North American countries

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea.

Described below are some example countries within North America, using the most inclusive definition, which covers the landmass north of the Panama-Colombia border, and the islands of the Caribbean.

Colombia
Colombia is a country in South America. The San Hieronymo Peninsula, under the control of the FARC guerrillas, is located on the central Colombian coast, almost directly below Cuba. It was home to a secret Soviet Missile Base during the 1960s and early 1970s.

The Barranquilla Coast is also located in Colombia, which is where Big Boss stationed his army, the Militaires Sans Frontieres, in 1974, at the time under the employ of the Colombian government to take out guerilla units. Likewise, almost all of the cocaine drugs that Amanda's FSLN unit had to process also partly came from Colombia.

In 2014, Roy Campbell, using his status as a member of the UN PMC regulatory committee, arranged for the El Dorado International Airport in Colombia to give clearance for the Nomad to land in the region, while giving Solid Snake the cover job of an inspector from the United Nations, so he could infiltrate the South American country where Naomi Hunter was being held. It was also one of the places that gun launderer and weapons dealer Drebin 893 made business with in regards to small and local PMCs.

Cuba
Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean, as well as one of the few countries to continue adopting the Marxist form of Communism after the Cold War. In 1959, Cuba underwent a revolution that ultimately resulted in the country becoming Communist. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy inherited control of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's plan to have exiled Cubans retake Cuba and oust the Communist influence. However, things went awry and Kennedy held back on air support, resulting in a disastrous ending to the mission in what would later be called the "Bay of Pigs" Invasion. The Boss was also believed to have participated in the event, although this was actually a cover story for The Boss being in a coma from a failed space flight during this time, and the event also resulted in a souring of relations between the United States Department of Defense and the CIA. A few months later, in October, the country was the subject for the Cuban Missile Crisis, after a U2 spy plane uncovered evidence that the Soviet Russians were attempting to build a missile base in Cuba, which resulted in the world coming close to Nuclear War. As a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis being averted, America had to allow the Soviets to take back Dr. Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov (which was covered up by the Turkey Deal) in exchange for the Soviets pulling out of Cuba, as well as the Soviets secretly building a missile base in Colombia.

Approximately thirteen years later, Cuba was also involved in a nuclear attack, only this time it was the one being threatened by nuclear attack. Vladimir Zadornov, a KGB Agent, betrayed the Peace Sentinel leader, CIA Station Chief of Central America Hot Coldman by switching the false data (imaginary data of a missile strike programmed to trick Peace Walker into launching a nuclear strike) to Cuba, so that America would end up being blamed for the incident by the international community (as the missile was technically launched from an American Base located in Nicaragua, a country with a pro-American regime). Unfortunately, Vladimir severely underestimated Coldman, as while he hadn't initially thought of Cuba as being a target, he eventually decided that Cuba being the target would be perfect for his test, and nearly caused a catastrophic, all out nuclear war.

At some point during the late 1970s, former Cipher agent Paz Ortega Andrade was detained on the maximum security prison facility, Camp Omega, by her former employers, Cipher, after they suspected that her integrity had been compromised. Because of this, her being the only viable link to Cipher, and Chico being captured under unspecified circumstances, Big Boss personally infiltrated the camp to rescue them (also doing it alone due to the politically sensitive nature of the location).

Grenada
Grenada was an island in the Caribbean Sea located next to Cuba. In 1977, thanks to Chico leaking a photo of Chrysalis to a magazine publisher making it seem as if it were a UFO photograph, the prime minister of Grenada, Sir Eric Gairy, requested that the UN establish an agency to study the "UFO problem" both due to the magazine photo as well as reports spawning all over the Americas about UFO abductions and Cattle Mutilations. It was invaded by the United States and several Caribbean nations in the wake of a military coup against the country's revolutionary government in 1983. The invasion successfully removed the revolutionary government from power and restored the country's constition which had been suspended.

''In the manual for the Nintendo Entertainment System version of Metal Gear, it was stated that prior to Operation Intrude N313, Solid Snake had taken part in the Grenada Invasion. Based on the information presented in later installments, Snake would have been 11 years old at the time, thus making his involvement extremely unlikely.''

Mexico
Mexico, officially known as the United Mexican States, is a primarily Spanish-speaking country located directly below the United States of America's southern border. Originally named New Spain due to it being a Spanish colony in the 1500s (hence why its primary language was Spanish), it was renamed Mexico after the capital city, Mexico City, which was named after the Aztec capital, México-Tenochtitlan, which was also located directly on top of the aforementioned capital. The American State of Texas was originally part of Mexico before it declared its independence and later became an American State. Mexico was also rather infamous for it being part of the Central American drug trade route to the United States as well as the illegal immigration route.

At some point in the late 2010s, the PMC Desperado commenced a mission inside the Guadalajara metropolitan area of Jalisco, one of the 32 states (counting the Federal District) in Mexico relating to a research facility. Raiden, of the PMC Maverick, discovered this mission and infiltrated the country to target Desperado. He was accompanied by the Bladewolf during this mission, and drove a black convertible during part of the mission. He also briefly disguised himself in a Mariachi outfit in a misguided attempt to blend in with the locals. Afterwards, he discovered a grate and attempted to enter it while the car drove off, although he was briefly spotted by some civilians, causing Raiden to simply say "Adios, amigos!" before disappearing under the grate and leaving his sombrero behind.

Nicaragua
Nicaragua is a country in Central America. Bordering Costa Rica, Nicaragua is a country under political turmoil, with the Somoza regime putting its citizens in a harsh treatment. In addition, Nicaragua was never given a chance to think for itself, often obeying the will of the Spanish when it was a Spanish colony, and later America when it was an independent nation.

Nicaragua was once under the rule of a Southern United States mercenary by the name of William Walker until he was driven out. They were also given a lease by the United States to build a canal in Nicaragua until it was revoked. In actuality, America never intended to build a canal and only leased it to prevent other nations from developing on Nicaragua, and sent the Marines in to cow the Nicaraguans into submission, under the pretext of "restoring order." Eventually, Sandino managed to drive out the mercenaries. America also promoted the Somoza regime's rise to power, which one of the former presidents of the United States mentioned that "[Somoza] may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch!" in a speech. A United States Missile and Supply Base was located near Lago Cocibolca on its eastern shore, established around the time of the 1972 Nicaraguan Earthquake. In addition, various monetary aid from the West was donated to Nicaragua, but the Somoza regime pocketed all of the donations and used it for their own pleasures. This ultimately was the last straw for the Nicaraguan people.

On Lago Cocibolca, there is a volcanic island called Ometepe which was formed from two connected volcanoes in the shape of a porongo (Spanish word for "gourd"). One of the volcanoes, Concepcion, still smokes and erupts once in a while. The other, Maderas, has not erupted in recorded history and contains a crater lake. However, Sandinista Amanda Libre once stated that it might have erupted again if one of Peace Walker's nukes was detonated within Maderas if it had a factory inside, due to the nuke's detonation destabilizing the magma underneath, resulting in terrible consequences for Nicaragua.