Guyana (An Independent in 2000)

Guyana is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in northeastern South America. Guyana entered into a compact of Free Association with the United States in January 2008 after the US Congress allocated funds to begin construction of a new launch complex near the town of Biloku (Armstrong Space Center). Annual US investment in Guyana grew to close to a billion dollars in government funds by 2016, and over 3 billion dollars from private investment, more than the GDP of the entire country prior to free association. The government of Guyana, to secure long term ties with the United States voted to join the Union as a territory and begin the process of becoming a state.

Guyana is about the size of the state of Idaho; and has a population of 750,329 people. There were more than 300,000 Guyanese living in the mainland United States prior to annexation, and 100,000 Guyanese residents who had become naturalized citizens. The overwhelming majority of Guyanese residents in the United States supported the incorporation of Guyana into the United States, and a civil movement in Guyana had been advocating for deeper ties between the U.S. and Guyana since Puerto Rico's admission to the Union as a state.

Annexation
Major factors for annexation cited by the GuyanaUSA party were Guyanese emigration to the U.S. and the close ties that had emerged from it socially and economically. An online campaign to promote annexation began in 2006, and support greatly increased after NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe stated that NASA would support the construction of new launch complexes, and preferred equatorial sites, specifically naming Guyana.

After the Space Act of 2006 was passed, Guyana began a media campaign to promote the country as an ideal site for future launch complexes, eventually leading to the Compact of Free Association. The growth in the private space industry positioned Guyana as a hub for startups working in space, and led to mass migrations of American investors to the country.

Support for full annexation grew with the Mars program. During the launch of the Ares I crew to the CEV Goddard, the mostly Guyanese crowd changed "USA USA USA!" and waved Red White and Blue versions of the Guyana flag.