In 1904 President Roosevelt stated that the United States will act as the "policeman" of the Caribbean. His actual words were we would "act as policeman of the region, stepping in however reluctantly, in flagrant cases...of wrong doing or impotence". (Henretta and Brody,627) This is what was to become the "Roosevelt Corollary" which was an edited version of the Monroe Doctrine will stated that the US would intervene in conflicts between European countries and Latin American countries.
This was done to protect American interest due to the construction of the Panama Canal. There was a lot of instability going on in the Caribbeans during the beginning of construction. The American government needed to put an end to all the political unrest in the Caribbean. The thought it was necessary to avoid European interference in this area with the excuse of collecting international debt, but with the real scope of keeping their presence in the are and eventually occupying these territories.