Central American

Integration System

The Central American Integration System (Spanish: Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana,

or SICA) has been the economic and political organization of Central American states since 1
February 1993. On 13 December 1991, the ODECA countries (Spanish: Organización de Estados
Centroamericanos) signed the Protocol of Tegucigalpa, extending earlier cooperation for regional
peace, political freedom, democracy and economic development. SICA's General Secretariat is in
El Salvador.
 Central American Integration System
Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana  (Spanish)
(SICA)

Flag Logo

Motto: "God, Union and Liberty"

Anthem: La Granadera

The Song of the Grenadier

States in the Central American Integration System.

Administrative center San Salvador, El Salvador

Official languages English and Spanish

Type Regional organization

Membership 8 states
11 regional observers

21 extraregional observers

Leaders
• President pro tempore Carlos Alvarado Quesada
• General Secretary Vinicio Cerezo
Legislature Central American Parliament

Establishment
• Court of Cartago 20 December 1907
• ODECA 14 October 1951
• CACM 13 December 1960
• SICA 13 December 1991
Area
• Total 572,510 km2 (221,050 sq mi)

Population
• 2009 estimate 51,152,936
• Density 89.34/km2 (231.4/sq mi)
 GDP (PPP) 2010 estimate
• Total $506.258 billion
• Per capita $9,898.17

GDP (nominal) 2010 estimate
• Total $266.213 billion
• Per capita $5,205.45
Website

sica.int (http://www.sica.int/)

In 1991, SICA's institutional framework included Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua,

Costa Rica and Panama. Belize joined in 1998 as a full member, while the Dominican Republic
became an associated state in 2004 and a full member in 2013. Mexico, Chile and Brazil
became part of the organization as regional observers, and the Republic of China, Spain,
Germany and Japan became extra-regional observers. SICA has a standing invitation to
participate as observers in sessions of the United Nations General Assembly,[1] and maintains
offices at UN Headquarters.[2]

Four countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua) experiencing political, cultural
and migratory integration have formed a group, the Central America Four or CA-4, which has
introduced common internal borders and the same type of passport. Belize, Costa Rica, Panama
and the Dominican Republic subsequently joined the CA-4 for economic integration.

Headquarters

SICA was supported by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution A/48L of 10
December 1993. The administrative centre
is located in San Salvador, El Salvador. SICA is
affiliated with the UN.

History

First Central American Court of Justice

Between 14 November and 20 December 1907, after a proposal by Mexico and the United
States, five Central American nations (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and
Nicaragua) took part in the Central American Peace Conference in Washington, D.C. sponsored
by United States Secretary of State Elihu Root. The five nations, all former Spanish colonies, had
previously tried to form a political alliance. Their first attempt was the Federal Republic of
Central America, and the most recent effort was the founding of the Republic of Central America
11 years earlier.

The participants concluded the conference with an agreement creating the Central American
Court of Justice (Corte de Justicia Centroamericana). The court would remain in effect for ten
years from the final ratification, and communication would be through the government of Costa
Rica. It was composed of five judges, one from each member state. The court heard ten cases,
five of which were brought by private individuals (and declared inadmissible) and three begun by
the court. The court operated until April 1918 from its headquarters in Costa Rica; despite
efforts beginning in March 1917 (when Nicaragua submitted a notice of termination of the
agreement), it then dissolved.

Reasons for the agreement's failure include:

No effective system of judicial procedure

Judges were not independent of their respective governments.

Jurisdiction was too broad to satisfy its member states.

Exclusive Economic Zones of the member states of the Central American Integration System. Considering them, the total
area reaches 2 351 224 km².

