YouSaid · the spoken record

Ernesto Samper Pizano

lines on the record: 51
first: 1994-09-24
most recent: 1997-09-24
sittings or episodes: 3
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

“So long as there is a weapon raised to kill a neighbour, there will be a United Nations. So long as entire populations are displaced from their homes by violence, hunger and intolerance, there will be a United Nations. So long as thousands of young people do not have access to education because they must struggle every day to survive, there will be a United Nations. So long as the whims of the powerful continue to defy the aspirations of the powerless, there will be a United Nations. So long as drugs on the streets threaten the future of our children, there will be a United Nations. So long as terrorists and violators of human rights continue to run loose, there will be a United Nations. So long as there is a need for solidarity, love and joy in the world, there will be a United Nations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Fifthly, I propose that the regulation of trade in light arms, as well as in high-technology weaponry, 7 should be a subject of deliberations at the fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament. This initiative is designed to deal with the various facets of the grave phenomenon of arms proliferation, which — besides draining vast resources that could be devoted to the social and economic development of our peoples — constitutes the most dangerous threat to the peace and security of the world. Much water has flowed under the bridge that we built in San Francisco half a century ago to make the world a better place to live. We have, without any doubt, progressed, but we cannot claim to be satisfied despite what we have achieved. So long as there is a sad, hungry child in the world, there will be a United Nations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Secondly, I propose the expansion of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms to include light weapons, as well as production and storage, with a view to strengthening its role as a means of promoting confidence. Thirdly, I propose that the Governments of arms- producing countries commit themselves to the establishment of a moratorium on the sale of high- technology weapons in regions in conflict, as well as to converting their weapons-production industrial capacity and workforce to other economic sectors. Fourthly, I propose the follow-up and verification of all multilateral commitments and existing treaties in this area.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“We do not want a United Nations divided between rich and poor, with Members having first- and second- class status according to their economic contributions. The United Nations is not a private company, but the forum of solidarity in which all the countries of the world come together. I wish to take this opportunity to appeal to the United Nations, and the international community at large, to confront the grave problem of arms proliferation with a clear and well-defined strategy that will lead us to concrete results. To that end, I wish to propose five points for effectively dealing with of this matter. First, I propose the declaration by the developing countries of a two-year, worldwide moratorium on the high-technology-weapons trade.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The instrument of the veto should be abolished because it is anti-democratic, since it places in the hands of one country the power to ignore the will of the majority. If the veto cannot be eliminated, it should be restricted to those matters truly fundamental for world security, and the right to appeal vetoes before judicial or political bodies, such as this Assembly, should be established. A few months ago the Secretary-General presented to the United Nations a very interesting proposal for the reform for the Organization. The Non-Aligned Movement, which I represent, is reviewing this initiative and considers that a number of its proposals would contribute to the revitalization of the United Nations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“In a world where 1.3 billion people still survive on less than a dollar a day, in a world where, for the price of one combat plane, 57,000 children in Africa can be fed for a year, it is impossible to conceive of a reform of the United Nations whose priority is not to strengthen the work of its institutions and programmes dedicated to social issues. Finally, there is the matter of the political relationship between the Assembly and the Security Council. The proposed strengthening of the Security Council cannot be carried out at the expense of taking power away from this Assembly, the highest democratic body of the system. Any expansion of the Council must take into account that developing countries by their nature and as spokesmen for various regions of the world, need to have greater representation.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Some developed countries have inexplicably withdrawn from bodies devoted to children, culture, population, employment and the environment, such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. The report of the Secretary- General contains interesting proposals to restore the activities of such bodies, which constitute the very heart of the United Nations.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Reform should include matters such as having greater international liquidity, greater flexibility in the management of multilateral debt, concessionary credit flows for social investment and coordination with economic bodies representing the interests of developing countries, such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Economic and Social Council and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The situation of the United Nations social sphere is the most worrisome. The greatest burden of the Organization’s budgetary crisis has fallen upon the bodies involved, whose financing has dropped by many millions of dollars during the present decade.