Sierra Gordo

Sierra Gordo is a Latin American country in the TFUniverse. Its capital city is Rio Lindo. Tucaro Indians are the native peoples of Sierra Gordo. The national and official language is Spanish. The country has borders with Republic of Punta del Mucosa and Sierra Muerte.

Lovely Sierra Gordo

Most of the country is covered with rain forests but there are also mountain areas. The county has a large coastline and a complex system of rivers. Sierra Gordo is also home to a diversity of wildlife. Many creatures including Orinoco crocodiles live in the jungles.

Most rivers in the country are used for transportation. Some rivers and coastal areas are suitable for seaplanes to land and take-off. Air transportation is mostly done with old propeller aircraft. Despite dense jungles some railways are available for transportation.

Sierra Gordo has an ancient history. Many archeological ruins such as Pre-Columbian pyramid temples and giant stone heads are scattered in the jungles.

Agriculture is the main source of income. Timber and banana are the primary exports. There are also tin mines in the country. For generations Sierra Gordo's natural resources were exploited by American monopolies and the US supported one right-wing dictatorship after another. North American Banana Monopoly was one of the biggest foreign investors in the country. Before the revolutions started in early 1980s, millions of tones of bananas were shipped through Rio Lindo.

The country has an extremely tumultuous modern history. In much of its recent history Sierra Gordo is ruled by military juntas. Starting in early 1980s a series of revolutions and counter-revolutions put many governments into power. Extreme ideologies, foreign influences and corruption shaped the political arena in the country for nearly 20 years. In 1998 the country had its first democratic election.

History

Pre-1983

Until sometime before 1983 Cobra was openly active in Sierra Gordo and backing up a puppet military dictatorship. For at least 2 years, Cobra scientists, stationed at a research station in the jungle, worked on the development of a serum which could be used for the creation of a plague toxin. After successfully developing the serum, Cobra destroyed the research station and left fake intelligence on the site to trap G.I. Joe.

After Cobra withdrew from the country, the government collapsed and a revolution started. Several extremist groups including Trotskyites, Crypto-Fascists, Anarchists and Flat-Earthers started to fight over the control of the country. All sides were acting aggressively and violently against civilians. Several countries including the USA, USSR, Republic of Cuba and People's Republic of China were supporting different (or even same) rebel groups with monetary aid, weapons, medical supplies and advisors.

During these days criminal activity was high and unemployed mercenaries were roaming the jungles and were looking for a way out of the county. One such group was under the command of renegade army officer Richter. Also, the local radio station WREV in the capital Rio Lindo and the Rio Lindo airfield were under military control.

In the early days of the revolution, Cobra still had control over an island bunker/command post north of the destroyed research station and also used the Naja Hanna Video Corporation warehouse in Rio Lindo as a cover for secret operations. For a period of time Cobra scientist Dr. Venom was in command of the Naja Hanna warehouse. He contracted mercenary Kwinn for the duration of a computer chip exchange.

1983

In 1983, Breaker, Stalker, Snake-Eyes and Gung-Ho were send to Sierra Gordo to investigate a missile guidance chip smuggle operation run by Cobra. They were captured by Dr. Venom and Kwinn. While Breaker, Stalker and Gung-Ho were rescued by G.I. Joe later, Snake-Eyes was trapped in the country. After losing contact with both G.I. Joe and Cobra, he, Dr. Venom and Kwinn worked together for a short time and managed to steal an Avro Lancester Bomber from Rio Lindo airfield to escape. During these events both Naja Hanna warehouse in Rio Lindo and the island bunker were destroyed. G.I. Joe found the fake intelligence in the destroyed research station. Richter and his mercenaries were killed by Cobra troopers acting as mercenaries. Rio Lindo airfield was attacked twice; first by G.I. Joe to allow a C-130 transport to land and later by Snake-Eyes, Dr. Venom and Kwinn to escape.

1985

In 1985 a group of well intended US citizens, including Dr. Adele Burkhart tried to arbitrate peace through diplomatic talks and investigate alleged violations of human rights for the International Amnesty. Just after they arrived to Sierra Gordo some of them were shot on sight and others like Dr. Burkhart were captured by internationally supported rebels. She was held in a (possibly Cobra-built) rebel stronghold in the mountains. The concrete rebel bunker was equipped with a machine-gun emplacement on top, surrounded by fortified guard towers, concertina wire, slit trenches, mine fields and an anti-personal radar. Stalker, Gung-Ho, Road-Block and Rip Cord were send to Sierra Gordo to rescue and extract Dr. Burkhart. The team met Recondo and a group of local Tucaro Indians in the jungle. Unfortunately the these Tucaros died while rescuing Dr. Burkhart.

1987

In 1987 a newly established left-wing Provisional Military Government bought 7 Terror Dromes (which would be run by Cobra) to update the countries air defense capabilities against F-4s, F-14s, F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, F-111s, B-52s and SR-71s. The same year democratic counter-revolutionaries aided by G.I. Joe attacked these Terror Dromes. After a fierce battle a Terror Drome was captured by G.I. Joe for analysis. In the following months G.I. Joe continued to support and train counter-revolutionaries secretly.

