The Impact of Migration in the Caribbean and Central American Region
by Manuel Orozco
http://www.iadialog.org/publications/country_studies/remittances/focal_orozco.pdf


Dr. Manuel Orozco is the Central America project director for the Inter-American Dialogue. He has published extensively on family remittances to Latin America and democracy in Central America and is author of the book "International Norms and Mobilization for Democracy (2002)."

The relationship between Panama and its distinct Diaspora in the United States reminds me of some aspects of the book "Who moved my cheese?"

From time to time I read about Central American immigrants in the USA making contributions to communities in their countries of birth, and as dual citizens of Panama and the USA I am certain some Panamanian-Americans can't help but to wonder why our relationship with Panama is so different from the relationships of other immigrant communities and their countries of birth.

In analyzing the situation I emerge with two answers:

(1) For the longest time Panama enjoyed a more prosperous economy than its neighbors in Central America, mainly because of the Americans presence in Panama.

(2) The demographics of the immigrant Panamanian-American community in the USA and its alleged political preference have many ramifications. One is that some on both sides of the equation prefer to bite off their noses to save their faces, instead of "building some new cheese" in light of the global economic crisis.

Like rats in a maze, some on one side still hold onto past generations' resentment towards the immigrants who built the country's economic base, while some on the other side still hold onto resentments felt by past generations towards those who resented them.

But while Panama and its Diaspora are enjoying a kind of "old cheese" type of relationship, Dr. Orozco describes how the other Central American countries and their Diasporas are building "New Cheese" for mutual benefit, to the tune of $10 billion a year.

The new cheese is made of remittance to families, tourism, telecommunications, exports to the Diaspora, cultural exchange and partnership in the design and financing of much-needed social and sustained development projects. In some cases the level of remittance by immigrants exceeds the income generated by major economic sectors in the country receiving the remittances.

The players in this emerging financial market are immigrant hometown associations in the USA (HTOs), remittance agencies like (Western Union, banks or credit unions), family member recipients of remittances and Latin American governments.

Certain sectors of Panamanian society would welcome closer ties with our communities in the USA. In a recent meeting with representatives from two international NGOs I learned that the Darien region is in great need of potable drinking water. I also learned from the Panamanian news that a local company agreed to build a water purifying machine for another sector at a cost of a little under $5,000.

Panama and its Diaspora need to bury the old hatchet and join forces to start building a "New Panamanian-American Cheese."

Also in this section:
Cool Internet sites
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Online study on emigrants' ties to the region

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