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The Bretton Woods organizations — the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund — which were born as part of the agreement of March 1946, have 6 progressively been removing themselves from the original direction exercised by this Assembly over their economic and social policies. They have ended up by configuring a development model which they impose on developing economies, without those economies being able to discuss their own priorities.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Important members have yet to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention. There seems to be no interest in making progress on fundamental agreements to restrict the conventional arms markets run by the world’s merchants of war. Government aid, as a proportion of the resources transferred to developing countries by developed nations, has dropped from 42 per cent to 24 per cent in recent years. Funds for military operations within the United Nations system have increased 17 times compared with increases in funds for social programmes. We must find new paths for the United Nations to follow. The reform of the United Nations system proposed by the Secretary-General must encompass all spheres of the United Nations system as a whole. In the first place, there is the economic sphere.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“True progress for humanity cannot be brought by phenomena which generate new and more profound imbalances in the quality of life for individuals. We must work hard to ensure that States and multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, direct their efforts to guaranteeing that the benefits of globalization do not remain in the hands of a few. Therefore, any reform of the United Nations must begin with the return of the concept of solidarity which inspired the San Francisco agreements, and which is the very raison d’etre of our Movement. We want not more summits, but more compliance with the summits not yet complied with; a summit on compliance with other summits would be welcome. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is not being properly complied with.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The new United Nations, which the Secretary- General has proposed we should reflect upon as the century comes to an end, will surely not deal only with armed conflicts. We must be prepared to face other kinds of war: social war against poverty; judicial war against organized crime; political war against interventionism in our sovereign economies; and moral war against the violation of human rights. We cannot yet assert that the process of globalization really represents progress for all of humankind. While globalization has generated great economic and technological advances, such progress continues to be the privilege of the industrialized nations and very small segments of the population of the rest of the world.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“The globalization of the world has brought about the internationalization of problems such as drug trafficking, terrorism and corruption, all of which seriously threaten our systems. Certain industrialized nations are behaving selfishly in defining new rules of the game for free economies. Unilateralism and conditions imposed by the powerful upon others are rampant throughout the world. The spare capacity of the military industrial complex since the cold war is encouraging the beginning of a dangerous arms race. The open wound of foreign debt is still an obstacle to the development of many of the poorest countries. The violation of human, political, social and economic rights is also the order of the day.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“As President of Colombia and Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, I would like to extend to you, Sir, my sincere congratulations on your appointment to preside over this most important session, and I also wish to thank Ambassador Razali for his diligence in performing his duties during the fifty-first session of the Assembly. Over the decades the United Nations has shown that its founders were not mistaken when they entrusted to it the mission of developing a new model of co-existence for our planet, thanks to which we defeated colonialism, fought against apartheid, prevented territorial confrontations, extended our hand to help children, defended the rights of women and protected the environment. However, we find ourselves today at a crossroads similar to that which led us to sign the San Francisco Charter.”
1997-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 52 (1997)
“Developing countries have fewer opportunities and more limited resources to confront the invasive power of these threats, in the face of which there are neither weak nor strong, only victims. I invoke the memory of those killed by these wars which will also exist in the next century. I invoke our children’s future, threatened by bombs, illegal drugs and guns. I invoke the plain cause of the coexistence of the world in order to commit ourselves to this formidable task of blocking the path of organized crime which today challenges our right to govern the world in peace. Finally, I invoke the tears of all the mothers and youths of the world who have been sacrificed in the fight against drugs or through their use. May God illuminate our path that we may continue this battle.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Colombia proposes to this Assembly the formation of a group of experts who would be charged with developing a timetable and action plan for this proposed global agenda for the war against drugs. An initial review of the group’s progress could be made at the 1998 special session of the General Assembly which has been proposed by the Government of Mexico. The group of experts should be formed in four months’ time, and Colombia will be pleased to host its first meeting. I call 3 on world leaders to communicate to Colombia their recommendations on how best to organize the work of this group of experts. The globalization of problems in today’s world is taking place much faster than the globalization of solutions. Terrorism, and drugs and arms trafficking do not respect either national boundaries or barriers.