SITUATION — 21 DAYS AGO

In Guatemala City, General Aurelio Maldonado — "El Caimán" — seized power in a midnight coup, dissolved the courts, and tore up his country's commitment to the International Court of Justice. Tonight his junta moved on the Sarstoon, the river that has marked Belize's southern border since the 1859 treaty. His gunboats hold the south bank. His infantry are crossing.

MISSION

You are BRAVO-2, Belize Defence Force, garrisoned at the forward operating base on Sarstoon Island. The relief column — Coast Guard patrol boats and air support out of Price Barracks — arrives at first light, 06:00. It is now 22:00. Hold the island for eight hours. The flag does not come down.

THE REAL SARSTOON

The Sarstoon River is Belize's southern border under the 1859 Wyke–Aycinena Treaty. An 1860 survey found the main channel runs south of Sarstoon Island — making the island Belizean. Guatemala's wider claim to territory south of the Sibun River went to the ICJ in 2019. The BDF maintains a real forward operating base at the river mouth, and Belizean patrols have faced repeated confrontations there. This game's coup and junta are pure fiction — the river and the history are not.

CONTROLS