Central American Common Market (CACM)

An economic association initiated in 1960 between Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and (from 1963) Costa Rica. Its early apparent success was offset by growing political crisis in the late 1970s.

The Central American Common Market (CACM) - in Spanish: Mercado Común Centroamericano (MCCA) - is an economic trade organization between five nations of Central America.

The CACM has succeeded in removing duties on most products moving among the member countries, and has largely unified external tariffs and increased trade within the member nations. However, it has not achieved the further goals of greater economic and political unification that were hoped for at the organization's founding, mainly caused by the CACM's inability and lack of reliable means to settle trade disputes.