Organization of Central American States

At the end of World War II, interest in integrating the Central American governments began. On
14 October 1951 (33 years after the CACJ was dissolved) the governments of Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua signed a treaty creating the Organization of
Central American States (Organización de Estados Centroamericanos, or ODECA) to promote
regional cooperation and unity. The following year (12 December 1952), ODECA's charter was
amended to create a new Central American Court of Justice (Corte Centroamericana de Justicia,
or CCJ) without the time limit of its previous incarnation.
The Charter of San Salvador was ratified by all Central American governments, and on 18 August
1955 their foreign ministers attended its first meeting in Antigua Guatemala. The Declaration of
Antigua Guatemala authorized subordinate organizations of ODECA to facilitate economic
cooperation, better sanitation and progress in the "integral union" of the Central American
nations.[3]

The Central American Common Market, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration
(BCIE) and the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) were established
by the five Central American nations on 13 December 1960 at a conference in Managua.[4] All
nations ratified the membership treaties the following year. Costa Rica joined the CACM in 1963,
but Panama has not yet joined. The organization froze during the 1969 war between Honduras
and El Salvador; in 1973 ODECA was suspended, and progress toward regional integration
ground to a halt.

Revival

In 1991 the integration agenda advanced with the creation of the SICA, which provided a legal
framework to resolve disputes between member states. SICA includes seven Central America
nations and the Dominican Republic, which is part of the Caribbean. Central America has several
supranational institutions, such as the Central American Parliament, the Central American Bank
for Economic Integration and the Central American Common Market. The Central America trade
bloc is governed by the General Treaty for Economical Integration (the Guatemala Protocol),
which was signed on 29 October 1993. The CACM has removed duties on most products
throughout the member countries, and has unified external tariffs and increased trade within its
members. The bank has five non-regional members: Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, the Republic
of China and Spain.

All SICA members are also part of the Mesoamerica Project, which includes Mexico and
Colombia. Haiti joined SICA in 2013 as an associate member, and the Dominican Republic
became a full member on 27 June 2013.[5]

Members and observers

 Population

Flag State Capital Code Accession Area Popu

(2018)[6][7]

22,966 km2

Belize Belmopan BZ 1998 383,071

(8,867 sq mi)

51,100 km2

Costa Rica San José CR Founder 4,999,441

(19,700 sq mi)

48,671 km2

Dominican Republic Santo Domingo DO 2013 10,627,141

(18,792 sq mi)

21,041 km2

El Salvador San Salvador SV Founder 6,420,746

(8,124 sq mi)

108,889 km2

Guatemala Guatemala City GT Founder 17,247,849

(42,042 sq mi)

112,090 km2

Honduras Tegucigalpa HN Founder 9,587,522

(43,280 sq mi)

130,370 km2

Nicaragua Managua NI Founder 6,465,501

(50,340 sq mi)

75,420 km2

Panama Panama City PA Founder 4,176,869

(29,120 sq mi)

570,547 km2

8 total 58,096,944
(220,289 sq mi)

Regional observers
 Argentina  Ecuador

 Bolivia  Mexico

 Brazil  Peru

 Canada  United States

 Chile  Uruguay

 Colombia
[8]

Extra-regional observers
  Australia  New Zealand

 Egypt  Order of Malta

 European Union  Qatar

 France  Russia

 Georgia  Serbia

 Germany  Spain

  Holy See  Sweden

 Italy  Taiwan

 Japan  Turkey

 South Korea  United Arab Emirates

 Morocco  United Kingdom

[8]

Economic integration

Unified Central American currency

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration has not introduced its own common
currency, and dollarization is possible. However, for formal purposes the US Dollar is sometimes
referred to as "Central American Peso" pegged 1:1 to the Dollar. There are no coins or notes in
this currency and it is little known outside of legal circles. Central America is increasing its
regional economic development, accelerating its social, political and economic integration. The
region has diversified output and price and wage flexibility; however, there is a lack of business-
cycle synchronization, dissimilar levels of public-sector debt, diverging inflation rates and low
levels of intra-regional trade.[9]

Policy integration

In the parliamentary body are proposals to consider regional air travel as domestic travel, to
eliminate roaming fees on telephone calls and to create a regional penitentiary (affiliated with
the Central American Court of Justice) to address regional trafficking and international
crimes.[10]

