Central American Countries Research Articles

The Final Frontier: China, Taiwan, and the United States in Strategic Competition for Central America.

China’s rise as a global power corresponded with a diminution of Taiwanese diplomacy, which has left Central America as the last region to host a continuous bloc of countries that recognize the ROC. In this article, we argue that China’s success in gaining diplomatic recognition from Taiwan’s former allies has largely resulted from China's economic policy, specifically its promises of large-scale infrastructure projects and the integration of Central American economies with Chinese markets. However, there are limits to how far China has advanced in gaining full recognition from the region. The competing political and economic interests of China, Taiwan, the United States, and the Central American countries themselves, continue to influence patterns of diplomatic switching. More specifically, we argue that the threat of punitive measures from the United States combined with a turn in Taiwanese diplomacy toward assistance efforts to combat Covid-19 may deter future switching in the short to medium-term. Our analysis offers case studies of four Central American countries (Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua) to illustrate the multi-year processes by which China’s economic strategy leads to diplomatic switching and examine the paths ahead for the remaining holdouts facing the prospect of economic and political penalties by the United States.

Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Latin American pregnant women living outside endemic countries and frequency of congenital transmission: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Chagas disease, as a consequence of globalization and immigration, is no more restricted to Central and Latin America. Therefore, congenital transmission represents a growing public health concern in non-endemic countries. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in pregnant Latin American (LA) women living outside endemic countries and the rate of congenital transmission. Data were extracted from studies indexed in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Lilacs and SciELO databases without language restriction. Two investigators independently collected data on study characteristics, diagnosis, prevalence of infection in pregnant women and congenital infection rate. The data were pooled using a random effects model. The search identified 1078 articles of which 29 were eligible regarding prevalence of T. cruzi infection among pregnant women and 1795 articles of which 32 were eligible regarding the congenital transmission rate. The estimated pooled prevalence of T. cruzi infection in LA pregnant women was 4.2% [95% confidence interval (CI): 3.0-5.5]. The prevalence of T. cruzi infection in pregnant women from Bolivia was 15.5% (95% CI: 11.7-19.7) and 0.5% (95% CI: 0.2-0.89) for those coming from all other LA countries. The estimated global rate of congenital transmission was 3.5% (95% CI: 2.5-4.5); excluding poor-quality studies, the rate of congenital transmission was 3.8% (95% CI: 2.4-5.1). Prevalence of Chagas disease among LA pregnant women living outside endemic countries is high, particularly in Bolivian women. The rate of vertical transmission of T. cruzi infection is similar to the rate reported in South and Central American countries.

Grateful and Existential Meaning across Cultures

The current study defined two types of thinking about meaning in life and explored their cultural variations. Grateful meaning indicates thinking about meaning when people are satisfied with their life. Existential meaning signifies thinking about meaning when people are not satisfied with their life. Cultural variations in grateful and existential meaning were addressed by employing the latest waves of World Values Survey. For grateful meaning, some Asian and Central American countries showed higher scores and some ex-Communist countries scored lower. Financial satisfaction and some social factors such as religion, national identity and particularized trust were significant positive predictors to grateful meaning. For existential meaning, European countries showed lower scores. Economic factors such as GDP per capita and financial satisfaction showed negative correlations with existential meaning, whereas religion, national identity, and particularized trust showed positive relationships. These results suggest that sense of security represented by financial satisfaction and in-group memberships were critical for grateful meaning, whereas economic factors and secular values negatively contributed to existential meaning.

A movement in motion: collective mobility and embodied practice in the central American migrant caravan

ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the psychosocial and phenomenological implications for the lived experiences of collective mobility among Central American asylum seekers and irregular migrants bound for the United States. I argue that attentiveness to migrants’ embodied practices and encounters with the material world engender novel insight into the generative and productive potential of collective journeying. I focus on migrant caravans through Mexico that have surged in recent years in response to escalating rates of gang violence, extreme poverty, and environmental devastation in Central American countries. The analysis reveals that the transformative power of the caravan lies in its capacity to disrupt patterns of collective trauma by bearing witness to the atrocities migrants have suffered and giving meaning to their collective struggle. Close examination of how these processes unfold en route may help explain how and why collective mobility promotes resilience among participants and their ability to resist the effects of long-term collective trauma.

