Central American Republics Research Articles

Getting to Know the Unknown Soldier: Official Nationalism in Liberal Costa Rica, 1880–1900

On 28 February 1885 Guatemala's Liberal dictator, Justo Rufino Barrios, declared the Union of Central America, and made it plain that this would be achieved through force of arms if the four other Central American Republics did not consent to his decree. On 5 and 6 March, as Costa Rica's Liberal state began to plan a popular mobilisation against the Guatemalan threat, an article appeared in the pages of El Diario de Costa Rica, written by a resident Honduran man of letters, Alvaro Contreras. It was called ‘Un héroe annómino’. Curiously, though, this hero is not anonymous at all. The article soon reveals that his name is Juan Santamaría, a humble footsoldier who, during the Battle of Rivas in 1856, had volunteered to burn down the Mesón de Guerra from where William Walker's filibusters were decimating Costa Rican troops with rifle fire. The attempt was successful, but Santamaría sacrificed his life in the process. The invention of Costa Rica's ‘almost unknown soldier’ had begun.

The Political Economy of Central America since 1920

In this book Victor Bulmer-Thomas uses his previously unpublished estimates of the national accounts to explore economic and social development in the five Central American republics from 1920. He examines in detail variations in economic policy between countries which help to account for differences in performance. The major political developments are woven into the analysis and linked to changes in internal and external conditions. Growth under liberal oligarchic rule in the 1920s, heavily dependent on exports of coffee and bananas, was accompanied by modest reform programmes. The 1929 depression, which hit the region hard, undermined most of the reforms and ushered in a period of dictatorial rule in all republics except Costa Rica. The Second World War, particularly after the entry of the United States, at first strengthened the dictatorships, but ultimately produced challenges to rule by authoritarian caudillos. The social upheavals accompanying the post-war export-led boom forced governments in each republic to address the question of economic, social and political reform.

The Caribbean after Grenada: revolution, conflict, and democracy

The Implications of Grenada: Revolution and Invasion An Introduction to the Eastern Carribbean The Ideology of Grenada's Revolution: Dead End or Model? From Revolutionary Solidarity to Military Defeat: The Foreign Policy of Grenada 1979-1983 False Prophecy and the American Invasion of Grenada The Invasion of Grenada: A Pre-and Post-Mortem Revolution, Conflict and Democracy in the Caribbean The Jamaican Models The United States and Democracy in the Caribbean Apanjaht and Revolution in Caribbean Politics: The Case of Suriname Haiti: The Duvaliers and Beyond The April 1986 Elections in the Dominican Republic Heading Toward a New Instability in the Carribbean's Eastern Tier? Issues on the Periphery Contadora and the Central American Republics: A Slide Down a Slippery Slope Panama: Lurching Toward Democracy? Grenada, the Caribbean Basin and the European Community Soviet-Cuban Policy in the Caribbean: Was Grenada a Setback? The Reagan Years Bibliography Index

The Political Economy of Central America since 1920.

Journal Article The Political Economy of Central America since 1920 Get access The Political Economy of Central America since 1920. By VICTOR BULMER-THOMAS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Pp. xxiv + 416. £30.00, US$49.50 hardback, £12.95, US$16.95 paperback. ISBN 0 521 34284 8, 0 5 2 ' 34839 0) Collin M. Lewis Collin M. Lewis Institute of Latin American Studies, London School of Economics & Political Science Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 99, Issue 394, 1 March 1989, Pages 228–229, https://doi.org/10.2307/2234231 Published: 01 March 1989

Belize: A New Nation in Central America.

Independent from Britain only since 1981, the new nation of Belize is situated at the intersection of two cultural spheres: the English-speaking Afro-Caribbean countries and the Spanish-speaking Central American republics. Its scanty population of about 150,000 is culturally heterogeneous, and its various ethnic groups coexist in a complex pattern

