SICA focuses attention on efficiency, fighting organized crime in Central America.

AutorRodriguez, George

Central America's integration mechanism--the Sistema de la Integracion Centroamericana, (SICA)--is set on tackling organized crime, one of this region's top priorities, and on seeking social peace as well as economic development.

At its most recent summit meeting in late June in Costa Rica, SICA members highlighted the need for strengthened regional security and the need to become a more efficient, accountability-driven organization.

The signing of the 1987 peace accords, known as the Procedimiento para Establecer la Paz Firme y Duradera en Centroamerica (NotiCen, April 29, 1987), paved the way for the resolution of the armed political confrontations in Nicaragua (1981-1990) (NotiCen, Feb. 26, 1988, and March 30, 1988), El Salvador (1980-1992) (NotiCen, Nov. 6, 1992), and Guatemala (1960-1996) (NotiCen, Oct. 31, 1996).

SICA was created almost six years later, in 1993, picking up on the legacy of earlier integration projects, such as the 1951 initiative, the Organizacion de Estados Centroamericanos (ODECA). Originally made up of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, SICA's membership grew in 2000, when Belize joined the bloc, followed by the Dominican Republic in 2013. Haiti is now seeking to enter the group (NotiCen, July 17, 1997, April 2, 2009, June 13, 2013).

The full members are joined by 26 observers. Nine are from the Americas--Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, US, and Uruguay. The other observers are Australia, France, Germany, the Holy See, Italy, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, the Order of Malta, Qatar, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, plus the European Union.

A complex bureaucracy

SICA's bureaucracy consists of eight main bodies--including the executive committee, the Parliament and court--and 10 secretariats, among them one for economic integration (Secretaria de Integracion Economica Centroamericana, SIECA) and one for social integration (Secretaria de la Integracion Social Centroamericana, SISCA). In addition, SICA encompasses more than 20 specialized centers--for disaster prevention, for example--and a bank, the Banco Centroamericano de Integracion Economica (BCIE).

At the summit meeting in June, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela addressed the regional security issue both during the conference's plenary session and in statements to local and international media after he received SICA's rotating presidency from his Costa Rican...

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