2022 Bacchante incident

Not to be confused with the 2020 Bacchante incident.

2022 Bacchante incident
Part of the San Carlos Islands Crisis
The MV Bacchante in Paleocacher in 2015.
Date 22 August 2022 (2022-08-22) Location Southern Ocean, approximately 206 miles south of Fort Handel Status Ongoing
Belligerents
MRKA	Creeperopolis New Gandor Logistical support: Paleocacher
Commanders and leaders
Kamakakoa Kekoa Nohokai Kaimana Lopaka Iokina	Domingo Pérez Tassis Juan Ramírez Quijada Pyeter Novlsky Jacek Bors Thomas Wesnosik Paul Trykasik
Strength
21 hijackers	81 soldiers 1 submarine

On 22 August 2022, armed militants of the Kapahu Alana Revolutionary Movement (MRKA) hijacked the Paleocacherian cruise ship MV Bacchante in retaliation of the Creeperian government's arrest of Moke Maleah, the group's second-in-command, five days prior.

Background

The second phase of the San Carlos Islands Crisis began in August 2003, two months after the successful 2003 Creeperian coup d'état. The far-left Kapahu Alana Revolutionary Movement (MRKA) reignited the conflict, fearing that the new military government would crackdown on the civil liberties agreed upon in the 1995 Bostonia Accords which ended the first phase of the conflict (1981–1995). As a result of the group's renewed insurgency in the San Carlos Islands, the Creeperian Armed Forces increased its presence in the department and began arresting many of the group's combatants and leaders.

Most of the MRKA's military actions were centered in the Esclaveta municipality of the San Carlos Islands, where it the group is headquartered. Most of the interior of the municipality's largest island, also called Esclaveta, is under the influence or direct control of the MRKA. The group is known for carrying out what are considered to be acts of terrorism against military installations and, less commonly, against civilians. The most recent attack carried out by the MRKA prior to August 2022 was the 6 March 2022 Anadesa shooting where three MRKA gunmen injured six civilians in Anadesa, the capital and largest city of Esclaveta.

Prelude

Arrest of Moke Maleah

Maleah in c. 2003.

On 17 August 2022, Moke Maleah, the MRKA's second-in-command, was captured by the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) during a raid of his home in the outskirts of the Esclavetan city of Ciudad Palafox Mendoza. Sergio Tejón Galdámez, the captain general of the San Carlos Islands, officially announced Maleah's arrest at 7:45 a.m. ISC (AMT+8), and Maleah was imprisoned at the Tuxtla Martínez–Panachor Maximum Correctional Facility (TMP), considered to be the worst prison in Creeperopolis, later that day on several capital charges.

In the wake of Maleah's arrest, various MRKA leaders condemned the Creeperian government and demanded the immediate release of Maleah and the government pay reparations to civilians killed and injured during his arrest. MRKA leader Kahili Aolani called on the international community to put pressure on the Creeperian government to pardon and release Maleah, but no national governments took any action on Aolani's calls for international intervention. Some Native San Carlos Islanders in Esclaveta protested Maleah's arrest, but the protests were dispersed by the Creeperian government.

Cruise ship hijacking planning

According to the National Intelligence Directorate, a group of twenty-one MRKA soldiers were tasked with carrying out a major act of terrorism against Creeperian civilians in retribution for Maleah's arrest, and if possible, to take hostages to pressure the Creeperian government to release Maleah. The group was led by Kamakakoa Kekoa, who decided to hijack a civilian cruise ship and hold Creeperian civilians as hostages.

The cruise ship which was to be targeted was originally going to be the Creeperian Gold Star Line's MN Cristóbal Colón Cámarillo, however, they determined that security on the ship was too much of a threat to the attack's success. Instead, Kekoa decided to hijack the Paleocacherian Royal Voyages' MV Bacchante, as it would also be transporting Gandorians to New Gandor; the Gandorian government had supported the Creeperian government against the MRKA since 1983, and taking Gandorians hostage as well was seen as a method to force New Gandor to withdraw support from the Creeperian government. The MV Bacchante departed the Admiral José Edmundo Salinas y Tejón Port in Cámarillo on 20 August 2022 as a part of a cruise from Cospania to Gjorka, with stopovers in the San Carlos Islands (Creeperopolis) and New Gandor. Additionally, María Tejón Enríquez, a niece of Tejón Galdámez, was onboard the ship and would also be targeted as a hostage.

