Central America Essay -- Central American History

Central America Central America, just south of Mexico and North of Panama, consists of just six countries; Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Of those six, all share a distinct common history except for Belize. Belize for one is incredibly small, and while Spanish is the official language of other Central American countries, in Belize English is spoken. So throughout this paper as I carelessly say 'Central American' I am not including Belize whose history and development was far different than the others. Although Central America is located close to the United States in relation to the Eastern Hemisphere, our ways of life are indescribably different. When we discuss Poverty in the United States many of us, including myself, don't really know what 'poverty' is. It seems like only a select few are afflicted by it here and programs like Welfare and Food Stamps (with varying degrees of success) seem to lessen the effects. In Central America when one speaks about 'poverty' he/she is including a large proportion of the population. One measure of poverty is the earning power of an individual. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is a measure of income is around $12,000 in the United States. In Central America on the other hand, the wealthiest Country, Costa Rica, came in at just under $2000. Distortion plays a role on the $2000 also, due to the fact the the elite-rich have an enormous concentration of wealth and land ownership, the real GDP of the poorer half of the population is around $200-$400 a year (Pg 10, Booth and Walker). Accompanying poverty or as a result is poor or unavailable education, health care, and an extremely bad job market. Government 'for the people and by the ... ...n't sure how much more aid he could get to Somoza so he pushed for a major offensive. In, 1987, without each side attaining a clear victory, negotiations began. In 1990, Daniel Ortega, a Sandinista was voted out of power to a more conservative , Violeta Barrios de Chamorro. In the end there was basically a stalemate, neither side attained a clear victory. Had the United States not intervened things most likely would have been very different. Our intervention has left a lasting impression on Nicaragua's political and economic situation. In a rebellion which caused " $1.5 billion in property loss, a 2% reduction in the overall population, and years of turmoil " (Pg 68, Booth and Walker) the domestic market was destroyed. No one can say whether our actions were justified or not but it will most likely be on the minds of many Nicaraguans for a long time to come..