YouSaid · the spoken record

Turbay Ayala

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS TURBAY AYALA

lines on the record: 102
first: 1958-09-24
most recent: 1961-09-24
sittings or episodes: 4
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

“Slim once more of my country's satisfaction at his well-deserved election as President of the Assembly and congratulating Sierra Leone on its admission to membership in the World Organization, may I express once more Colombia1 s hope that the United Nations may in the next decade find adequate solutions to those questions which, As President Kennedy said [1013th meeting], will decide the fate of man for the next ten thousand years.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“If it strengthens its unity and co-ordinates its action, Latin America encompassing twenty countries and a population of 200 million inhabitants will be in a position to give a new and decisive assurance to the cause of peace, by promoting peaceful settlements and making its weight felt in the balance of world affairs. Today, when mankind is organized in ^powerful blocs, the political atomization of the nations of a particular geographic area may reduce them to impotence or make them incapable of fulfilling the lofty purposes of the world Organization. Happily, that is not our position nor will it be in the future, because we are united both by common interests and by the overriding need for common defence. 57. After assuring Mr.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“To accomplish this urgent plan of economic and social development, the nations of American have committed themselves to the historic experiment in collective action, known as the "Alliance for Progress". President Kennedy, to whom Latin America owes a debt of gratitude, has been the chief architect of this new form of international co-operation which will make available to the peoples of this continent the wide benefits of progress and well-being. In order to give the men and women of America a better life in which the exploitation of poverty will be impossible, we are going to bring into action all the credit resources and technical machinery agreed upon at the Punta del Este Conference. Our decision to maintain democratic institutions in Americas been taken and is irrevocable. 56.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“International coexistence can be achieved only through mutual confidence and respect among peoples. 54. The countries of America have resolved to carry out a true social revolution in order and freedom. We know that many archaic social and economic structures must be transformed and adapted to the needs and requirements of our peoples. We will eliminate poverty and wipe out ill-health and illiteracy without having to pay for these gains with the inestimable treasure of freedom. Our revolution is a democratic revolution, which respects human rights and is eminently American. We want to give the people concrete and positive plans, and we shall resist the attempts of demagogues and reactionaries to poison the spirit of our revolution and to turn it in the direction of a bitter and irreconcilable class struggle. 55.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The principle must be strengthened and surrounded by essential safeguards so that no country can cross its fragile frontiers with impunity. In order.* to ensure that this international precept may not be violated with dangerous impunity, my country considers it essential that the appropriate organs of the system 'should define all the acts of intervention which constitute aggression. 53. I am in a position to state that I do not know of any plan to harm Cuba; but I can also state that many countries of our hemisphere are agreed that they will not permit the Government of Cuba or any other Government to intervene directly or indirectly in the affairs of the other American States. We cannot accept a unilateral interpretation of the principle of non-intervention.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“When such problems are brought up prematurely for consideration in the United Nations, they only serve to encourage debates which inevitably involve the American continent in the cold war. This may well have been the case with the Cuban question, which Colombia desires to see dealt with and, we hope, resolved within the limits of the Inter-American conventions in force, with the participation of the regional organs best qualified to take specific measures whenever there is a threat to the peace and security of the hemisphere. 52. The principle of non-intervention is common to the American Organization and the United Nations, and the peace and security of nations are dependent on the faithful observance of this principle.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The Inter-American system was created to seek peaceful settlements to controversies that might arise among the American countries before such disputes were referred to the General Assembly or the Security Council. The regional organization, like the world Organization, is primarily a safeguard for weak peoples, for nations that cannot enforce their rights by themselves. 51. The effectiveness of the political and legal rules of the Inter-American system has been amply proved and recourse should be had to that system to ensure that our regional problems do not unnecessarily take up the; time of the General Assembly and the Security Council when there are still positive means of redress in the regional organization.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Similarly, in the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance of Rio de Janeiro, we undertook to repel extra-continental or intra-continental intervention directed against any American State, and to consider an attack against an American state as an act of aggression against all the American States. We do not belong to the "neutralist" category of countries; on the contrary, we are among those who have definite commitments to America and to the free world. However, none of the commitments we have assumed and which we are determined to fulfil is incompatible with the high aims of the United Nations; on the contrary, they are complementary.