Presents an extensive set of concrete policy recommendations. For most people in the U.S., Central Amer. (CA) has long been what the entire New World was to Europeans of 5 centuries ago: terra incognita. Probably few people could name all the countries of CA and their capitals, much less recite much of their political and social backgrounds. This report proposes attention and help to a previously neglected area of the hemisphere. Contents: a hemisphere in transformation; crisis in CA: an historical overview; toward democracy and economic prosperity; human development; CA security issues; the search for peace.

"On July 19, 1983, President Ronald Reagan established the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America to examine the social, economic, and democratic conditions in the region and to provide advice that could evolve into a comprehensive U.S. policy for Central America. Headed by Henry A. Kissinger, the twelve-member commission included the president of the AFL-CIO, a retired justice of the Supreme Court, the mayor of San Antonio, the president of Boston University, a professor of economics from Yale, a former ambassador and chairman of the Democratic Party, a financier and former senator, a former governor of Texas, a business leader, a political scientist, and a physician and humanitarian"--Back cover.