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Judicial reciprocity and assistance in the exchange of evidence, the criminalization and judicial seizure of assets derived from drug trafficking and terrorism, extradition and the creation of high-security prisons with standards subject to international monitoring must be an integral part of this strategy. Without undermining bilateral or regional agreements, these judicial cooperation agreements would establish the basis for the eventual formation of an international tribunal against organized crime. Signatory countries would submit international criminals such as arms dealers, drug traffickers, money launderers and terrorists to the jurisdiction of this tribunal according to the terms of their participation agreements.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Starting with an agreement on the goals for the reduction of consumption, we propose the adoption of an integrated plan that includes prevention campaigns, action by non-governmental organizations and public health initiatives accompanied by stricter laws against the distribution and consumption of illegal drugs. Finally, we propose a world treaty of judicial cooperation in the war against drugs and terrorism which must have no frontiers. Recognizing the sovereign right of every nation to apply justice in its own territory for crimes committed within its boundaries, no nation should agree to be used as a refuge or sanctuary for organized crime.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“As regards programmes which effectively curb demand, statistics worryingly show that consumption is growing, not declining, and that it is doing so in the most vulnerable sectors of our society: among young people and ethnic minorities. Unless we curb demand, the task of fighting supply will be ineffective in achieving a definitive solution to the problem. One cannot place the entire burden of drug fighting on drug-producing countries, which are the weakest link. We are speaking of a market that must be controlled from both sides.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“As regards a worldwide intelligence centre for cooperation in operations against cartels and drug trafficking networks, we believe that in dealing with international crime which starts in one place, continues in another and ends at the point of consumption, the combined action of all countries is required to develop the necessary intelligence and police operations to seize shipments, dismantle networks and pursue domestic drug dealers and distributors. Colombia proposes such an organization of a worldwide intelligence centre against drugs. This centre would coordinate the collection of evidence from every police force in the world to fight the unified multinational drug traffickers with an equally unified response.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“As regards a mandate to combat money laundering, only decisive action against the profits generated by the drug business can stop the recycling of these resources into production and distribution centres. Eighty per cent of drug trafficking money circulates through the economic and financial channels of the industrialized nations. We need much stricter controls on the banking system and on industries whose smuggling of goods and services are being used to launder this drug money. We propose that the mandate of the European agreement governing money laundering, investigation, seizure and forfeiture of assets derived from drug trafficking be extended to the global level. Concurrently, we should expand globally those decisions reached at the World Ministerial Conference on Organized Transnational Crime held at Naples in 1994.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The establishment of this mechanism should be accompanied by a commitment to aerial and manual eradication over five years, which would lead to the elimination of these illicit crops throughout the world. Secondly, we need controls on the trafficking of chemical precursors and weapons, which are speeding drug trafficking and the violence that it generates. The United Nations system must define, within the framework of the Vienna Convention, specific guidelines to regulate the pre- shipment certification of chemical precursors to drug-producing countries, and contribute to producing effective systems to control arms sales to those same destinations.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We do not want to continue to be demonized by the world when, in fact, we are victims, as all peoples are. The issues for the global agenda against drugs are as follows: first, with regard to the establishment of a social machinery for the eradication of illegal crops, it is not enough to eradicate 2 such crops if we are not capable of offering alternative solutions for small peasant farmers. Colombia endorses the innovative proposal of French President Jacques Chirac to create a mechanism to enable the purchase of produce grown as alternatives for illegal crops at prices that closely approximate those paid for coca, opium poppies and marijuana.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Colombia proposes an agenda of global action against drugs, based on the principles of shared responsibility, equality and an integrated approach: shared responsibility, because we are all responsible for the problem of ethical, political, social and economic contamination produced by drug trafficking throughout the world; equality, because no country should assume the right to judge the conduct of another on a subject that involves the responsibility of all on standards of behaviour that are worldwide and collective; and integration, because every phase of the process — from agricultural production, to industrial processing, transport, distribution, consumption, and money laundering — must be addressed simultaneously, and with the same energy. Colombia wants to be part of the solution.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The only end that unilateral or interventionist measures achieve, as we have seen recently, is to break mutual trust, weaken the ability of Governments to take action, and open the way for the consolidation of criminal organizations.