Human Aspects and Population Structures in Central America and Its So-Called Free Trade Zones: Imperialism, Immigration, Remittance Payments, Leakage, Brain Drain, Global Citizenship, and Unlimited Inequalities During War and Globalization

Abstract

The Central American mainland, excluding Venezuela, has a population of approximately 155 million people, and the Caribbean approximately 40 million people. Globally speaking, this is still a relatively small marketplace. The largest country in this region is Mexico, the smallest is Montserrat island, a UK protectorate of approximately 5000 citizens, located in the Caribbean. All of these Central American nations share a vast indigenous legacy, a dramatic colonial history of abuse, often a pirate legacy, much civil struggle, and ongoing problems with corruption. In addition, they share problems with narcotics, carry a large public debt, wrestle with dominance by Western nations (mostly the US and the European Union), and usually have a high reliance on international tourism (in which the majority of money remains in the North). Details are presented in Chaps. 1, 2, 4, and throughout this book. With the exception of Cuba and Nicaragua, most nations in Central America follow a capitalistic business scheme that relies on NGOs but that tends to widely disregard effective social considerations; most nations now try to follow the ascribed Costa Rican and Mexican models. While Mexico is part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) free-trade scheme with the USA and Canada, Costa Rica champions more the Central American Free Trade Zone, which was established in 1993 and includes the nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. These two nations are often perceived as successful role models in Central America; but the reality is that Mexico suffers a civil war-like violence that has raged virtually uncontrolled for at least a decade, and that Costa Rica accumulates the fastest-growing national debt in Central America with no end in sight.