Obama's Visit and Central American Needs

To varying degrees, not only criminal violence and drug trafficking but also growing threats to their democracy and institutional structure affect all Central American countries.

U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive in Costa Rica tomorrow to encounter a region badly bruised by crime and drug trafficking and hopeful for a solution for its migrants.

Obama has already visited El Salvador once; this time he has chosen the most stable democracy in the region, Costa Rica, as his destination. The reality is that the various U.S. administrations have kept Central America at the bottom of the agenda since the end of the civil wars in the early ’90s. Since then the U.S.’ only concern regarding these countries has been drug trafficking and the odd serious event, such as a natural disaster or a coup d’état. The rest of the time, North Americans seem unconcerned about the region and growing threats like authoritarianism or corruption.

Awaiting Obama are six presidents with completely different interests. Panama and Costa Rica have made notable advances in democracy, the economy and social development. Nicaragua has made economic progress, but its institutional framework has been destroyed by Ortega’s authoritarianism.

El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have been hard-hit by violence and the effects of criminal impunity but have different approaches on how to tackle these issues. All three countries are affected by drug trafficking.

The differences in approach, and even personal differences that also persist among heads of state, will undoubtedly come to Obama’s attention.

Central America is certainly in need of greater attention and better financing in facing its most obvious problems, but the U.S. should not sideline the remaining latent threats to democracy, freedom and human rights.