Inflation and income distribution in Central America, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic

AbstractAnalyses of the impact of inflation on income distribution typically only consider the general inflation rate. However, when the consumption structure of households is shaped by its income level and inflation varies across goods and services, they are affected differently by inflation. The aim of this study is to contribute to the analysis of this effect in Central American countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica), Panama, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic (CAPMDR) for the period 2007–2018. According to our findings, there have been significant differences in the inflation rates faced by different income groups. By employing these percentile‐specific inflation rates, we have computed an “inflation‐corrected Gini index.” This adjustment is important because although inequality has been decreasing during past years in the countries in our sample, on average, about half of the gains observed using the standard Gini index are lost once the Gini indices are corrected for inflation, a clearly nonnegligible magnitude.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Cancer in Latin America

COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a shift in accepted and routine handling of elective cases in hospital administration. This shift introduced a delay in the treatment of all non-COVID-19 cases, including cancer patients. Usually, non-complicated cases of cancer do not require immediate surgery, but procrastination is not an option. The pandemic is taking a longer time to be defeated as previously thought, and medical infrastructure is overwhelmed in many countries. Therefore, procrastination for non-COVID-19 cases became a reality. To this, we must add that there are specific cancer problems that require urgent resolution. The problem is having a heavy toll on almost all the involved continents. South and Central America are no exception. Unfortunately, South and Central America do not have all the resources available to the developed world, and this makes the issue of timely cancer surgery even more troublesome. A distressed hospital system needs a systematic approach to deliver cancer care in time. This paper has the intention to show how a Central American country such as Panama dealt and is dealing with cancer surgery in the middle of the severe limitations imposed by pandemics.

Current Workforce Status of the Neurosurgery Societies Belonging to the Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies: A Survey of the Presidents of These Neurosurgery Societies

The Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (FLANC) is a nongovernmental, nonprofit civil association, founded to promote neurosurgery in the Latin American countries. The American College of Surgeons and American Association of Neurological Surgeons has recommended a ratio of 1 neurosurgeon/100,000 inhabitants. We aimed to estimate the neurosurgical workforce of the FLANC in2020. We performed an internet-based survey of the presidents of the societies of the FLANC to obtain the neurosurgical workforce characteristics and demographics in their countries. We coded and blindly analyzed the information for dispersion measures and graphics using SPSS, version 25, and Microsoft Excel for map density building. We obtained ratios for the number of neurosurgeons/100,000 inhabitants and the inverse ratio (the number of inhabitants/1 neurosurgeon). We obtained information from 19 countries. The population totaled 650,008,765 inhabitants. The workforce included 9100 neurosurgeons for a composite within the FLANC of 1.4 neurosurgeons/100,000 inhabitants. The mean ratio among individual countries was 1.17, with as many as 9 countries having a ratio of <1 neurosurgeon/100,000 inhabitants. The proportion of female neurosurgeons in the FLANC was 9.54%. Seven countries had no neurosurgeons in a range of subspecialty fields. The FLANC has significant disparities in neurosurgical workforce ratios among the member countries. Central American countries probably have the greatest needs. Gender equity should also be improved among the training institutions. We encourage readers to develop future research into the local geographical distribution of neurosurgeons among the countries to better understand their needs and barriers to providing high-quality standards of care.

