Briefing Papers Number 18, June 2012 | Page 9

Guatemala Honduras El Salvador in Guatemala said. “There’s an acceptance of irregular migration being fundamental to the economy.” Central American analysts generally agree. “[The Guatemalan state] hasn’t seen with clarity the links between rural development and migration,” said Álvaro Caballeros of Rafael Landívar University in Guatemala City. Some see a deliberate strategy by Northern Triangle elites of “exporting people” for development in the absence of other sources of foreign exchange (U.S. dollars). “As primary export prices decline, and non-traditional agricultu Ʌ