PRESS CONFERENCE on twentieth anniversary of central American peace agreement

The purpose of the conference on “a Firm and Lasting Peace in Central America: the Pending Agenda 20 Years Later” –- held at Headquarters today –- was to reignite the interest of the international community in that region and draw attention to its problems, former President of Guatemala, Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, told correspondents at a press conference this afternoon.

The conference has been convened on the twentieth anniversary of the conclusion of the Esquipulas II Agreements in 1987, when Central American Presidents agreed to implement a regional peace and democratization plan, which established broad commitments regarding democratization, cessation of internal hostilities, amnesty, ending aid to insurgents, national reconciliation, negotiations on security, verification, control and limitation of weapons.

“Twenty years later, we are not killing each other in Central America, but still, the problems are there,” said the President of Costa Rica, Óscar Arias Sànchez, one of the authors of the plan.  “My dream at the time was to make Central America the first demilitarized zone in the world,” he said.  That had not been achieved and the problems still remained: more needed to be spent on educating people and trying to alleviate the violence that prevailed in the region.

He added that, from his point of view, the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) was essential for the small economies of Central America, which produced what they did not consume and consumed what they did not produce.  Not everybody agreed with him, and for that reason, Costa Rica would hold a referendum in October, so its people could decide if they approved CAFTA or not.  The five countries of Central America were prepared to begin free trade negotiations with the European Union, which would also incorporate cooperation issues.

Former President of Guatemala, Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, said that the countries of the region wanted to maintain peace in Central America.  When the Esquipulas II Agreements were negotiated, the origin of the conflict was the intolerance of the military Governments of Central America, repression of pluralism and political participation, injustice and lack of participation opportunities for the people.  Since, the countries had succeeded “in terms of formal democracy”, in stopping the war and confrontation.

“But where are we today?” he asked, stressing that the real battle against injustice and poverty was still pending.  Unless the problems of poverty and concentration of wealth were solved, the problems of social violence, corruption. drug trafficking and crime would be difficult to control.  The conference’s most important issue was to impress on the international community that Central America needed its attention “to fight the real battle”.

He said that an important problem was the role of several families who held the power in Central America –- “the oligarchy”, which did not respect the laws, and did not want to pay taxes.  The members of the oligarchy only wanted to maintain their privileges.  To address that issue, it was necessary to support the political framework, develop institutions, provide training and promote democracy.

There was a big gap between the leaders of 20 years ago, who were “convinced and concerned about the state of law” and the opportunistic politicians of today, who were not well-trained, not concerned about the social development of their countries, and not prepared to compromise.  For Central America to consolidate democracy and achieve lasting and firm peace, its countries needed the support of the international community, he said.  It was necessary to work on the basis of the past, but to think of the future.

Asked if other regions of the world, including the Middle East, could benefit from Central America’s experience, President Arias said that to reach agreements, one needed to be very humble and “listen, listen and listen to the other sides”.  Making peace was not easy.  One of the lessons he had learned was that security should not be a precondition for peace.  He felt that putting security as a precondition for sitting down at the negotiating table in the Middle East was like “putting the cart in front of the horse”.  “We began by agreeing on ceasefires in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua,” he said.  “We realized that the future of 40 million Central Americans was in our hands, that we have no choice but to succeed.  That is, perhaps, the lesson we can share with the rest of the world.”

Guatemala’s former President added that, to achieve firm and lasting peace, it was necessary to identify common goals, and be prepared to compromise, taking into account “foreign interests, especially of the big-big countries”.  That was one of the problems in the Middle East.  The region had oil and represented a strategic interest to other countries.

Asked how one could challenge the oligarchy, former President Cerezo Arevalo said that he was not talking about private enterprise, but about five to ten families that wanted to control the economy and political power in most countries of Central America, with possible exception of Costa Rica.  In his country, such families tried to gain control through the media and through the elections, in which they provided significant financing in support of some candidates.  Information for the people was an important means of overcoming their “power of money” and increasing people’s participation in politics.  “We are trying to use the radio and the cable in the local communities,” he said, as well as the Internet.  Also important was cooperation with civil society and non-governmental organizations.  International support and training the politicians were also important.

To another question, he said that the international community had forgotten about Central America, feeling that it was “on its way”.  He said: “It seems like everything is working well -– it is not”.  To address the problems, it was important to teach people about their rights.  In that connection, it was necessary to seek the support of the international community in the area of education.  Of particular importance were the efforts to train politicians, who needed to understand how the system worked.

“Not having educated our children is our biggest challenge,” President Arias added, saying that the lack of education explained the “huge inequality” in Central America’s societies.  On the average, children in Latin America received only six and a half to seven years of schooling.  In his country, it was 11 years, and he was committed to the goal of making secondary education universal.

Asked if other countries of Central America intended to follow Costa Rica’s decision to support China on the issue of the Province of Taiwan, former President Cerezo said Guatemala was prepared to do that, but different reasons had prevented that decision.  In many ways, he admired Taiwan, but Central America was interested in having a relationship with China.  He believed that President Arias’ decision was right.

A correspondent asked about the capacity in which Alvaro de Soto, former Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary-General’s Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, introduced the two Presidents today.  Mr. de Soto replied that as a participant in the conference, he had been asked by its organizers to assist in today’s press conference.

To a question about why Central America was now forgotten, former President Cerezo said that the United States had always had more interest in Europe than in Latin America.  It also had a lot of interest in the Middle East.  However, it was very important to maintain the democratic advances in Latin America, avoiding the danger of letting it fall in the hands of populism or new kinds of dictatorship.  “We have worked 20 years to win, and now we need to wage the war against injustice again,” he said.

President Arias added that for many years, communism had been the enemy and the threat for Washington.  Eventually, when the Soviet Union disintegrated, the United States turned into a nation “in search of an enemy”.  Now, it had found one in terrorism.  Now that there was no communist threat in Central America, nobody cared about it.  “We were in a way punished -– not rewarded by having the guts, the wisdom and courage to make peace,” he said.

Responding to a question about Central America’s expectations for the international community, President Cerezo emphasized the importance of solidarity, economic support and training, among other things, as well as fairness in terms of economic agreements.  Countries of Central America should be seen more than just as markets.  They should be seen as partners.

Mr. de Soto added that the conference would be breaking up into four panels this afternoon, which would address the broad pending agenda: security environment; democratic governance; economic development; and social development.

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For information media • not an official record