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“If we do not accomplish this, drug trafficking, the most sinister transnational enterprise in the world, whose resources equal $500 billion per year — more than those of the world-wide petroleum industry — will continue to corrupt and contaminate our peoples. The statistics on international action to date are not very encouraging. Drug use continues to increase under the tolerant attitudes of some Governments, and the level of drug seizures and confiscation barely exceeds 10 per cent of the total of such drugs circulating in the world. In the face of this demoralizing reality we have only two alternatives: mutual recrimination, or cooperation. Either we continue to criticize each other, or we work together. Multilateral focus on the problem is the only alternative; interventionism is not the way.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“The solution will have to be as global as the problem itself. It will have to be as swift and irreversible as the damage that drugs and crime are causing to the minds of the young drug users of the world. The achievements of Colombia and other countries do not imply that the problem of drug trafficking has been eradicated throughout the world. The drug problem will be resolved only when all countries, without exception and without hypocrisy, shoulder their own responsibilities, which cannot be delegated to others. To achieve this, we must set out the parameters for a great anti-drug alliance, which include immediate and decisive action.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Heroin was smuggled onto my aeroplane in order to shame Colombia and its democratic Government. This new attempt proved that the criminal organizations have the power and the capability to penetrate almost every institution in our society, anywhere in the world. However, I stand here today, before this world Assembly of democracy, with complete dignity because nobody will stop me from presenting to the world Colombia’s proposals to deal with the drug organizations. I am speaking to the Assembly today bearing the painful scars of those encounters. Similar scars are borne by all Colombians who have been physically injured by drug terrorism or morally wounded by international misunderstanding. I am not here to complain; I am here to propose a solution to this modern-day epidemic. I am convinced that the world is losing the war against drugs.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Several years ago I was the target of an assassination attempt that almost cost me my life. I received 11 bullet wounds, and still carry four bullets in my body. More recently I fell victim to another assassination attempt, this time of a moral nature. I was accused of having allowed money from a cartel to infiltrate my campaign. Despite that, from the very first day of my Administration we have worked successfully to arrest the criminals and completely destroy the powerful Cali cartel. I thank God that I survived that assault too. The Congress of the Republic of Colombia, which, under our Constitution is the judge of the President, completely exonerated me of all charges after a long trial that I personally requested be held in public. Barely 48 hours ago, before coming to the Assembly, I was the victim of yet another attempt.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“As we prepare for the twenty-first century, I invite all world leaders present or represented here today, to a collective and above all sincere reflection on this proposal, which Colombia presents with the moral authority it has been granted, having been the nation which has suffered most, which has invested most, and which has paid the highest social and economic costs in this struggle against drug trafficking. In recent years, Colombia has spent 14 times more resources fighting drug trafficking than what is invested annually by the international community through the United Nations system for the same purpose. Thanks to this determined effort, Colombia has been able to avoid the annual distribution throughout the world of more than 6 billion doses intended for drug users. I, too, have been a victim of drug trafficking.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“This war is occurring today in every country, owing to the broad power of powerful international criminal and terrorist organizations which have extended their tentacles over the entire planet. Now that the cold war has ended, the United Nations and the world must design and develop a strategy to put an immediate end to the greatest threat to the world’s security and stability today: the threat of drugs. It is an epidemic that, more than any other war, can undermine the value structure which supports the governability of democratic systems.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In fact, last week in the southern part of the country more than 50 soldiers of the Colombia army who were destroying illicit crops and cocaine processing laboratories in the jungle region were massacred by guerrillas engaged in the defence of drug trafficking interests. The mother of one of those murdered young men — a 17-year-old soldier — asked me the following day with tears in her eyes: “Why”? Allow me today to try to answer that mother and all those who have been victims of this war, not only in Colombia, but around the world. Values, democracy and national security are threatened. We are waging this war to preserve and protect those values; to protect and preserve our youth and our democratic form of government; but above all to protect our national security. No country in the world must ignore the battle against drugs.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Allow me at the outset, Sir, to congratulate you on your election as President of the current session of the General Assembly. I salute you in my capacity as Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, which has found in your background a close identity with the defence of the interests of the developing countries. The same is true of the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who honoured us with his attendance at the last Non-Aligned Movement summit, held at Cartagena de Indias. Over the past several years in Colombia, we have been waging a difficult war against drug trafficking. In that battle, judges, police officers, journalists and innocent civilians have lost their lives: more than 20,000 people in the last 10 years.