Exports to China and economic growth in Latin America, unequal effects within the region

Most Latin American countries have intensified their economic relationships with China since 1990, and even more as a result of the admission of China to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Therefore, this article has two purposes: (1) to explore if exports to China have a different effect on Latin American economic growth than the effect of worldwide exports and (2) to analyze whether exports to China have a different impact on economic growth between South America and a group of countries comprising Mexico and Central American and Caribbean countries since their sources of comparative advantages are diverse. An export-led growth model that focuses on the effects on economic growth via productivity is estimated using panel data techniques and information from 1990 to 2017. Results show that exports to China have a different effect than worldwide exports on Latin American economic growth via productivity. Furthermore, this study provides a new contribution to the literature by showing that exports to China have a positive impact on South America but a negative impact on the group of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean for the period after China enters WTO. This result means that growth in exports to China intensifies the primary exporting character of South American countries.

Four facets of Latin America: A study of the German press coverage from 2000 to 2014

This paper reassesses the image of the twenty Latin American countries in the German press – the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the alternative newspaper taz and the political magazine Der Spiegel – almost forty years after the NWICO debates. The study comprises 3831 analysed articles published during 15 years (from 2000 to 2014), a period in which the continent has experienced substantially political transformations. We identified four main categories of foreign reporting related to the region; 1) Germany’s most important trading partners (Brazil, Argentina and Mexico); 2) the states against the Washington consensus (Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador); 3) the invisible Central American countries and 4) the other Mercosur and Pacific Alliance’s nations (Colombia, Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay). The main postulations of the “Foreign News Study” – negativity, focus on politics and dominance of elite – should be relativised, especially in the case of the first category.

El Salvador vs. Imperialismo Yanqui, 1912–14

AbstractWhen the United States invaded Nicaragua in 1912 the popular reaction in El Salvador was so strong that it completely upended politics. The article argues that this anti-imperialist movement, completely ignored by the current historiography, forced Salvadorean governments to make decisions regarding foreign policy that would have been unthinkable had it not been for the pressure from below. Popular pressures contributed to limit the scope of the final version of the Chamorro–Bryan Treaty between the United States and Nicaragua. The treaty did not include Platt Amendment-like provisions. Moreover, the Wilson administration abandoned the idea of extending a protectorate to all the Central American countries and building a naval base in the Gulf of Fonseca.

El acceso a la información gubernamental: análisis empírico de políticas de transparencia en cuatro países centroamericanos

El artículo analiza el funcionamiento de los sistemas de acceso a la información pública en cuatro países centroamericanos (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua y Panamá) a partir de la metodología utilizada en el proyecto Métrica de la Transparencia 2010, realizado por el Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE). El objetivo específico consiste en identificar retos comunes, problemas recurrentes y mejores prácticas en materia de acceso a la información gubernamental en los cuatro países mencionados. El estudio muestra que, a pesar de que en todos los países se ha avanzado en consolidar una legislación especializada, persisten retos importantes para institucionalizar el funcionamiento de dicho sistema y consolidar su capacidad para efectivamente hacer pública –tanto de manera proactiva como en reacción a solicitudes concretas de los ciudadanos– la información gubernamental. El principal desafío es contar con una política pública que permita estructurar un sistema coherente de acceso a la información.

Illegal trade in wild cats and its link to Chinese-led development in Central and South America.

Seizures of hundreds of jaguar heads and canines in Central and South America from 2014 to 2018 resulted in worldwide media coverage suggesting that wildlife traffickers are trading jaguar body parts as substitutes for tiger parts to satisfy the demand for traditional Asian medicine. We compiled a data set of >1000 seized wild cats (jaguar [Panthera onca], puma [Puma concolor], and ocelot [Leopardus pardalis]) from 19 Central and South American countries and China. We ran generalized additive mixed models to detect trends in wild-cat seizures from 2012 to 2018 and assess the effects of socioeconomic factors of source countries and between those countries and China on the number of wild cats seized. Jaguar seizures increased over time, and most of the seized jaguar pieces were canines (1991 of 2117). Around 34% (32 of 93) of the jaguar-part seizure reports were linked with China, and these seizures contained 14-fold more individuals than those intended for domestic markets. Source countries with relatively high levels of corruption and Chinese private investment and low income per capita had 10-50 times more jaguar seizures than the remaining sampled countries. The number of Chinese residents in Central and South America was not significantly related to the number of jaguars seized. No socioeconomic factors influenced the seizures of puma and ocelots. Legal market chains may provide structure for the illegal chain; thus, the influx of illegal jaguar products is potentially a side effect of the economic partnership between Central and South American countries and China. Poverty and high levels of corruption in the source countries may motivate local people to engage in illegal activities and contribute to the growth of this trade. Supply-side interventions to curb this threat to Neotropical wild cats may include improved training for officials and promotion of governance and the value of protecting these animals to local people.

