At the end of 1986, when Contadora and its Support Group reduced their presence in Central America, their member countries decided to create a permanent organism for consultation and agreement, thus re-orienting and extending their working agenda, which had originally been limited to the issues of Central American policy and, in the economic area (through the Cartagena Group), to the problem of external debt. Several factors prompted them to take this course. First, all had found the experiment in concertación policymaking to be valuable and were reluctant to lose the experience and momentum acquired over the years. Second, it was apparent that changing circumstances had altered their position in resolving the Central America crisis, so that the Contadora and Support Groups found themselves playing only a secondary role in the negotiations and becoming increasingly marginalized. Furthermore, some countries felt that the excessive emphasis on the Central American problem had circumscribed the ability of the Group to focus on other issues which, as tensions eased in Central America, were gaining priority on the foreign policy agendas of their respective governments.