Central America: Ungoverned Spaces and the National Security Policy of the United States (2014)

The primary purpose of this chapter will be to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Central American region with particular attention to how it is seen in the XXIst century by the United States through its contemporary focus on how ungoverned spaces an failed states represent a threat to the region´s stability and by implication to the national security of the United States in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. There is a brief historic context of the rise of the Central American nations in which some territorial and maritime spaces exist as ungoverned and where some governments almost become failed States. We can see also the traditional influence of the United States in order to safeguard its economic interests. We will pay special attention to the case of Honduras after the coup d´état in June 2009