/s/ in Central American Spanish

Of all the areas of Latin American Spanish, the Central American isthmus is the least studied in terms of dialectological investigations. Early studies' lumped all the Central American republics under a general rubric, which at times also included the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, while studies directed at specific nations assumed an exclusively lexicological character.2 In recent years, Central America has fared little better, for the area has remained virtually untouched in linguistic studies. The paucity of linguistic investigations becomes even more critical in the phonological dimension, and only quite recently has this area figured in linguistic analyses of Central American Spanish.3 During the Spanish colonial empire, Central America was culturally isolated from the mainstream of Spanish America, with the exception of the capital of Guatemala. As a result, Central American Spanish constitutes a linguistic microcosm with a certain coherency in its own right as opposed to other main currents of Hispanic dialectology, but with the same tantalizingly emphemeral characteristics which form the spirit of Central American solidarity. In some cases Central American dialects have participated in phonological processes common to most of the rest of Latin America, but the historical factors which have led to the unique cultural configurations have also permitted a number of divergent developments and even some innovations. This article has a double purpose. The first is to offer a concrete description of one facet of Central American phonology, namely the behavior of the phoneme /s/. This choice of operating parameter represents one of the key defining characteristics of Hispanic dialectology, and enables the Central American data to be fitted against the already existing studies of the behavior of /s/ in other Spanish-speaking regions. The second thrust, which in this article will remain subordinated to the first, is to consider the possible diachronic processes which could have given rise to the current configurations, and the theoretical consequences implied by the reconstructions.4 In order to observe the details of the distribution of /s/ in Central America, I collected data on the speech of the capital cities. During periods of field work5 recordings were made in the five Spanish-speaking Central American republics. In the present discussion, the speech patterns of Guatemala City, San Salvador, Tegucigalpa, San Jose and Managua will be compared. As a prelude to the quantitative presentations, we observe that these data are generally representative of the dialect patterns of the respective countries, and that the internal regional differences which exist are mainly differences of degree of application of certain phonological processes. Naturally, considerable sociolinguistic stratification exists, especially in urban areas, where a broader spectrum of sociocultural groups may be found. Guatemalan Spanish phonology is quite homogeneous, except for the small Caribbean costal area and part of the Pacific coastal region near the Salvadoran border. The Salvadoran and Nicaraguan dialects are similarly homogeneous, with few regional differences being discernible in either country. Honduran Spanish is much more varied, since the major transitions between the phonetically conservative Guatemalan dialect and the phonetically advanced Nicaraguan region occur within the borders of Honduras. The capital, Tegucigalpa, provides an intermediate point among the various influences; however, the regional differences within Honduras are quantitative rather than qualitative. Costa Rican Spanish is the most heterogeneous, since the central highlands dialect, including the capital, is radically different from neighboring Nicaragua and Panama. However, the northern provinces which border on Nicaragua exhibit phonetic patterns indistinguishable from those of Nicaragua, while the regions bordering on Panama exhibit Panamanian phonetic characteristics. The dialect of the meseta central therefore occupies a unique position as a phonological oasis in the midst of two dialects which are characterized by a more advanced degree of phonetic reduction. For the present study, ten informants were

The Advisory Practice of the Inter-American Human Rights Court

The American Convention on Human Rights entered into force in 1978. To date, 18 OAS member states, out of 31, have ratified it. Included among the states parties to the Convention are all the Central American Republics as well as Panama, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The five Andean Pact nations have ratified, as have Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada. Argentina is the latest state to become a party; it did so on September 5, 1984, and thus became the first and, to date, only Southern Cone country to do so. The others—Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay—have not ratified; nor have Brazil, the United States, Suriname and a number of English-speaking Caribbean states.

The Aquatic Oligochaeta (Aeolosomatidae, Opistocystidae, Naididae) of Central America

Twenty species of aquatic oligochaetes are reported from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Species are in the families Aeolosomatidae, Opistocystidae, and Naididae. Setal measurements are cited for each species and compared with measurements from other parts of the range. Seven of the species are cosmopolitan and seven show neotropical affinities, while only two show nearctic relationships. Two species, Pristina menoni and Dero plumosa, are reported for the first time from the Western Hemisphere. The Central American republics have very few recorded species of aquatic oligochaetes, although some of the terrestrial species have been studied. Over a decade has been spent in gathering these few collections, and since no additional effort is anticipated in the near future, it is deemed appropriate to publish these records.

Social Reform in Costa Rica: Social Security and the Presidency of Rafael Angel Calderón

B Y 1940, most South American countries had undertaken state-sponsored programs to meet basic problems arising from urbanization and the economic depression of the 1930s. Chile and Uruguay were among the earliest states to adopt social-welfare legislation; other countries, namely Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia, set up social-welfare programs through social security during the years between World War I and World War II. Usually these programs were introduced by elites concerned with often inchoate group demands for state-guaranteed social protection. Social-security protection could be rationalized politically and was regarded as an acceptable, if expensive, price to pay for stability and order among countries' productive sectors. The social-reform orientation in the southern continent contrasted with explicit antireformism in the Central American republics. In the early 1940s, however, Costa Rica attempted to break the traditional pattern and to implement a program of social reform initially based upon the Chilean model. One component of that reform, social security, is now not only the most important state-sponsored social program in Costa Rica, but one of the most successful in Latin America. In total coverage, Costa Rica's social-security program serves more than 90 percent of its eligible population.1 To date, social security and the larger process of social reform in Costa Rica have attracted little scholarly attention. Still, there is enough evidence available to establish that although Jose Figueres and his Social

The Experience on Earthquake Risk in Central America

Presented by the Central American Actuarial Association (Asociacion Acturial Centroamericana) to the 13th ASTIN Colloquium.The Asociaciôn Actuarial Centroamericana (AAC) is a grouping of Actuaries from the Central American Republics of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The AAC is a contributing ASTIN member of the International Actuarial Association.Earthquakes have been a constant scourge of mankind. Central America has not escaped this phenomenon, indeed the territory has been most affected by them precisely because of its condition as an isthmus that serves as a fragile union between the continental land masses of North and South America, and in consequence being subject to disturbances by the displacement of the continental plates. Our lands abound with beautiful volcanoes, which have also contributed to local seismic activity. Whatever their origin, the earthquakes that have struck our country have left their share of destruction of lives and property.In Annex 1 a table is presented, showing a history of seismic activity and volcanic eruptions in the countries on the Caribbean Platform, in which we can appreciate in detail the catastrophes that occurred from the XVI Century until 1976.

