US Military Invasions: Politics 1

  

    Map 1: US Military Invasions in Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean

    In the map above, there are 10 points indicated by a placemark. Each placemark illustrates a country in Latin America and the Caribbean. Within these points, there is data associated with US Military Interventions. The title of each placemark is the date or dates of each US Military Intervention in that country. There are 4 shades throughout the 10 placemarks. The lightest shade of blue represents 1 military invasion, the second shade represents 2 invasions, the third shade represents 3 invasions, and the darkest shade represents 4 invasions. Clicking on each of these placemarks will display this data. 

    These US Military Interventions have been very impactful to the politics of the countries in the map. It would make sense that the number of interactions would directly impact the political stability of a country. However, this is partially untrue. A great example of this can be demonstrated through Haiti and Mexico. Haiti and Mexico have had a very high number of US interactions based on this map and data. However, the two countries are very different based on political stability. Mexico is very politically stable, while Haiti is very politically unstable. 

    By debunking this theory, we need to dig a little deeper. The number of US Interactions does affect these countries politically, but there are more aspects to this. The types of US interactions can be linked to the politically stability of these countries. In some of these interactions US has gained territory from the countries listed. Some examples of this are Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Panama. The three of these countries are politically stable. A link between these countries can also be made to poverty. For the most part, these three countries are financially stable with minimum poverty. In some of the interactions listed above, US has not gained territory. Examples of this are Haiti and Jamaica, which are also countries that are politically unstable. Secondly, poverty levels in Haiti and Jamaica are very high. 

   Another feature to evaluate is dates of interaction. Is is possible that the last date of US interaction can affect political stability? The last US interaction in El Salvador was 1981, Haiti was 2010, and Dominican Republic was 1965. A similarity between these dates is that they all occurred fairly recent, within the past 60 years. The three of these countries are politically unstable. The last US interaction in Mexico was 1917 and Puerto Rico in 1898. These politically stable countries have not had US interaction in over 100 years. Although this is true for the examples listed above, not all countries follow the exact same rules. Grenada is extremely politically stable, but the last US interaction was only 36 years ago in 1985. 

    These examples and theories lead to a single conclusion. There is no single link between US interaction and political standing in these countries. Many factors must be considered. By digging deep into these details, one can better understand how these interactions affect the countries.