Hijacking

At approximately 6:00 a.m. AMT+9 on 22 August 2022, the twenty-one MRKA soldiers began their hijacking of the ship. Soldiers disguised as crew members and as ordinary passengers revealed their smuggled Figueroa-24 rifles and forced their way into the security office, securing themselves more weapons, as only twelve rifles were able to be smuggled on board by the twenty-one soldiers. The MRKA soldiers then forced their way into the ship's bridge and held the ship's officers hostage, taking control of the ship. Nohokai Kaimana, one of the group's leaders, made a radio broadcast to port authorities in Fort Handel, New Gandor, declaring the hijacking of the ship by the MRKA and demanded to speak with José Cárdenas Luján, the Creeperian ambassador to New Gandor.

Kekoa made a broadcast to Cárdenas Luján informing him of the MRKA's demands. He stated:

Relay word to the Creeperian government that we will start killing their people in twelve hours. We demand that all MKRA prisoners be released by the unlawful occupation authorities of the Nā Āina Uaoko Mākoupoe Kūpuna. We demand that Moke Anekelea Maleah, who was abducted by the Creeperian occupation authorities, be released from his illegal imprisonment and be transported to the embassy of a neutral nation in San Salvador who will grant him asylum. Furthermore, we demand the resignation of Sergio Tejón Galdámez, or else his niece who is onboard this vessel will be shot and dumped into the ocean.

Once our demands are met we will sail into the port of New Gandor and the passengers will be released, then this ship will be granted free passage to Ajakanistan and we will be granted asylum. Any attempts made to capture the ship by Paleocacherian, Gandorian, or Creeperian authorities will be met with resistance and indiscriminate killing. You do not want to test our resolve.

— Kamakakoa Kekoa, 22 August 2022

Cárdenas Luján rejected Kekoa's demands, stating that the Creeperian government does not "negotiate with terrorists". Tejón Galdámez responded to Kekoa's demands by stating:

You terrorists at the MRKA have made demands such as, the unconditional release of thousands of terrorists, the unconditional release of a notorious terrorist leader responsible for the deaths of thousands of Native Islanders, Natizos, Creeperans, and foreigners, and my unconditional resignation. Firstly, no resignation will be occurring as I am in my position for life to administer these islands to further prosperity. Secondly, no terrorists will be released. By your same logic, Frente NEPOC could have demanded the immediate release of terrorists who's core ideology was the eradication of the Native Islanders. Would you agree, or disagree, that said demands are completely illogical?

You have threatened to murder hundreds to thousands of civilians for your cause of bringing terrorism to the San Carlos Islands and have given us a timeframe of 12 hours to meet your barbaric demands. How about, I give you a counteroffer in the name of negotiations and diplomacy. We give you, 11 hours, to surrender with the opportunity to be granted human rights for the remainder of your imprisonment in the Tuxtla Martínez–Panachor Maximum Correctional Facility, or, if you refuse, we can just come on board and kill all of you, and the lucky survivors get a luxury stay at the TMP five-star resort with Maleah.

And if you think killing innocent civilians will get you anywhere, remember that we have thousands of your buddies locked up awaiting execution for their crimes. Perhaps, if you go ahead and commit terrorist actions, we will go ahead and complete their sentences. The DINA and the Black Division are already coming for you, so it's probably, not probably, certainly, best for you to surrender yourselves now before you make your situation any worse.

