The Spanish Cooperation with Central America

Abstract

This paper studies the economic situation of six states -Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, which do not conform an homogeneous whole but do share the common aspects of underdevelopment and dependence. The Sandford Commission's report asserts the need to reactivate regional integration in all its aspects as the sole solution to the numerous problems affecting the area, which must be politically and economically supported by the International Community. There is the terrible possibility that, once the war activities are over, Central America does not constitute any longer an area of geopolitical crisis, that the externa1 economic assistance is suspended and that doors to Central American exportsclose. The objective of this paper is to examine the specific relations, within this international frame, between Spain and Central America.