1988

In 1988 Sierra Gordon Army led by General Villavaca crushed both Cobra-supported provisional government and G.I. Joe supported counter-revolutionaries. All Terror Drones were destroyed by the army and counter-revolutionaries were pushed into hiding. General Villavaca was supported by North American Banana Monopoly and their representer Chip Goodfellow in exchange for not nationalizing the holdings of the company. Villavaca (using Goodfelllow's money) got in contact with Destro to buy TOW missile armed helicopters and other weapons.

Villavaca and Goodfellow's relationship has been secretly investigated by US authorities in Sierra Gordo. Just before the General took over, a report has been prepared by the US embassy in Rio Vista, which proved that he and Goodfellow (thus North American Banana Monopoly) were linked illegally and Goodfellow was robbing his own company. While the country was in chaos and US Embassy was looted, Hawk, Road-Block, Psyche-Out, Crazylegs, Maverick and Wild Bill were sent to retrieve the report, destroy the embassy building and evacuate Ambassador Winthrop with the remaining marines. General Villavaca tried to stop the evacuation. Things got complicated when Crazylegs, Maverick and Wild Bill were forced by a group of Dreadnoks (who escaped the destruction of the last Terror Drome) to leave the rest of the team and take political refugees along with them. Destro, who wanted to create a market and sell weapons to both sides, contacted counter-revolutionaries and helped Ambassador Winthrop, Hawk and his team to escape. In exchange, he made a deal with counter-revolutionary leader El Jefe to nationalize the holdings of North American Banana Monopoly and award the franchise to run them to his own company. The remaining G.I. Joe team members crushed in to jungle and fought against the Sierra Gordon Army. They, the Dreadnoks and the refugees worked together and escaped the country on a North American Banana Monopoly seaplane. With the report out of the county, both General Villavaca and Mr.Goodfellow died while trying to leave the county.

1989

In 1989 El Jefe chanced his policy on nationalizing North American Banana Monopoly holdings. As a reaction to that M.A.R.S. Iron Grenadiers kidnapped him and took him first into a jungle hideout. A G.I. Joe team tried to rescue him but failed. El Jefe got transfered to the M.A.R.S. Base Camp in Sierra Gordo. M.A.R.S. become the de facto government in the country. Another G.I. Joe team infiltrated the Base Camp but before they could attempt to rescue El Jefe, the Oktober Guard attacked the camp and rescued him. Although both US and USSR were planning to put El Jefe on the head of a (for themselves) friendly government; after a fierce battle against Cobra El Jefe himself choose to accept the support of mercenaries hired by North American Banana Monopoly and led by its official representative Delbert Swinson. Oktober Guard lost all but two of their members during this mission. After that El Jefe and his troops captured remaining October Guard members and the G.I.Joe team.

With the mercenary backup El Jefe and his revolutionaries captured Rio Lindo and stationed at the North American Banana Monopoly headquarters. When Destro allied with Cobra Commander once again, his commander in Sierra Gordo, Voltar, started to use both Iron Grenadiers and Cobra forces to attack El Jefe. Meanwhile, G.I.Joe forces stationed at Sierra Gordo's neighboring country, the Republic of Punta del Mucosa, cleared 20 miles of rain forest in 3 weeks to transport a Thunderclap artillery closer to the border. Both Voltar and G.I. Joe attacked El Jefe on the same day. El Jefe lost most of his forces and the prisoners were rescued by a G.I. Joe team.

After these events El Jefe and Destro met once again an agreement where El Jete became the legitimate president of Sierra Gordo, but hat to report to M.A.R.S. Corporation. El Jete also attended to weapons sales on Cobra Island.

Darklon replaced Voltar as Destro's commander in the country. As one of his first acts, Darklon licensed timber rights of Tucano sacred rain forests to a multi-national mega corporation. With M.A.R.S. and Cobra controlling the country, the remaining major opposition forces formed the Patriotic Coalition of Sierra Gordo Freedom Fighter. Another small opposing force was Tucano Indians led by Anibal.

1990

In 1990 both G.I.Joe and the Oktober Guard were ordered to work together as a joint team of advisors to the rebel coalition, and help them to take the country back from M.A.R.S. and Cobra. The mission failed since the teams couldn't establish contact with the coalition. Yet instead, they helped Tucano Indians to capture Darklon, so that they could negotiate for a new forest area for their tribe.

2015

In 2015 both Jungle-Vipers and Jungle-BATs, led by Dr. Mindbender, were disguised as local terrorists in a scheme to kidnap Grunt and lure G.I. Joe to a trap in Sierra Gordo.

OOC Trivia

• Sierra Gordo is the generic war-torn Latin American country in the G.I. Joe universe.
• In different issues it was called both to be located in Central America and South America.
• The name might have originated from The Battle of Sierra Gordo.
• In almost all sources Sierra Gordo's capital is called Rio Lindo. Only once, in "Into the Breach" it was called Rio Vista.