- "There had to be something firing these guys other than good old-fashioned socialist zeal. What were they looking for?"
- ―Max Payne in Sun Tan Oil, Stale Margaritas and Greed
United Souls of the People, better known as AUP (Almas Unidas del Pueblo), is a Colombian right-wing paramilitary group operating in and around Bastidas, Panama. They were originally formed as a paramilitary counterinsurgency force in 2001, but their activities now range from drug trafficking, naval hijacking, kidnapping, extortion, and assassination. They also have close ties to landowners, cattle ranchers, mining/petroleum companies, and even other paramilitary groups.
History[]
Massacre in Panama[]
After being told about a bag of money hidden in a yacht located in Panama, the AUP insurgents attack the ship and killing most of its passengers. Max Payne, a survivor of the attack, wakes up in his room to find the AUP attacking and finishing off remaining passengers.
Payne fights his way and kills many of AUP insurgents, until he gets off the boat, and seeks help from his partner, Raul Passos. The two finish off the remaining AUP insurgents, only to find the corpses of the passengers. The AUP insurgents do not find the money bags, as Marcelo Branco escaped with it.
Aftermath[]
- "Colombian paramilitary group United Souls of the People or AUP have been waging a campaign of violence and terror in the area around Bastidas."
- ―Latin American News reporter.
Two months after the hijacking, the AUP would continue their violence and terror acts, increasing canal hijackings in Panama despite government attempts to stop the group.
Equipment and Tactics[]
The AUP are similar to Crachá Preto with their heavy armor, any type of bullets will knock them down after a few hits. They are fully equipped with military weapons, like the often-used FAL rifle, the SPAS-15, and sometimes DE .50s, 608 Bulls and M972s. They also sport Crachá Preto-like attire, but it has their armbands and they have grassy camouflage. However, like Crachá Preto, they are extremely brutal and they often try to get a point blank range (at least in the boat area, where they are armed with shotguns).
They are shown to be quite organized, their tactics and the large number of forces demonstrate that they are able to hijack the canal dam station and a yacht. Unlike the Crachá Preto, they rarely throw their grenades like the UFE probably not to injure their members, or the fact that most of the fighting took place in close quarters.
Their attack was extremely planned and organized, even having a zip line that can go across the bridge of the canal dam station, but it was soon taken by Max himself to shoot more incoming insurgents after he took one of the members who attempted to cross the canal with the zipline as a body shield.
Trivia[]
- The abbreviation for AUP resembles Colombian Far-Right paramilitary group AUC.
- Max mistakes them for being a left-wing guerrilla group as opposed to the right wing paramilitary group that they are. This is probably because many left-wing guerrilla groups operating in and around Panama, such as the real life Far-Left insurgency group ELN, regularly engage in ransom kidnappings, extortion, and attacks on civilians. The AUP's actions in Chapter 11 - an attack on a private yacht and abduction of wealthy socialites - would appear to Max, at face value, more like the modus operandi of a left-wing guerrilla group than a right-wing paramilitary group, hence why Max mistakenly refers to the AUP as Socialists.
- If Max is melee attacking an AUP insurgent who is wearing either a boonie hat, a baseball cap, a field cap, a pair of glasses or a pair of sunglasses, said clothing item will fall off the the guerilla's head.
Appearances[]
Gallery[]
