By Tito Drago
MADRID, Mar 9 2001 (IPS)

Representatives of Central America’s governments coincided in their optimism about development in their region while non-governmental organisations (NGOs) criticised the existing international cooperation plans at a meeting that ended here Friday.

The meeting of the Consultative Group organised this week in the Spanish capital by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) included the participation of presidents Miguel Angel Rodríguez of Costa Rica, Carlos Roberto Flores of Honduras, Arnoldo Alemán of Nicaragua and Francisco Flores of El Salvador.

The Washington-based IDB established the Consultative Group in December 1998 to coordinate support for the Central American nations following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in late October of that year.

In May 1999, the Consultative Group gathered in Stockholm with Canada, German, Spain, Sweden and the United States in attendance as donors, later joined by Japan. This group drew up the original international aid plans for Central America.

Hurricane Mitch, which thrashed the region Oct 26-31, 1998, was “the worst disaster in Central America of the 20th century,” according to the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO).

The natural calamity left three million people homeless, 10,000 dead, 11,000 disappeared and economic losses of an estimated six billion dollars across the isthmus.

Approximately 50 delegations from donor nations, multilateral financial institutions, United Nations agencies and NGOs made their voices heard at the Madrid conference, as did Central American vice-presidents Juan Francisco Reyes, of Guatemala, and Arturo Villarino, of Panama, as well as prime minister Said Musa of Belize.

IDB president Enrique Iglesias and the Organisation of American States (OAS) secretary general César Gaviria were present for the discussions. Maj Inger Klingvall, Sweden’s Minister of International Cooperation, represented the European Union at the talks.

Iglesias told IPS that the positive impacts of the donors’ actions are already evident, with support for rebuilding the areas hardest hit by natural disasters, new infrastructure construction, solidarity with the Central American peoples and investments in production.

Among the successes Honduras stands out. It is the country that suffered the impact of Hurricane Mitch most, but has since seen the rebuilding of potable water and sewerage systems and roads, the reactivation of the agricultural sector and the improved management of watersheds in areas at high risk of flooding.

In Nicaragua, the most tangible progress has occurred in the Motagua and Polochic Valleys, while in El Salvador the impact of international assistance is evident in the Lempa River Valley.

The achievements have led the “Stockholm Group” to state that reconstruction has advanced, but there is still much to be done before the efforts are concluded.

Delegates from governments and official institutions called attention to the extensive participation of civil society in the reconstruction endeavours, but the NGOs themselves made it clear they do not share that assessment.

The Citizen’s Network for the Abolition of the Foreign Debt sent a message to the meeting in which it stressed that “the logic of the market has prevailed in the materialization of the aid.” As a result, “the opportunity that was designed in Stockholm has not proved to be more than a mere declaration of good intentions.”

As an example, the Citizen’s Network pointed to the case of the Spanish government, which in Stockholm committed to 538 million dollars in aid for the 1998-2001 period, making it the second largest donor of the group, after the United States.

But, stresses the Network, the difference is that the sums pledged by all of the other countries were 100 percent donations, while 84 percent of the total provided by the Spanish government was in the form of credits.

As a result, the Central American countries’ debt to Spain rose more than 40 million dollars in recent years.

The NGOs Oxfam International and Intermon distributed a document during this week’s meeting which states that the mere alleviation of the foreign debt is not sufficient in aiding the reconstruction of Central America.

A limit should be established so that their debt service payments do not surpass 10 percent of the governments’ fiscal revenue, said the two NGOs.

Another key issue at the meeting were demands for greater civil society participation in the region’s rebuilding process.

Gregorio Rosa Chávez, assistant bishop of El Salvador, told the conference’s plenary that it is essential to rebuild hope among the Central American people – families and communities – so that “they become protagonists and the true interlocutor of local power.”

He also passed along a message from his NGOs in his country to the delegates gathered in Madrid: A mechanism must be created in which the government and the countries’ various actors are represented, with social and gender-based participation, “and which interacts with an international forum of the donor countries.”

The objective, stresses the message, “is to ensure faithful compliance with the commitments emanating from Madrid and from the reconstruction plan.”

Oxfam points out that Nicaragua’s foreign debt and gross domestic product (GDP) are the most closely related in the world. In addition, the per capita foreign debt in Honduras surpasses 900 dollars.

But Nicaragua’s president Alemán stated that the region is living a historic moment. “For the first time in nearly 180 years of republican life, our nations, without exception, enjoy peace and democracy, as well as market economies,” he said.

While recognising the existing difficulties and widespread poverty, Alemán indicated he is convinced that “regional integration is the correct route towards achieving higher and better standards of living, with sustainability, equity, equality of opportunities and human dignity.”

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