Abstract
Economic development is considered as one of the fundamental programs how to combat poverty and thanks to that violence. However, it is difficult to do it in areas where there are no resources.
One of these is the Central American region. In 1999, the Panama Canal, after almost 100 years of American control, was taken over by the government of the state itself.
This act symbolically began a race among the remaining countries of the isthmus. In the new millennium the inter-oceanic canal thus became an instrument of economic development of all countries from Guatemala to Colombia.
These efforts culminated in 2013 when the Nicaraguan congress approved the concession to a Chinese company for the construction of the canal. However, it is legitimate to analyze whether the construction of these megalomaniac works will be indeed the route to prosperity, modernity and pacifism in Central America.
The goal of this paper is to analyze all the projects planned in the Central American region, evaluate their viability and consider whether they could begin the economic development necessary for these states and solve their social problems such as violence.