The Caribbean: An overlooked source of US power

Control over its waters is central to hemispheric influence

The world’s oceans have been a centre for conflict over centuries, and for good reason. Coastlines along these waters touch a variety of countries, most of which have competing interests in controlling the resources that reside in and below them, the lanes they create for transportation, the borders of adjacent islands, and so on.

The Caribbean Sea, however, stands out as relatively peaceful despite including dozens of countries and one of the world’s most critical maritime trade routes. U.S. dominance of the Western Hemisphere has generally kept competition at bay, and though the Caribbean has played a crucial role in that regard, it is also a potential Achilles’ heel for Washington.

The foundational geopolitical framework for looking at the Caribbean begins and ends with the United States. This stems from a combination of geography and historical happenstance – not to mention the backgrounds of Alfred

Thayer Mahan and Nicholas Spykman, the two primary architects of the framework, whose theories would inform U.S. expansionism in the late 19th century and were just as important when the world order changed after World War I.

Washington’s victory in the Spanish-American war removed the last European stronghold from Caribbean waters and served as the launchpad for U.S. hegemony of North America.

Soon thereafter, the U.S. emerged as the world’s strongest power and has maintained that status ever since. With the exception of Soviet efforts during the Cold War, Washington’s dominance of the Western Hemisphere has gone largely uncontested over the past 120 years.

A look at the power competition during the colonial period, however, more clearly shows the strategic value of the Caribbean and explains why European powers competed so strongly for the region. Spain dominated the early years of European colonisation in the Americas, but during the 17th and 18th centuries, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands tried their hands too.

Fighting for control and conquest of the Caribbean was common, no matter how small the territory. Territory changed hands constantly, making the area constantly

unstable.

Northern Rim

Their efforts in this regard shed light on the more important factors and features that conferred control. One of which is the northern rim. In geopolitical terms, the Caribbean’s northern rim consists of the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Greater Antilles – Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico – serve as the gateway from the Atlantic into the Caribbean Sea. Spain took advantage of them early, setting up strongholds on three of these four islands.

France eventually secured Haiti, while and the United Kingdom took Jamaica and the Bahamas. Each was critical for supporting and resupplying ships engaged in transAtlantic trade and related voyages – and for establishing a strategic military foothold.

Any power on mainland North America needs to secure maritime approaches on its southern coasts, and this means establishing a strong presence along the Gulf of Mexico, which connects directly to the heartlands of Mexico and the United States. In the United States, the Mississippi River

system provides a cost-efficient way to export grains through the port of New Orleans.

In Mexico, the port of Veracruz is a major commercial hub and the best point of entry for marching inland directly to Mexico City – the same route used by the Spanish, French and U.S. in years past. (Offshore oil discoveries have only made the gulf more valuable.)

Control over Florida offers one defensive point for monitoring approaching sea vessels from the east. Its western coast and panhandle lend another dimension of influence over the gulf. It’s why this valuable terrain passed through the hands of the Spanish, French and British in the colonial era.

The importance of Cuba, located just a few miles off Florida’s coast, cannot be overstated. Whoever can control or subjugate Cuba can influence the maritime flow in and out of the Caribbean. The U.S. and Mexico have always understood as much, and so both positioned themselves as political patrons ahead of Cuban independence.

The U.S. succeeded and leveraged its position to establish a presence on the island that continues to this day. It also gained control over Puerto Rico and later acquired the Virgin Islands to secure its hold on the Caribbean’s northern rim.

Washington’s opposition to the Castro government and its affiliation with the Soviet Union stemmed from its fear of a foreign power in Cuba strong enough to threaten the free transit of U.S. vessels. Even today, many years after the end of the Cold War, the United States still fears the vulnerability Cuba presents.

Western Border

The value of the western flank of the Caribbean basin stems from its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. It includes Mexico and the seven countries that comprise Central America. With the exception of Belize and El Salvador, all of these countries are bicoastal. It’s at this point that North America narrows, greatly reducing the distance between Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

The prospect of a canal that allowed the quick transport of ships across Central America was valued by foreign business and governments alike. It would significantly reduce transit times and enable the dominant power in North America to move quickly between the two oceans.

France, the U.K. and the U.S. spearheaded the efforts to construct a canal. Three locations were considered, but Panama ultimately won out. After early French setbacks, the U.S. took control of the canal’s construction. The rest is history.

Even so, quick maritime transit and free flow through the canal remain prominent security and economic concerns. When the U.S. relinquished control of the canal to Panama, it conditioned the deal on the U.S. maintaining the right to use military force to defend the canal against any threat to its neutrality. Concerns over secure access to the canal also motivated, in part, the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989.

So important is the prospect of a canal that Mexico is still promoting the construction of its own railway and related support infrastructure along the isthmus. As recently as 2015, Nicaragua and a privately owned Hong Kong group were pursuing feasibility studies for canal construction. Both of these initiatives face numerous obstacles to their completion, and that they are being considered at all reflects the strategic value of the area.

Eastern Border

The Lesser Antilles are a smaller springboard into the region. The number of islands, their location and size reduce their strategic value relative to the Greater Antilles. The islands are hard to defend, lack the resources to support power projection and are highly dependent on some type of mainland support structure. As a result, they saw more frequent changes of power during the peak of colonial competition. St. Lucia alternated between British and French control seven times over 52 years. Under the U.S.-dominated hemisphere, these islands played marginal roles, though select islands did take on significance during the Cold War as they were associated with the Soviet Union (think Grenada).

More recently, in 2019, the U.S. identified Curacao as a point for delivering humanitarian aid in Venezuela. Some of these islands have attracted Chinese investment in their tourism sector.

Southern Rim

The Caribbean’s southern rim provides a terrestrial counterweight to the north and is well-positioned to influence approach routes to the Panama Canal. The coastlines along the southern part of the Caribbean belong to South America, which provides a degree of strategic depth absent in Central America and among the islands. The early competition to conquer this territory included plays by the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Danish, British and Dutch.

The interest in this section of the Caribbean came in part from the potential for securing a strong, permanent presence in the region. The southern rim’s depth and the absence of a strong foothold nearby for launching attacks meant the southern rim – namely, Colombia and Venezuela – could assume a strong defensive position against maritime aggression.

The history and fortification of Cartagena is a textbook example. U.S. dominance of the hemisphere reduced the potential for the southern rim to serve as a counterweight. Instead, Washington used its influence over the years to develop stronger ties with the southern rim, particularly Colombia, and used those relationships to further secure U.S. interests in the region.

If this all sounds a bit academic and dated, it should. It ties directly to the theories submitted by geopolitical strategists from centuries past. The thing is, geography rarely changes, and the power it affords is immutable.

The fact that the Caribbean has been quiet for so long doesn’t disprove as much; it proves only that uncontested control over its waters can create the conditions for uncontested control over the hemisphere. It’s the source of much of the United States’ power, and so it will be the source of U.S. anxiety over the loss of power for years to come.