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We want visitors to see our country so that many more people the world over will be as much in love with my country as are those of us who were born, who live and who will die in that privileged corner of Latin America - Colombia.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“We feel alone, very much alone, when we see mayors who are avowed chronic drug users elected by popular vote. We feel alone when, after extensive efforts to eradicate illicit crops, the doors are closed to us when it comes to selling exactly those products that we have managed to cultivate, with great effort, as alternative crops. Therefore, in the midst of this lonely struggle that has left many victims dead in the fields, a struggle of which I count myself a fortunate survivor, what many of us want is for Colombia to be looked at from a different perspective - that it be recognized for the soundness of its economy, that Colombia be taken into account when it comes to investment decisions. We want those present here to get to know the Colombian people - my people.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“I know that some here must have asked themselves why I have not referred in this speech to the problem with which my country is everywhere associated: the problem of drug trafficking. I have not done so because in Colombia we believe that we are entitled to be recognized by other, positive factors: those that identify us as an honest, hard-working people that offers respect to friendly countries and expects respect in return. Of course, we have struggled and will continue to struggle out of conviction, while paying a high price to fight the scourge of mankind that is drug trafficking. But I must confess that we sometimes feel alone in this task. We feel alone when we see the drug consumption rates increase in countries that request our help to defeat a problem whose origins and consequences concern all of us.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“I come from Colombia, a country that respects international law and the principles that ensure peaceful coexistence; a country that has placed its faith in Latin American and Caribbean integration; a country with a dynamic Constitution and an economy sound as few others in Latin America; a country that is moving forward thanks to the sacrifices and steadfast labour of its people, creative people avid for progress and imbued with a sense of the magic of life about which García Márques, our Nobel laureate, has written; a country searching for peace because it so loves life. The times we are now living in are times of crisis, but also of opportunities. In Colombia we have had to learn to live with terrible difficulties, always inspired by the biblical invitation to maintain a vision as a people in order to prevail as a nation.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The principal problems affecting every country today are no longer merely national in nature; they are global, and for that reason they require the coordinated action of all nations. The new cooperation the international community requires is based on adjusting domestic policies to global objectives within a framework of respect for the sovereignty of States, the principles of international law and domestic legislation. Only if we can attain a new concept of cooperation will we avoid the pitfall of interventionism, which threatens to make its way through the open door of interdependence and globalization. Cooperation, as an alternative to intervention, is the route that can ensure for the community of nations the fulfilment of its aspirations for peace and stability.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Good governance must be our goal in reforming Government. Good Government means building a new type of Government, one that promotes efficiency. It means the training of technically skilled bureaucracies. It means transparency and the streamlining of administrative procedures in such a way that the roots of corruption are extirpated. It means administrative decentralization and citizen participation, and it means the organizing of civil society on bases other than the old contradictions between capital and labour. Fourthly, and lastly, we must bear in mind that this process is occurring in the context of the globalization of the world economy and of interindependence among peoples.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“We must buy, develop and assimilate new technologies. Secondly, there is the concept of social solidarity. Our greatest challenge in this sphere is to give legitimacy to a new economic system through real social- development proposals. Investing in the human being is the best business. Investment in health, education and housing is highly profitable, not only in social terms but - especially - in economic terms. Thirdly, in addressing those two great revolutions of competitiveness and solidarity it is necessary to change the ideas of those who today act as agents of the economic process. What should the role of Government be? Above and beyond the dilemma of privatization or nationalization, the dilemma of whether or not to reduce the size of 7 Government, it is imperative that Government work, and that it do so honestly.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The new model of development, if it is to be genuine and not simply an abstraction, must take into account some basic elements. First, it must allow for the modernization of our productive structures. We gain nothing if we continue to open markets when we have nothing to sell, because we produce nothing or very little. Modernization goes hand in hand with the development of an adequate infrastructure of transportation and communications and the optimum use of energy sources. We must develop new conditions of productivity, especially in the field of technology, and adopt more efficient and environmentally sustainable production processes. The world today is not divided between the haves and the have-nots but, rather, between those who know and those who do not, and we, the developing countries, are among those who lack knowledge.