ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses several key questions about the implications of demographic, economic and natural resource use trends in the Caribbean basin countries for United States (US) interests and policy. Some of the social, economic and environmental trends are quite alarming. The total population in the Caribbean basin is projected to increase by nearly 50 percent to more than seventy-seven million by the year 2000, and the populations of El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua will experience an annual population growth rate of 2.5 percent or greater during this period. Historically the US has shown a serious interest in maintaining political stability and friendly regimes in the Caribbean basin--interest that on numerous occasions has led to some form of intervention. These include numerous interventions of various types prior to World War 11, as well as postwar military intervention in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
