Balance of the San Jose Process: Achievements and Deficiencies

Abstract

The implications of the East-West confrontation which set the framework for the Central American crisis throughout the Eighties are undeniable. The Central American policy of the European Union has provided the former with a high level of exterior identity -independent of that of the United States- and positive results which contrast with the incapacity it has shown in the solution of serious disputes such as the Arab- Israeli conflict or that in the former Yugoslavia. The support of the European Union has been accompanied by a “conditioning” process which has brought dialogue and negotiation among the authorities of the Central American states and which has allowed the flourishing of social and political movements which had remained silent due to the democratic inefficiencies of their respective political systems.