THE STRUCTURE OF PROTECTION IN COSTA RICA— A NEW APPROACH TO CALCULATING THE EFFECTIVE RATE OF PROTECTION

This paper estimates the Effective Rate of Protection (E.R.P.) for Costa Rica, the first time such an estimate has been provided for any Central American Republic. It also employs a new method for calculating each E.R.P. which, it is argued, offers at least a partial solution to the problem of tariff redundancy. The main conclusions are as follows:—

SO2 emission of the 1974 eruption of Volcán Fuego, Guatemala

Volcan Fuego in the Central American Republic of Guatemala erupted violently in October, 1974. A remote sensing correlation spectrometer. COSPEC IV, which utilizes the characteristic molecular absorption of SO2 in the ultraviolet was used to monitor the SO2 content of the volcanic plume. Over a 60-day period measurements were made on 37 days between and following major eruptive phases. SO2 emission rates corrected for atmospheric scattering of the spectral signal average 423 metric tons/day with a standard deviation of 252 metric tons/days. Late stage peaks in SO2 emission at Fuego are consistent with the presence of anomalously high contents of soluble materials on the stratigraphically highest ashes from other Central American eruptions. Indications are that the SO2 concentration within the volcanic plume increased as activity waned. These features imply that remote spectroscopic sensing of SO2 and perhaps other gases in a volcanic plume may provide a relatively easy and inexpensive means of determining the cessation of violent eruptive activity.

The United States and the Caribbean Republics, 1921-1933.

Between 1921 and 1933, the United States moved from a policy of active intervention to a policy of noninterference in the internal political affairs of the Caribbean states. How the shift from the diplomacy of the Taft and Wilson administrations to the Good Neighbor policy of Franklin Roosevelt occurred is the subject of Dana Gardner Munro's book. The author draws on official records and on his personal experience as a member of the Latin American Division of the United States Department of State to piece together the history of the transition in diplomatic policy.Professor Munro concentrates on several important issues that changed the tone of the relations of the United States with Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the five Central American Republics: the failure to compel political reforms in Cuba from 1921 to 1923; the withdrawal of the occupations from the Dominican Republic and Haiti; the intervention in Nicaragua; the response to the Machado and Trujillo dictatorships; and the refusal to recognize revolutionary governments in Central America. The author's analysis sheds new light on the much-discussed Clark memorandum, on the degree to which policy furthered the interests of bankers and businessmen, and on the attitude of the American government toward dictatorial regimes.Originally published in 1974.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

F. D. Parker, "The Central American Republics" (Book Review)

F. D. Parker, "The Central American Republics" (Book Review)

The Central American Republics. Franklin D. Parker

<i>The Central American Republics</i>. Franklin D. Parker

The Central American Republics.

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The Central American Republics

The Central American Republics

The Central American Republics

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Recent Progress in Latin America toward Eliminating Exchange Restrictions

AHEAVY RELIANCE upon exchange controls and restrictions played a prominent part, during the immediate postwar period, in the economic policies of many countries in Latin America. In recent years, most of these countries have moved a long way in the direction of freer trade and payments arrangements-a movement with which the International Monetary Fund has almost always been closely associated. However, memories of the era of arbitrary administrative interference with international transactions die hard, and the extent to which Latin America has progressed toward eliminating such restrictions is not always fully appreciated. Furthermore, some lessons of more general applicability are suggested by Latin America's extensive experience with devices intended to influence the internal economic situation through the exchange system, and by the fact that such devices are now being replaced rapidly by more basic economic policies. With these thoughts in mind, this paper is intended to outline the decline in the use of exchange restrictions in Latin America during recent years and to describe the position of relative freedom from discriminatory and restrictive practices which has now been reached. The Latin American countries which used to make extensive use of exchange restrictions are almost exclusively on the Southern Continent. The Central American and Caribbean Republics, with few exceptions, have had virtually no exchange restrictions during the postwar period. Four of these countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Panama) accepted the obligations of Article VIII, Sections 2, 3, and 4, of the Fund Agreement as soon as they joined the Fund, and all but two of the remainder accepted these obligations in the early 1950's. Among the countries on the Southern Continent, only Peru has taken a similar formal step (on February 15, 1961). Particular significance attaches to the action of Peru, because this was the first country to institute (in 1954) a comprehensive stabilization program with technical and financial assistance from the Fund. Programs of the same type were subsequently put into effect in a number of other South American countries,