them to give the Mercenary the Nuclear Bunker Buster whether it was intended to or not (in the case of Agent Joyce). According to Fiona, all remnants of the Venezuelan Army started fighting back against the invaders.

Conclusion
The Mercenary travels to Solano's Bunker, busting it with the newly acquired nuclear bunker buster. The Mercenary then enters the Bunker and kills or captures (if all HVTs were captured alive) Solano for the winning faction of the Battle of Caracas.

The result of the conflict remains very unclear, none of the 2 Great Powers withdraws from Venezuela, the Venezuelan Army continues to fight despite losing all known leadership, Pirates are still present and the PLAV are still fighting.