Institutions

Central American Parliament

Parlacen was born as a parliamentary body emulating the Federal Republic of Central America,
with Costa Rica an observer. It evolved from the Contadora Group, a project launched during the
1980s to deal with civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Although the Contadora
Group was dissolved in 1986, the concept of Central American integration is implicitly
referenced in several countries' constitutions. The Esquipulas Peace Agreement (among other
acts) agreed to the creation of a Central American Parliament composed of 20–22 directly-
elected deputies from each country. Costa Rica has not ratified the agreement, and is not
represented in the Parlacen. Parlacen is seen by some (including former President of Honduras
Ricardo Maduro) as a white elephant.[11]

Central American Court of Justice

The CCJ's mission is to promote peace in the region and the unity of its member states. The
Court[12] has jurisdiction to hear cases:

Between member states

Between a member state and a non-member state accepting the court's jurisdiction

Between states and a resident of a member state

Concerning the integration process between SICA and member states (or persons)

The court may offer consultation to the region's supreme courts. In 2005, it ruled that
Nicaraguan congressional reforms (which removed control of water, energy and
telecommunications from President Enrique Bolaños) were "legally inapplicable". As of July
2005, the CCJ had made 70 resolutions since hearing its first case in 1994.

Organizations
A clickable Euler diagram showing the relationships between various multinational organisations in the Americas (prior to
v • d • e (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Supranational_American_Bodies&action=edit)
2019).

Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Banco Centroamericano de Integración

Económica, BCIE)[13]

Central American Common Market (CACM; Mercado Común Centroamericano, MCCA)

Central American Court of Justice (CCJ)[14][15][16]

Central American Armed Forces Conference (Conferencia de las Fuerzas Armadas

Centroamericanas, CFAC)[17][18]

Central American Parliament (Parlamento Centroamericano, PARLACEN)

Plenum

Board of Parliament

Secretariat

President's Summit
Comité Consultivo (CC-SICA)

Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs

 Executive Committee (CE-SICA)

Vice President's Summit

Secretariat General (SG-SICA)[19]

Central American Educational and Cultural Cooperation (CECC)[20]

See also

Latin American Integration Association

Central America-4 Border Control Agreement

Central America-4 passport

Mercosur

Rules of Origin

Market access

Free-trade area

Tariffs

References

1. "United Nations list of observing international organizations" (https://www.un.org/en/members/intergovo

rg.shtml) . un.org. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

2. "El Sistema De La Integracion Centroamericana - New York" (https://web.archive.org/web/201108300224

36/http://www.sgsica-ny.org/) . www.sgsica-ny.org. Archived from the original (http://www.sgsica-ny.
org/) on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

3. "Central American Defense Council - Some Problems and Achievements" (https://web.archive.org/web/2

0061005003041/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1969/mar-apr/smithl.htm
l) . Lieutenant Colonel Laun C. Smith, JR. Archived from the original (http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mi
l/airchronicles/aureview/1969/mar-apr/smithl.html) on 5 October 2006. Retrieved 22 May 2006.

4. General Treaty on Central American Economic Integration between Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and
Nicaragua signed at Managua, on 13 December 1960 (http://www.worldtradelaw.net/fta/agreements/cac
mfta.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20090304175023/http://www.worldtradelaw.net/fta/
agreements/cacmfta.pdf) 4 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine

5. Sistema de Integración Centroamericano News (http://www.sica.int/busqueda/Noticias.aspx?IDItem=79

131&IDCat=21&IdEnt=1&Idm=1&IdmStyle=1) (in Spanish)
 6. " "World Population prospects – Population division" " (https://population.un.org/wpp/) .
population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.
Retrieved 9 November 2019.

7. " "Overall total population" – World Population Prospects: The 2019 Revision" (https://population.un.org/
wpp/Download/Files/1_Indicators%20(Standard)/EXCEL_FILES/1_Population/WPP2019_POP_F01_1_TO
TAL_POPULATION_BOTH_SEXES.xlsx) (xslx). population.un.org (custom data acquired via website).
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 9 November
2019.

