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TOES '90, Houston, Day 1 Workshop, Sunday, July 6, 1990

The Economic Crisis and Its Socio/Political Repercussions in Central America:
Alternative Models for the Economy

During the past eleven years, Central American countries have been experiencing the worst economic, social and political crisis ever. Many different factors contribute: the civil war, economic sanctions, priority being given to the military budget, government corruption resulting in an increased cost of living, lack of health services, unemployment, etc.

These problems have stimulated Central American countries to search for agreement between the different sectors of society (e.g., Esquipulas II) in order to find a peaceful resolution to the conflicts through an analysis of the real economic situation.

This workshop will take a broader look at the economic situation in order to examine critically the current Central American economic and political agreements, and propose alternatives which can be achieved through peaceful resolutions of differences.

We don't pretend that this presentation will provide a definitive solution to the economic problems of the Central American countries, because each of the countries confront different problems (e.g., unequal distribution of wealth, bad administration of natural resources, class conflicts of various sorts.) The truth is that the economic models that had been used for decades and continue to be implemented today have failed to solve the economic problems of the vast majority of the population.

Altough we are using a broad perspective, we want to look at the specific cases of El Salvador and Guatemala, countries which have been adversely affected by civil war. As a result, more than 70,000 Salvadorans and more than 100,000 Guatemalans have been killed. The unemployment rate in these two countries is at an all time high of 65% to 70%, and less than 2% to 4% of the population holds and control the nations' wealth.

As a result of this crisis, the flow of refuges to the United States has increased. In Houston as in other cities, there are thousands of immigrants from Central America.

Organizers:

• Benito Juarez and Francisco Lopez, (713) 522-3291; (713) 524-8183.

Moderator:

• David Rossi, Technical Coordinator, University of Houston English Department Computer Writing Lab. David Rossi has traveled in Central America, and has been to El Salvador twice, 1986 and in 1990.

Speakers:

• Michael E. Conroy, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Director, Latin American Economic Studies Program, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712.

• Gladis Sibrian, U.S. - El Salvador Institute for Democratic Development, P.O. Box 460586, San Francisco, CA 94146; (415) 647 - 9433; fax: (415) 647 - 7706. Forced to leave her studies in economics at the National University of El Salvador, she represents the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN/FDR) in the U.S.

• Francisco Villagran Muñoz, a representative of the political opposition of Guatemala.