YouSaid · the spoken record

Sebastián Piñera Echenique

lines on the record: 155
first: 2010-09-24
most recent: 2020-09-24
sittings or episodes: 6
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“In 120 days our economy had recovered the capacity to grow and create employment with greater strength than ever. Certainly, reconstruction has only just begun and will require years of effort. But to that end we will continue to work tirelessly until we have rebuilt the last school, the last hospital or the last home that had been destroyed. Because for a country such as Chile, which has been shaped by adversity, determination and hard work, however difficult a crisis may be or how painful its consequences, it always represents an opportunity — the opportunity to build a better country together. In addition to being historic and dramatic, these are times of enormous opportunities.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“Total losses amounted to about $30 billion, equivalent to about 18 per cent of our national product. Without doubt, it was the largest catastrophe with the biggest damage ever suffered by our country in the history of its 200 years of independence. But from those ruins rose a people united in solidarity. After a mere 45 days all children and young people had returned to school. In only 60 days we were able to restore proper health-care services in the affected areas. In only 90 days we had built more emergency housing than we had built throughout our country’s prior history. In 100 days we had entirely restored connections, providing full or partial services to airports, ports, roads, bridges — everything the earthquake had destroyed.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“We did so as one big family saluting the same flag, honouring the same heroes and singing the same national anthem irrespective of our political ideas, religious beliefs, ethnic origin or economic situation. But Chile is also living through dramatic times of adversity and sadness. A few months ago our country suffered one of the five worst earthquakes in human history, followed by tidal waves on our coastlines. Five hundred and twenty-one of our fellow citizens lost their lives and many are still missing. More than 2 million Chileans were affected. Entire cities and villages were demolished. Hundreds of hospitals, clinics, bridges and ports are still unusable. One of every three children — 1.25 million — were unable to return to school because the schools had been destroyed or badly damaged.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“It is a country that like many others has experienced division and discord among its children but that is today fully united and reconciled; a country with a fearless and earthy character but possessing indomitable determination and valour; a country of warriors and heroes but that has enjoyed uninterrupted peace for 130 years. It is a young country but with age- old institutions, and it views the present with confidence and the future with optimism. Chile is a country that today is living through times that are historic and dramatic and offer enormous opportunities. I say historic times because only five days ago we commemorated our two-hundredth anniversary of independence and opened the doors to our third century of republican life.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)
“I wish to begin by conveying our heartfelt congratulations to you, Mr. President, on your election to guide the work of the General Assembly at its sixty- fifth session. Your human and professional qualities are a guarantee of success in the Assembly’s important tasks. I come to this rostrum as the representative of Chile, a country that is far away on the map but that is inhabited by a people that is close and that is in solidarity and brotherhood; a country geographically narrow but with a big and generous heart; a country physically surrounded by an arid desert to the north, majestic mountains to the east, a huge sea to the west and the magnificent Antarctica to the south. Despite that, it is a people with a permanent and steadfast commitment and calling to integration in the world.”
2010-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 65 (2010)