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“I am speaking of an alternative to anachronistic concepts of representative democracy but also of an alternative for meeting attempts to reduce the free play of democracy to sterile confrontation between private interests. The objective of this alternative model, the model of the South, should be the establishment of a new and more productive citizen in the economy, a citizen who participates to a greater degree in politics and who is more supportive in the social sphere. Words and phrases like "social investment", "good governmen t" , "ag r i cu l tu ra l deve lopmen t" , "competitiveness", "harmonization" and "gradualness" are all part of a new alternative vocabulary that will enable us to speak the language of a new identity, of our own identity as countries seeking our own way.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“I am speaking of an alternative model that will be an alternative to the protectionist system of the 1960s, for the globalization of the economy requires not only open and competitive economies but an alternative to the neoliberalism that irresponsibly leaves it to the market to correct all imbalances. I am speaking of an alternative to the old assistance populism, for there must be social change based on economic criteria, and for an alternative to fierce capitalism, which sets up the rule of every man for himself as a form of social selectionism. I am speaking of an alternative to the blind criteria of public interventionism as well as an alternative to attempts to sell out the State to the highest self-interested bidders, to the Government abandoning its own responsibilities with regard to the unprotected masses.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The point here is to define new rules that can enable us to gain access to technology and to finance our infrastructures on favourable terms, that can enable us to reach acceptable levels of competitiveness, that can enable us to break with dependency on the cartels of service companies and to buy market outlets in a world where what counts and what is important is not producing, but selling. That aspiration to develop new conditions that can enable us to play a vital role within the new spectrum of world forces must take the shape of a new development model for our countries, an alternative model which I should like to discuss with you this afternoon in this Hall.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“What is at stake today is not the exchange of goods and services but rather the exchange of the means necessary to produce those goods and services. Selective appropriation of the means of production puts those of us in the developing countries in the worst of worlds. We do not have the means of production nor do we have fair access to them, but we do have the arduous responsibility of competing on an equal footing with the world’s most industrialized countries. It is not a matter of repeating the third-world litany of complaints and demands.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Unemployment, the postponement of social investment programmes and neglect of the living conditions of the rural population can ultimately delegitimize in vast regions of the world - this, at least, is true of Latin America - the efforts made over many years to democratize our political systems. The only thing more serious than poverty is impoverishment, and it is beginning to make itself felt in many parts of the world. Either we leaders renew our commitment to the people or the social costs of economic change will in the end destroy our achievements in political consolidation. Finally, there is the threat of the formation of blocs. The development of economic blocs runs counter to the 6 idea of a world based on the democratic rules of free trade for all on an equal footing.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“We developing countries are no longer struggling against the barbed wire of hostile tariff barriers: we are struggling against an army of invisible enemies moved by the most diverse interests and systematically opposed to the rhetorical aspiration to free trade - an aspiration that would seem to have something in common with our feelings about paradise: we all want to get there, but not quite yet. Impoverishment is another threat. Granted, we are all committed to the openness of our economies, but that must not mean that we can ignore the need to manage the obvious social costs.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“But this task - this vital task - is not free of threats. Neoprotectionism threatens the free-trade prospects of developing countries. It is true that tariff protectionism has come to an end, but a new and dangerous form of protectionism is now emerging: non-tariff protectionism: barriers to the export of plants and vegetables, customs barriers, quotas, anti-dumping clauses, social clauses, the rationale of "reasons of State", and fears of losing elections.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“We now have the happy opportunity of reviving the spirit of the San Francisco Charter and of reinitiating the deferred task of building a new world system based on solidarity, respect for the self-determination of peoples and the real search for better living conditions for all - as was stated a few years ago before the General Assembly, by a distinguished Colombian, Indalecio Liévano Aguirre, in his capacity as its President. The history of the 1990s must not be one more record of the frustration of our aspirations to peace, well- being and justice. Our objective can be nothing less than the human person. Our actions must be directed towards the struggle against poverty and for the attainment of social justice. Our commitment is to make the arbitrary use of power and abuses of human rights things of the past.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Such coexistence reappears today when we see a black person at the helm of South Africa; when we see Palestinians and Jews discussing fruit groves in the hills of the Golan; and when we see all Berliners drinking good Colombian coffee on the spot where the wall of infamy once stood. Before the end of this century, we shall have to strive to resolve peacefully the most important conflict to outlive the cold war: the conflict with the brotherly Republic of Cuba.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)