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Like the other twenty countries of this hemisphere, Colombia is a member of the Organization of American States and has subscribed to the agreements and conventions that constitute the regional system. My country has undertaken multilateral commitments which bind it to the complex of political, economic and legal norms which serve as rules of international conduct for the continent. We have undertaken to assure the peace and to defend the freedom and sovereignty of the American nations against any dangers that threaten them. And we have agreed that respect for human rights and the political organization of States on the basis of the effective exercise of representative democracy are essential to the attainment of the purposes of our regional systems. 50.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The reaffirmation by the two greatest world Powers of their desire to initiate a programme of general and complete disarmament, guaranteeing that States will maintain only the conventional arms needed to maintain internal order and to protect the lives of their citizens, is in our judgement one of the most promising pieces of news the people could receive. We cannot conceal our enthusiastic hope that this encouraging declaration will be endorsed by this Assembly. My country trusts that in the very near future agreement will be reached regarding the body through which these negotiations, which the world awaits with understandable anxiety, will be undertaken. 49.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“There seems to be every indication that world anxiety would be greatly relieved, and the United Nations would be able to work with greater confidence, if priority were given in the Political Committee to the elaboration of an immediate treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons tests. 48. On the question of general disarmament, Considered independently of that of nuclear tests, pessimism would be out of place since the joint statement of the United States and the Soviet Union, which has been widely circulated in this Assembly, indicates that there is a welcome area of agreement.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“46. The question of the representation of China, Which the Assembly will discuss at this session, is not an ancillary or procedural matter, for it implies a substantive decision. We believe that this is a question which under the provisions of Article 18 of the United Nations Charter , must be resolved by a two- thirds majority, since it involves more than a mere decision concerning credentials. 47. The most recent nuclear tests have produced a worldwide reaction, of which the resolution approved by the Belgrade Conference of Non-Aligned States is a good example. All peoples feel that they are now closer than at any other time in their history to the inexpressible horrors of general war. The continuation of nuclear tests might create an even greater state of alarm and fear , which would necessarily affect our proceedings.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“A long common past, going back to the dawn of history, must inevitably outweigh the artificial division of the last sixteen years. Hence, when Mr. Gromyko describes the Federal German Republic as revenge-seeking, in order to justify his country's unwillingness to permit the self-determination of a people divided against its will, he is being completely arbitrary. 45. This year the General Assembly has seen fit to place the item of representation of China on its agenda, My country accepted this decision, but it has not changed its view of the qualifications that should be possessed by States seeking to enter this Organization. In Colombia's view, it is essential that every new Member of the United Nations should prove by deeds rather than by words its intention to serve the interests of peace and to abide by the principles of the Charter.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The noble example of the United Kingdom, which won the war and dissolved its empire, is further evidence of the political maturity of a great people, We are in favour of plebiscite arrangements to provide peoples with a means of exercising the right of self- determinations. 43. We believe that the same criterion must be employed to promote the reunification of those peoples whose division is persistently encouraged; for example, those who assert the principle of self- determination in the case of some peoples while denying one part of the German people the right freely to decide its own future cannot escape the charge of demagogy. 44. The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic have indissoluble links.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The coexistence of sons of the same country must precede the coexistence of nation^ My country is determined to support any positive United Nations action which will radically correct these acts which are repugnant to its humanitarian conscience. 41. Similarly, our republican heritage compels us to recognize that the self-determination of peoples is obviously inconsistent with colonialism. The indefinite prolongation of the colonial system is not in keeping with the spirit of freedom which now determines the destiny of the world, and is undoubtedly a factor disturbing the peace. 42.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Slim, a distinguished African possessing outstanding human and intellectual qualities.| 40. The international conduct of my country is based on clear principles derived from its undeniably democratic character, its respect for the law and its veneration for freedom. My country cannot remain silent in the face of any violation of human rights, and must therefore raise its voice in protest against the inhuman racial discrimination which although expressly prohibited by the United Nations, has long been practised in South Africa. It is inadmissible in the present age that this bitter racial conflict should afflict the world.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“In the United Nations we find solutions for our problems, satisfaction of our needs, and a platform on which we may express our concern. 