— Sergio Tejón Galdámez, 22 August 2022

Military raid

Units involved

The following military units were involved in the counter-terrorist raid of the MV Bacchante:

Creeperopolis

• Intelligence Directorate
  • ISC Squadron 1 – Major Domingo Pérez Tassis
• Creeperian Army
  • DN-R1 Special Unit 2 – Major Juan Ramírez Quijada

New Gandor

• New Gandorian Army
  • Unia Squad 2 – Lieutenant Pyeter Novlsky
  • Unia Squad 3 – Lieutenant Jacek Bors
  • Unia Squad 4 – Major Thomas Wesnosik
• New Gandorian Navy
  • NGS Obfity – Captain Paul Trykasik

Course of the raid

Upon hearing of the hostage situation, the New Gandorian Navy dispatched the NGS Postęp aircraft carrier, the NGS Czas and NGS Ogien light cruisers, and the NGS Rzeka corvette with three New Gandorian Army squadrons onboard to the location of the ship to intervene in the situation and prevent civilian casualties.

See also

Creeperopolis portal Terraconserva portal

• 2020 Bacchante incident

References

Bibliography

• Cearrach, Adhamh (22 August 2022). "An Bacchante Fuadaithe ag an Craoibhe MRKA Reibiliúnach Grúpa" [The Bacchante Hijacked by the Creeperian MRKA Rebel Group] (in Eusazy). Liberty City, Paleocacher: Liberty City Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 28 August 2022.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Dùghlasach, Seoras (22 August 2022). "Tuairiscíodh gur Fuadaíodh MRKA Long Cruise Paleocacher go Nua Gandor" [MRKA Reportedly Hijacked Paleocacherian Cruise Ship to New Gandor]. ct.com.pl (in Eusazy). Chicajun, Paleocacher: Chicajun Tribune. Retrieved 28 August 2022.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Franco Rodríguez, Carlos Jorge (17 August 2022). "Ծոմմանդանտե դել ՄՐԿԱ Մոկե Աnեկելեա Մալեա Ծապտփրադո պոր լա'ԴԻՆԱ" [MRKA Commander Moke Anekelea Maleah Captured by the DINA]. gacetacreeperiano.org.cr (in Creeperian Spanish). San Salvador, Creeperopolis: Gaceta Creeperiano. Retrieved 28 August 2022.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Grudzień, Wincenty Marek (22 August 2022). "Marynarka Wojenna Gandoru Wysyła Statki, aby Pomóc w Sytuacji Zakładników" [Gandorian Navy Dispatches Ships to Assist in Hostage Situation]. fht.com.ng (in Gandorian). Fort Handel, New Gandor: Fort Handel Times. Retrieved 28 August 2022.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Jiménez Castro, Carlos Fidel (6 March 2022). "Տիրոտեո դել ՄՐԿԱ են Անադեսա Հիերե ա Սեիս" [MRKA Shooting in Anadesa Injures 6]. gacetacreeperiano.org.cr (in Creeperian Spanish). Gaceta Creeperiano. Retrieved 28 August 2022.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Morganach, Ellair (22 August 2022). "Déanann MRKA Éileamh, Bagairtí "Marú Neamh-Idirdhealaitheach" Sibhialtach" [MRKA Makes Demands, Threatens "Indiscriminate Killings" of Civilians]. gardenagazette.com.pl (in Eusazy). Gardena, Paleocacher: Gardena Gazette. Retrieved 28 August 2022.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Tejón Galdámez, Sergio Rodolfo (22 August 2022). "Դեծլարածիօո Ոֆֆիծիալ դել Ծապիտըն Գեներալ դե լաս'Իսլաս Սան Ծարլոս" [Official Statement from the Captain General of the San Carlos Islands – 22 August 2022 (1)]. capitangeneralisc.gob.cr (in Creeperian Spanish). Cámarillo, Creeperopolis: Office of the Captain General of the San Carlos Islands. Retrieved 28 August 2022.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Zwoliński, Jarosław Kosma (22 August 2022). "Jednostki Wojskowe Zaangażowane w Nalot Bachantki" [Military Units Involved in the Bacchante Raid]. ngsz.rzd.ng (in Gandorian). Fort Handel, New Gandor: New Gandorian Armed Forces. Retrieved 28 August 2022.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)