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The History of Central America Table 1.1 Statistical Profile of Central America (2004) Country Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama Capital City Belmopan San Jose San Salvador Guatemala Tegucigalpa Managua Panama Size* 8,866 19,730 8,124 42,042 43,277 50,464 29,762 Population 272,945 3,956,507 6,587,541 14,280,596 6,823,568 5,359,759 3,000,463 Life Expectancy (years) 68 77 72 65 66 70 72 Tallest Peak (feet) 3,680 12,500 8,957 13,815 9,416 7,998 11,401 * measured in square miles. who had previously spent millions of dollars per year in Panama are gone, and the government of Panama has had to find imagina- tive ways to keep the canal functioning smoothly while compensat- ing for the loss of income generated by the presence of a huge U.S. military presence. Moreover, governments and wealthy citizens who once used threat of violence to control workers and peasants must now find new, civil ways of maintaining public order. The changes could not be more dramatic. Truth commissions have published scathing critiques of human rights violations by the former dictatorships in several of the Central American republics, which must now confront their earlier use of violence and escuadrones de la muerte (death squads) in the court of public opinion. This has not been an entirely successful process, nor has it always gone smoothly. Nonetheless, the process does move forward which, in the environment of Central American politics, is a remarkable achievement for the peoples of these nations. These introductory comments serve as an overview of how each country is confronting these sweeping changes. BELIZE Belize is unique among the nations of Central America for a variety of reasons. Its language, history, and culture all reflect its British heritage. Meanwhile, its political system has its roots in the nine- teenth century, when, as subjects of the British Crown, Belizeans enjoyed the protection of the British military while remaining sub- ject to a distant monarch. In 1862, the nation was renamed British 2