Werner Vargas (1972, Managua, Nicaragua) is the Secretary General of the Central American Integration System (SICA), a political union of eight countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, the Dominican Republic and Belize. Recently, he went on a European tour, stopping in Spain to encourage cooperation and investment in the region. His trip took place amid the crisis of “stateless” Nicaraguans: a total of 317 incarcerated dissidents were released, deported and stripped of their citizenship. Spain offered them citizenship, and many accepted.
Question: What is the Central American Integration System?
Reply: A kind of European Union, if we can call it that. An integration process towards the Central American Union. In 1991 SICA was established as a product of the 1986 Esquipulas Peace Accords. [para resolver los conflictos militares que asolaban América Central]. Agreed on strengthening Central American economic integration. The Tegucigalpa Protocol was later adopted to respect consensus in decision making at the regional level.
Q: Specifically, what does SICA do?
A: An institutional structure is maintained with summits and leaders’ meetings. For example, there is a Central American Court of Justice that administers community justice. We have a Central American Parliament that has been formed since 1987, and like all Parliaments, it has its critics.
Q: Which reviews?
A: The political relationship of the representatives with the feelings of the people, the efficiency and effectiveness of their work. If they really produce something beyond decision making.
Q: Are SICA resolutions accepted by all countries?
A: Yes, for example, we do joint drug purchases, Central American circulation, CA4 of four countries, a kind of Schengen in Central America… Central American integration process SICA is the second integration process at the global level. In terms of progress, after the European Union. Much more advanced than Mercosur, the Commonwealth of Latin American States (CELAC), or the Andean Community…
Q: How do you manage to have an organization for such politically diverse countries as Nicaragua, which is ranked 143rd in The Economist’s Democracy Index, that is, an authoritarian country? or Costa Rica, democracy number 17?
A: With tolerance, respecting the autonomy and sovereignty of each country. Each country will have its own democratic model and its own system. The work carried out within the framework of SICA focuses on investigating the issues that unite us in the integration process: climate change, risk management, migration, security, food security, energy. These are the issues that keep us moving forward together. We leave aside the issues that we cannot agree on, or at least we postpone it. In SICA, decisions are taken by consensus.
Q: Spain has offered citizenship to more than 300 of its citizens, which president Daniel Ortega stripped of his citizenship and expelled from the country. During your meetings with the Spanish representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you will be asked this subject a lot, what will you tell them?
A: The situation of detainees in Nicaragua is a matter for the Government of Nicaragua and will need to be resolved by the Government of Nicaragua. My voice is meant to represent established consensus.
Q: But as a Nicaraguan, how do you see the situation in your country even if you don’t speak as a spokesperson for SICA?
A: What is important in this national process in Nicaragua is to promote political dialogue. Like? The challenge is: how did we manage to establish a dialogue between Nicaraguan social actors despite the differences? 2018 clash [protestas con centenares de muertos] It has left us with great wounds and great fissures, which must be healed on the basis of understanding and tolerance, which now lacks between the parties.
Q: The government is taking the homes of people whose citizenship they were stripped of before… Is there a dialogue option?
A: Have to be. There was also a confiscation process in the eighties. But the San Juan peace agreements of 1988 made it possible to re-establish a process of dialogue. Subsequently, the rapprochement of the national political class was achieved. No matter how far apart the positions between political actors, there should be meeting points.
Q: Does the political issue in Nicaragua harm the SICA unit?
A: These are the issues that we try not to bring into the Central American Integration System, because they will not go beyond discussion and will lead to conflict between countries without reaching a concrete result.
Q: Spain is an observer country of SICA…
A: Since the San José dialogue, Spain has made a firm commitment to SICA, participated in the construction of the Esquipulas Peace Agreement, and has been involved in various aspects of economic, political, social, cultural and health integration.
Q: Beyond development cooperation, what can Central America give Spain and vice versa?
r.: We are establishing a fund between SICA member countries and the Central American Bank. If we have the accompaniment of Spain, it’s perfect. In addition, Spain has a significant investment in the region: telecommunications, energy or tourism. Repsol, Meliá, Barceló… We’ve heard a lot about green hydrogen in Europe. We have many water sources and renewable energy, which puts us in an advantageous position for investors. We can also make joint purchases in pharmaceuticals, agricultural materials, public vehicle fleet, electricity inputs… This makes our market more attractive for foreign investors.
Q: What is unique about the Central American region?
A: We have a regional electricity market, the only one of its kind in the world, that allows us to connect the region 1,800 kilometers from Guatemala to Panama. 74% is renewable energy facilitating universal access to energy.
Q: What are the main issues in the Central American region right now?
A: We are diverse countries, but we have one thing in common: we emit greenhouse gases the least, but are most affected by the effects of climate change, such as hurricanes. Effects of El Niño and La Niña [efecto del calentamiento en la región que provoca desastres naturales] they force us to work with the impacts of climate change, for example, risk management, construction or education policies. And we jointly position ourselves as a region before the United Nations Climate Change Conferences for compensation and loss claims. We also developed, for example, two regional earthquake drills. Now we’ll have another exercise in Panama to see how we respond to a possible attack at the airport or the Panama Canal.
Q: What other problem in the region can SICA help with?
A: On immigration. We are a natural bridge between South America and North America. This puts us in a very complex situation regarding the attention that should be given to migrants in transit, but also to migrants leaving the Central American region, primarily from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Now Nicaragua is somewhat involved, albeit on a smaller scale. We must work together on this because we cannot undertake this alone. Panama could close its border with Costa Rica or vice versa, and so on. We are developing a comprehensive action plan for migration.