CENTRAL AMERICA At the time of the discovery of Central America by Christopher Columbus in 1502, highly civilized Maya and Nahua Indians inhabited the westernmost part of the isthmus. The impressive ruins of Tikal in Guatemala, Copan in Honduras, and Tazumal in El Salvador are relics of that civilization. Panama and most of Costa Rica were occupied by less civilized societies that shared cultural characteristics with the Indians of northern South America. Within 25 years of the …showed first 75 words of 1625 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1625 total…of Nicaragua fell after the country's February 1990 elections. Opposition candidate Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was elected president. By early 1992 a peace plan was in place in El Salvador between rebel forces and the government. In June 1990 United States President George Bush proposed an initiative to encourage the growth of free-market economies in Central America by canceling part of their debt to the United States and by promising to work towards establishing a free trade market.