In May 2004, when government officials from the US, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala gathered in Washington to sign a 2,400-page trade agreement, there was a sense of achievement in the air.

A Nicaraguan woman works in a garment factory in Managua

The Central American Free Trade Agreement, Cafta, would bring the region closer to the US, its main trading partner. Commerce would flow like it had never done before, investment opportunities would flourish and prosperity and development would gradually spread.