Political leaders between Mexico and Panama are once again dreaming of a Central American Union, a European-style political and economic pact that would help accelerate regional growth and allow the region to compete more aggressively in the world economy. 
     During a September 2 summit meeting in Managua, the presidents of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala voted to accelerate movement toward regional integration. The president of Panama, the prime minister of Belize, and the vice president of the Dominican Republic were present as observers, signaling the possible future expansion of regional integration.
     Observers noted that this is the 29th attempt at unification since the five Central American republics jointly declared their independence from Spain in 1821.
     Yet the presidents argued that this effort would be different, stating in their joint declaration that they were moving beyond economic integration in a desire to make the region's democratic institutions more viable, "especially the operation of social funds, the administration of justice, education, and public health, as well as the mechanisms of electoral safeguards."
     Despite the presidents' mighty words, regional integration is not exactly a hot subject among Central America's 31 million residents. According to Guatemalan Foreign Minister Eduardo Stein, there are 40 agencies and 12 secretariats dedicated to regional integration, but most operate in bureaucratic backwaters far from the public eye. 
     Many ordinary people have heard of Parlacen, however. The Parlamento Centroamericano was created in 1987 as part of the Esquipulas peace process. Residents of Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala vote for Parlacen delegates during national elections. Parlacen consumed 47 percent of the $17.3 million spent last year by regional integration bureaucracies.
     Costa Rica has repeatedly refused to join Parlacen. The regional legislature's vice president, Honduran Manuel Acosta, said in July that Costa Ricans consider their neighbors to be "backward semi-savages" with whom they don't want to mix politically.
     Although they elect its members, few Central Americans know what Parlacen actually does, and those who do aren't impressed. Many accuse the regional body of being a refuge for former presidents who are automatically members and thus enjoy diplomatic immunity.
     Even prospective members are developing an attitude. During a July summit in July, the region's presidents voted to whittle away at Parlacen's independence and the privileges of its members, each of whom earn $5,000 per month whether they attend sessions or not. The presidents also began merging and streamlining the complicated web of integration-related agencies. 
     During their September summit, the presidents declared that civil society should play a greater role in defining the priorities of integration. Yet the region's non governmental organizations felt so excluded from preparations for the meeting that they called a press conference to complain that while business leaders were being listened to by those defining the new concept of regional integration, other sectors--including small farmers, indigenous, and cooperatives--were being left out of the discussion. The NGOs argued for "food security" to become a focal point of regional cooperation.
     According to Víctor Rivera, a Salvadoran participant in the Asociación de Organizaciones para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo de Centroamérica, regional integration has been controlled to date by governmental elites, leaving civil society outside the discussion. "They control the helm of the boat," says Rivera, "and, worst of all, they see civil society as stowaways."
     Continuing border conflicts also contradict mighty words about regional integration.
     Honduras and Nicaragua take turns seizing fishing boats from each other in the Gulf of Fonseca, where depleted fish stocks have encouraged fishing crews to cross poorly-defined territorial limits. In May, naval forces from the two countries opened fire on each other.
     The border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua has grown tense as Costa Rican authorities try to keep out poor Nicaraguans migrating south in search of work. 
     Honduran authorities this year accused landless Guatemalans of crossing the border to bolster the demands of Honduran indigenous groups for land to farm.
     Salvadorans and Hondurans have long feuded over their border, going to war in 1969 in the infamous "Soccer War." The conflict supposedly came to an end in 1992 when the International Court of Justice drew up new boundaries, awarding Honduras 311 square kilometers of 446 square kilometers in dispute. But the decision left a series of problems for the two countries to resolve, most notably what would happen to the 10,000 Salvadorans who overnight found themselves living in Honduran territory, along with some 3,000 Hondurans who became Salvadorans.
     In February of this year, tensions along the border heated up again when Honduran officials detained 30 Salvadoran trucks hauling timber out of an area that used to belong to El Salvador. After several days of saber rattling, the Salvadorans paid for permits demanded by the Hondurans and took the wood away. The governments appointed a joint commission to study the issue.
     A few months earlier, a new guerrilla army had debuted on the Honduran side of the border. Armed with AK-47s, covering their faces like Zapatistas, and claiming to have 300 members, the "Cerquines" posed for photographers and swore to protect border-area residents against incursions by armed bandits operating from El Salvador. Juan Duch, a Alianza Republicana Nacionalista congressional deputy in El Salvador, downplayed the group's threat. "It's a tradition in Honduras that whenever they have political problems, the border dispute is used to divert attention," he said.
     Guatemala and Belize don't get along; the former long considered the later a renegade province. In 1991, President Jorge Serrano was the first Guatemalan leader to acknowledge Belize's sovereignty. Yet conflicts over poorly defined borders continue. In late August, Guatemalan President Alvaro Arzú sent troops to the border after an incursion by Belizean soldiers who burned the fields of some 50 families living near the border. 
     Relations between Guatemala and Panama also took a turn for the worse during August after Panamanian President Ernesto Pérez Balladares appeared at the inauguration of a $20 million country club owned in part by Serrano, who has lived in Panama since his removal from office in 1993. Guatemalan officials have tried to extradite him, but Panamanian leaders have turned them down repeatedly. Following the release of photographs showing Pérez and Serrano at the gala opening, Guatemala recalled its ambassador to Panama.