First records of Piping Plover Charadrius melodus for Venezuela, with a revision of its non-breeding distribution

The non-breeding distribution of Piping Plover Charadrius melodus outside the USA has only recently been elucidated, with new records in Central American and Caribbean countries during the last decade. A specimen from Ecuador was the only definite record in South America prior to 2018. We present two records of Piping Plover in Venezuela; the first at the Paraguana Peninsula, Falcon state, on 25 February 2018, and the second in the northern part of Cienaga de Los Olivitos Wildlife Refuge and Fishing Reserve, Zulia state, on 5 March 2020.

Orchestrating Regionalism: The Interamerican Development Bank and the Central American Electric System

AbstractWhy have Central American states been able to deliver public goods in the energy sector when most experiences of energy regionalism in Latin American have run into deadlock? Through process‐tracing the different factors that transformed the Central American Electric System (SIEPAC) from a policy‐idea into a fully operative supranational market, this article finds that the Interamerican Development Bank was the orchestrator of governments, national utilities, and extra‐regional state and market actors resulting in the production of energy infrastructure and improved energy security for Central American countries. Through three mechanisms—brokering, agenda‐setting, and assistance—the Interamerican Development Bank kept the cooperation agenda ongoing despite coordination problems and member states' divergent preferences. The article concludes that regional development banks are particularly well‐suited orchestrators of highly technical regionalism initiatives, such as energy integration, because they combine the input‐legitimacy of an intergovernmental organization, the know‐how of an epistemic community, and the resources of a bank. More research is needed to compare the role of various regional development banks in regionalism initiatives in the global South.

Formation and development of diplomatic and trade economic cooperation between Russia and Central American countries

The article is devoted to the relations of Russia with the regional association Central American Integration System (Spanish: SICA). The features of formation and development of Russia's integration policy in SICA are briefly revealed. The positive dynamics of this process is traced. The most promising areas for the future cooperation are identified.

Using Google Trends to assess the impact of global public health days on online health information seeking behaviour in Central and South America.

BackgroundPublic health awareness can help prevent illness and result in earlier intervention when it does occur. For this reason, health promotion and disease awareness campaigns have great potential to alleviate the global burden of disease. Global Public Health Days (GPHD) are frequently implemented with this intent, but research evaluating their effectiveness, especially in the developing world setting, is scant.ObjectivesWe aimed to evaluate the impact of four GPHDs (World Cancer Day, World Diabetes Day, World Mental Health Day, World AIDS Day) on online health information seeking behaviour (OHISB) in five Central and South American (CSA) countries which differ in their stage of economic development and epidemiological transition (Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua).MethodsGoogle Trends data was used as a ‘surrogate’ of OHISB. This was measured on the 28 days leading up to the GPHD, on the date of the GPHD, and on the seven days following it. The Joinpoint regression programme was used to perform a time trend analysis on the Google Trends data. This allowed us to identify statistically significant time points of a change in trend, which reflect significant ‘changes’ to OHISB.ResultsGPHDs were inconsistently effective at influencing internet search query activity in the studied countries. In situations where an effect was significant, this impact was consistently short-term, with Relative Search Volume level returning to precampaign levels within 7 days of the GPHD.ConclusionsOur findings imply the need to revise GPHDs or create alternative health awareness campaigns, perhaps with a more long-term approach and tailored to the specific health needs of the CSA population. Developing effective preventive strategies is vital in helping combat the rising threat of NCDs in this region.

Epidemiology of Chagas disease in pregnant women and congenital transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the Americas: systematic review and meta-analysis.

