Central American countries maintain considerable U.S. investment and play an important role in national security. Current instability in the region could prove detrimental to the United States.

But the instability is not rooted in politics -- it is social. It is hopelessness and destitution.

Poverty in Central American countries is the foundation for all other social justice issues. Honduras maintains an unemployment rate of 28 percent and two-thirds of its citizens live below the poverty line.

Americans are all too aware of Central American gangs, drugs and illegal immigration on our southern border. However, Americans must consider the catalyst for these problems -- poverty. In fact, recent reports from the World Bank indicate that the largest share of development lending, $14 billion, went to Latin America.

A visit to Compassion International's child development centers in the region would provide a shocking first-hand account of the ramifications of poverty on all aspects of Central America. Families living on garbage dumps are commonplace. Children are kidnapped for a paltry ransom.

Some may notice a child begging on the street -- but that only tells part of the story. Lurking behind the child is an adult supervisor who negotiated a deal with the parents to pay for the begging services of that child.

When children leave our child development centers, they encounter predators who attempt to use them as drug mules and recruit them into gangs.

Education is a luxury as impoverished children are forced to work rather than go to school. In fact, most of the region spends less than $1,000 per student each year in primary school. Further, secondary enrollment rates are less than 50 percent and the urban economies are not growing fast enough to absorb population growth.

While increased trade seems to help industries in the region, it does not create enough jobs to keep up with the surge in youth who are increasingly hopeless, desperate and vulnerable. This contributes to an uneducated workforce, limited employment opportunities and large wage disparity -- forcing migration of the workers at best and forcing children into gangs and drugs to survive, at worst.

The percentage of Central Americans living in poverty is 58 percent, while 31 percent of that number lives in extreme poverty.

In the past, the United Stateshas relied on Central America as a lucrative trade partner, but these individual countries have found other friends with whom to do business -- Iran and China for example. Furthermore, people in poverty will do anything to survive, including drug running, human trafficking, criminal activity and more -- and that element has no border.

Crime and violence are a severe and worsening problem. Soaring impunity, disintegrated families and an ineffective criminal justice system leave expanses of land at the mercy of drug lords, gangs and even terrorists.

The proximity of Central America to the largest suppliers and consumers of cocaine creates a path of crime and gang violence throughout the region. Not only does it deter investers, but it also forces workers to migrate north. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, Central America depends on $12 billion in remittances from migrants living in the United States and Europe.

When Central American economies fail to produce opportunities and jobs -- and if governments cannot protect citizens -- populist demagogues promising reform but continuing the status quo are elected.

I have seen, in my years at Compassion, that where poverty flourishes, crime and corruption flourish. People no longer trust their government, migration increases and weak public institutions create a power vacuum now filled by drugs, gangs and criminal activity, which dissuade potential investment by business.

This is what we are currently witnessing in Central America -- in Honduras and Guatemala. To ignore these crucial subsets of poverty that exist in our southern neighbors is detrimental not only to the people of Central America, but right here at home.

Edouard Lassegue is the vice president of Latin America and the Caribbean Region at Compassion International, the world's largest Christian child development organization.

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