8. "Estados y Organismos observadores" (https://www.sica.int/pais/observador) . SICA.int (in Spanish).

Retrieved 11 March 2021.

9. Bulmer-Thomas, Victor and A. Douglas Kincaid. Central America 2020: Towards a New Regional
Development Model. USAID. EU Commission. 2000

10. Digital, El 19. "El 19 Digital - Portal de Noticias de Nicaragua" (http://www.el19digital.com/index.php?opti

on=com_content&task=view&id=36949&Itemid=12) . El 19 Digital. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

11. "América Central" (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/nt/548/548071/54

8071en.pdf) (PDF). europa.eu. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

12. Iustel (1 January 2018). "Revista General de Derecho Europeo - Sumario N.º 44 ENERO 2018" (http://ww
w.iustel.com/v2/revistas/detalle_revista.asp?id=13) . www.iustel.com. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

13. "Central American Bank for Economic Integration" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160318115929/http://

www.bcie.org/english/index.php) . bcie.org. Archived from the original (http://www.bcie.org/english/ind
ex.php) on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

14. Official website of the CCJ (http://www.ccj.org.ni/) (Spanish language)

15. "History of the CACJ from WorldCourts" (https://web.archive.org/web/20161112085703/http://www.worl

dcourts.com/cacj/eng/timeline.htm) . worldcourts.com. Archived from the original (http://www.worldco
urts.com/cacj/eng/timeline.htm) on 12 November 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

16. "CACJ history page from PICT" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090516073851/http://www.pict-pcti.org/

courts/CACJ.html) . Archived from the original (http://www.pict-pcti.org/courts/CACJ.html) on 16
May 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2008.

17. [1] (http://www..resdal.org/ebook/AtlasRESDAL2010-eng/print/page72.pdf) (Spanish language)

18. "Conferencia de las Fuerzas Armadas Centroamericanas" (https://www.conferenciafac.org/) .

conferenciafac.org. Retrieved 5 August 2018.

19. "The EU's relations with Central America" (https://web.archive.org/web/20060622023032/http://ec.europ

a.eu/comm/external_relations/ca/index.htm) . The EU's Official Website. Archived from the original (htt
p://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/ca/index.htm) on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 19 June 2006.

20. https://ceccsica.info
 Bibliography

Hudson, Manley O. (June 1943). "Chapter 3. The Central American Court of Justice". The
Permanent Court of International Justice 1920-1942 (A Treatise). New York: The Macmillan
Company. pp 42–70 Sections 39-62.

Ishmael, Odeen (July 2007). Guyana Journal (2007-07): Advancing Integration Between
Caricom and Central America (http://www.guyanajournal.com/caricom_integration.html)

Kimitch, Rebecca (15 July 2005). Commission Studies Impeachment, Tico Times.

External links

Central American Integration System (http://www.sica.int)

Central American Parliament (https://web.archive.org/web/20081229061744/http://www.parl

acen.org.gt/)

Central American Economic Integration System (http://www.sieca.int)

BCIE / CABEI (http://www.bcie.org)

Decisions of the CACJ in English (1908-1917) (http://www.worldcourts.com/cacj/eng/)

Market Access Map (https://www.macmap.org) (A free tool developed by International

Trade Centre, which identify customs tariffs, tariff rate quotas, trade remedies, regulatory
requirements and preferential regimes applicable to products, including Central American
Integration System)

Rules of Origin Facilitator (https://www.findrulesoforigin.org) (A free tool jointly developed

by International Trade Centre, World Trade Organization and World Customs Organization
which enables traders to find specific criteria and general origin requirements applicable to
their products, understand and comply with them in order to be eligible for preferential tariffs.
The tool is very useful for traders who want to gain benefit from Central American Integration
System)
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Central_American_Integration_System&oldid=
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