To estimate the prevalence of Chagas disease in pregnant women and the vertical transmission of the disease. Observational studies were identified from eight electronic databases, and details on study design, population and prevalence of Chagas disease were extracted. The data were pooled using a random-effects model, and choropleth maps were created based on geopolitical regions and countries. The search identified 7788 articles, of which 50 were eligible. We observed a 9% prevalence of Chagas disease among pregnant women in the Americas (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8-10, I2 =99.96%). High disease prevalence was identified in pregnant women in South American countries (12%, 95% CI: 11-13), while lower values were identified in pregnant women in North America (2%, 95% CI: 1-3). Countries with medium Human Development Index (HDI) had a higher prevalence of Chagas disease in pregnant women (15%, 95% CI: 13-16, I2 =99.98%) than countries with high HDI (3%, 95% CI: 2-3). The rate of vertical transmission in the continent was 2% (95% CI: 1-2). The statistical analysis showed that this heterogeneity was explained by the study design, region of the Americas and mean income of the country. South and Central American countries have a high prevalence and vertical transmission of Chagas disease. Therefore, systematic screens for this disease during the prenatal period are necessary in addition to the diagnosis and treatment of children at risk for Trypanosoma cruzi infection.

Current Options in the Management of Colorectal Cancer in Developing Countries: Central America Experience

Evaluate the current options in the management of colorectal cancer (CRC) in developing countries. We emphasize the experience in Central America, highlighting the disparities that persist in these countries as compared with developed countries; these are pronounced in many aspects of the health-care system, including lack of health investment, education, and cancer research in the setting of a global increase in malignant diseases. Our analysis demonstrates a multifactorial problem with the absence of government initiatives. There is also lack of interest in the medical community in providing screening for potential curable diseases. Currently, colonoscopy is a screening test widely underutilized in industrialized countries. In developing countries, this is much more pronounced. Central American countries suffer also from lack of current available data to provide an accurate assessment of the status of colorectal cancer. The current report demonstrates the most available evidence in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of colorectal cancer, with a focus at a county hospital in Guatemala.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) towards Diet and Health among International Students in Dublin: A Cross-Sectional Study.

International students may have difficulties in dietary acculturation. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of diet and health during the acculturation of international students. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 473 international students in Dublin. Knowledge, attitude and practices towards diet and health were evaluated by a questionnaire with open- and closed-ended questions. It was found that 45.3% of participants had a broad concept of a healthy diet, while few knew its specific contents. Furthermore, 75.3% of participants could explain the term functional food, and among them, 62.1% knew the appropriate definition of functional food. Participants who perceived their health very good and excellent were more likely to believe that their health status was determined by their own control. The consumption rate of functional food varied among regions and South and Central America students had the highest usage rate (44.5%) and Asian students had the highest daily usage rate (52.7%). Participants who were younger, single, from African and South and Central American countries, or who were in Ireland for less than one year were more likely to report dietary change after immigration. In conclusion, insufficient knowledge and self-perception towards diet and health as well as unhealthily dietary changes exist among international students living in Dublin.

The communications strategy via Twitter of Nayib Bukele: the millennial president of El Salvador

On June 1, 2019, Nayib Bukele assumed the presidency of the Republic of El Salvador, becoming the youngest leader in the democratic history of this Central American country. His communications strategy on Twitter attracted the attention of the international press, because of a peculiar way of using this tool to tweet direct orders to his governmental team through Twitter, with many of his messages having a humoristic lilt. Observing this way of communicating prompted a wish to investigate the communications strategy of President Nayib Bukele on Twitter. Online tools, such as Twitonomy and Vicinitas, were used for the quantitative analysis of the account over the first two weeks of his presidency. Additionally, an in-depth interview was held with the communications secretary of the government of El Salvador, Sofía Medina. Finally, a broad description of the economic and social situation of the country helps understand the relevance of the data obtained from the analysis, emphasizing the scarce access to both information technology and social networks among the inhabitants.