MADRID – A leader of Guatemalan civil society who works with youth says despite the economic and political advances in Central America over the past two decades, the situation in the region is “the same or worse than it was 20 years ago.”
Speaking at a forum on Central America at Madrid’s Casa de la America, Alvaro Dubón, of Guatemala’s youth group Pro- Líder, claims that crime in Central America “has become ingrained in the society, despite democratic changes.”
Dubón said Central America has received $10 billion in international aid during the past decade, yet despite making some improvements to infrastructure, “the situation remains the same.”
The youth leader blamed Central America’s problems on corruption and its constant recycling of past leaders.
“There is no national leadership that represents a generational change and that is what we most need,” he said.
In the case of Nicaragua, Martha Macoy, director of the National Council of Evaluation and Accrediation of the Educational System, said there is a need to create a “stronger political class to oppose governments that want to perpetuate themselves in power, like the government of Nicaragua.”
She said the governments of Central America have to abandon the idea of constitutional reforms that benefit those seeking to consolidate power.
