Small military outposts advance U.S. business and deepen host-country dependence.

Evidence

Much like the patrol bases that helped “open” China to trade in the nineteenth century, lily pads can thus help advance U.S. business interests. They provide privileged U.S. access to overseas markets, resources, and investment opportunities. They create stability for the regular working of capitalism. And they solidify political alliances. A lily pad “has an influence by virtue of its presence,” DuBois said. “A political impact.” Through these intertwined and growing political, economic, and military ties, the U.S. military ultimately helps to deepen the dependence of countries such as Honduras on the United States. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 1015

Categorization

• XREF: Deepens the pattern of dependency economics already established in earlier chapters on Honduras and other Central American basing.