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Article On the Development of Guatemala
The article that I found talks about Guatemala and other Central American countries in regards to their compliance with the Millennium Development Goals. The Millennium Development Goals were established at a U.N. summit in 2000 and are aimed at reducing extreme poverty worldwide by 2015. Between 1989 and 2000 the absolute poverty rate in Guatemala had been reduced from 20 percent of the population to 16 percent. Because of this, the Millennium Development Goal appeared attainable. However, by 2004 the absolute poverty rate had risen to almost 22 percent of the population. With the recent global economic recession, things have worsened for Guatemala and it appears that the country won't achieve its development goals by 2015. The article points out that a major factor in Guatemala's current downfall is the reported drop in the amount of remittances being sent back to Guatemala.
When comparing Guatemala to other Central American countries in relation to the Millennium Development Goals, Guatemala doesn't fare too well. El Salvador already has met the MDG by cutting the absolute poverty rate from 28 percent in 1991 to 11 percent in 2007. Panama also has improved its absolute poverty rate, getting it near 9 percent, which is what the MDG states it must be by 2015. In addition to the MDG requiring improvement in poverty, it also contains provisions for improving education, promoting equality of people, containment of diseases, the reduction of the mortality rate in children and several other goals. The article also points out that there are extensive issues with trying to meet the development goals.
This article has a lot to do with what we discussed in class, especially in relation to poverty and the development of countries in Latin America. We talked quite a bit about remittances in class and this article briefly mentioned what effect they can have in Latin American countries. Poverty is such a major problem throughout Latin America that these countries cannot continue to develop without relying on remittances. Guatemala has recently been hurt because of a drop in remittances, which is in part due to the global economic recession. It has now become apparent that Guatemala won't reach the MDG of reducing absolute poverty, and a major contribution to this is obviously a lack in remittances.
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