Background
- Introduction
- Challenges to Progress
- Oxfam in CAMEXCA
INTRODUCTION
Sixty-five million people—more than half of the population of the six Central American countries where Oxfam works—live in poverty. More than 30 million live on less than $1 a day. A variety of factors contribute to the poverty that is so prevalent in this area.
Despite being one of the poorest regions in Latin America, Central America is a center for innovative development thinking. Theories on how poor people can best overcome adversity have surfaced based on the role of the United States in the region and the recent experiments in socialism in Cuba and Nicaragua. The legacy of struggle for social justice has inspired the existence of organizations that are working on new ideas for trade and the rural poor, effective human rights organizations, and the women’s movement.
Natural Disasters
During the past decade, Central America has been the victim of a series of natural disasters. Storms and earthquakes caused massive destruction, but the damage was worsened by the existing degradation of the natural environment. During the earthquakes in El Salvador in 2001, an entire hillside suburb was washed away by mudslides. If the hill had not been deforested, the mudslide would have never happened.
Similar tragedies occurred during Hurricane Mitch, which struck the region in 1998, and Hurricane Michelle, which caused devastation in 2002. In some communities, entire hillsides of coffee trees and other crops were washed away. The poorest people in the region, relegated to hillsides and other marginal, eroded areas, suffered the most during these floods.