ABSTRACT
Assessments of the Central American Common Market range from the optimistic vision of the technician, who perceives problems as amenable to technical solutions, and the catastrophic view of the reformer, who focuses on deep-rooted structural problems requiring profound socioeconomic changes. The development of the Central American Common Market was characterized by a profound disjuncture between the somewhat idealistic proposals of United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and of other regional academic institutions, on the one hand, and the political and economic conditions in the Central American countries, on the other. In the European experience the point of departure for economic integration was highly industrialized societies whose cooperation would assure higher levels of growth. The process of economic growth was directed by private enterprise, with private interests represented and guaranteed in multilateral meetings, in institutional organisms, and in all the circles where problems relative to the Common Market were decided.
