Central American Parliament

The Central American Parliament was a Guatemalan proposal approved in 1986 by the Central American presidents during a summit at Esquipulas, Guatemala, which was held to negotiate peace in Central America. The articles were approved in 1987 by mandatories (leaders) from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. As of 2007, the Congress of Costa Rica had not yet ratified it.

As envisioned in the Declaration of Esquipulas, the parliament would seat twenty representatives from each country, and would develop "strategies, analyses and recommendations" on Central America's political and economic problems. Its headquarters, as designated by the declaration, is Esquipulas. Former presidents and vice presidents are, ex officio, representatives of the parliament. Among its powers would be advising the buena vecindad and the Central American Common Market, the entities of Central American integration. The European Community supported the initiative, offering financial support for its realization.

As of 2008, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic had all elected representatives to the parliament.

See alsoCentral America; Central American Common Market (CACM); Costa Rica; El Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras; Nicaragua.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tratado constitutivo del parlamento centroamericano y otras instancias políticas (1988).

M. S. Gloria Abraham, El parlamento centroamericano: Su incidencia en el desarollo futuro del istmo (1989).

Additional Bibliography

Tangermann, Klaus-D. Ilusiones y dilemas: La democracia en Centroamérica. San José, Costa Rica: FLACSO, Programa Costa Rica, 1995.

Walker, Thomas W., and Ariel C. Armony. Repression, Resistance, and Democratic Transition in Central America. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2000.

                       Fernando GonzÁlez Davison