39. In the belief that all the machinery of the United Nations should be strengthened, my country will support the proposal for an increase in the membership of the Security Council and of the Economic and Social Council. This increase will enable the new countries to obtain the representation to which they are justly entitled, without reducing the representation on these bodies now allotted to the various regional blocs. The doors of all bodies must be opened to our new colleagues. They have demonstrated their ability and have won the respect of the General Assembly, which is honoured today by the presence in the chair of Mr.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The United Nations may not serve interests other than the cause of peace, nor acknowledge a discipline other than its own. It was not established to regiment thought but rather to stimulate debate and to seek the truth through the calm consideration of opposing positions. But debate must not become an obstruction that would weaken the raison d'etre of this great Organization. 38. At the same time the United Nations while serving as a bulwark against war, affords the small countries an opportunity to share unique and tremendous responsibilities with the great Powers. If this forum did not exist, it is probable that the world would be conquered by a few countries and mankind would be subjected to appalling tyrannies.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“My country believes in the world Organization and realizes that it is the last guarantee for peace. In the sixteen years of its existence the United Nations has performed extraordinary services and has prevented the outbreak of general war. This alone would justify its existence, even if there were not many other weighty reasons to acknowledge the magnitude and the efficacy of the work it has accomplished. 36. The economically less developed countries have already begun to profit from the technical and financial aid of the specialized agencies and hope to receive more intensive and significant assistance when the great Powers allocate aid for under-developed countries even a small percentage of the huge sums now diverted to a break-neck armaments race. 37.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“We must and an expert collaborator who, like Mr. Hammarskjold, will help us to overcome the difficulties in the way of peace. ' 34. My country has examined the Soviet proposal for a plural Secretary-General and considers it undesirable because it would introduce an additional disturbing element into the functioning of an organization which must work more speedily and with absolute unity of action. The interpretation of an order from the General Assembly or the Security Council on the basis of three different criteria will obviously result in the paralysis of the world Organization. The principal objection to a plural Secretary-General is that, if it were adopted, She office of Secretary-General would lose its executive capacity and would be transformed into another deliberative organ of the United Nations. 35.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Surely, through the machinery of the United Nations compromise solutions can be found to restore mankind's faith in its destiny and in its survival. Within the United Nations many countries that have been mere spectators or victims of the world drama may become actors and the creators of a new era of peace and progress. 33. Bat since in the struggle to free mankind from-the scourge of a new military conflict we have necessarily to use the forum of the United Nations, let us begin by strengthening and facilitating United Nations action and not by obstructing or weakening it. Problems of the magnitude of those which now beset us cannot be easily resolved if the crisis of the office of the Secretary-General resulting from the tragic death of its distinguished and able incumbent, is allowed to continue.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Naturally, Colombia is aware that often the best of peaceful intentions are frustrated by the barriers which States themselves have erected in their path in their dangerous and unrestrained conduct of the cold war. It is well known that, under the laws of the cold war, any act indicating a will peace may be taken as a sign of weakness or vacillation; and it is not impossible that, through the vain desire of States to demonstrate that neither weakness nor vacillation exists, the world may be plunged into the maelstrom of inevitable destruction. 32. The United Nations is capable of finding common ground between the Powers and of advocating fair and reasonable solutions which will smooth the stony road which mankind is travelling.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“I do not deny that in international affairs, on exceptional occasions, insuperable problems not open to reasonable solution may arise but may I be permitted to say that, in Colombia's opinion, all the problems which today threaten world peace can and must be settled by peaceful means. The questions of Berlin, German reunification, Laos, Cuba, South Viet-Nam, the suspension of nuclear tests and general disarmament do not properly belong to an exceptional category of insoluble problems. They can all be settled through the application of political remedies. Some are more explosive than others, but all are manageable within a certain order of priorities. 31.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“This unalterable rule of our domestic and external conduct is imposed by our way of thought, our convictions of principle, our political customs, and the influence of our Christian culture. My country also understands that a nation which obviously is not a military, industrial or economic power must act in the international area with the simplicity and/discretion dictated by its! own limitations. I come to bring to this Assembly a message of peace from 15 million Colombians who have confidence in the good sense of their fellow men, and to voice our faith and hope in the prosperous future of our peoples. 30.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“On taking the floor in this great world forum, I am overwhelmed by respect and awe — respect for the distinguished and able representatives of 100 countries assembled in this hall, and awe at the magnitude and gravity of the problems which demand the attention of the United Nations and are a source of concern to all the peoples of the world 28. I come to this world rostrum to reaffirm Colombia's faith in the structural principle of the San Francisco Charter and the American regional organization, since those principles coincide in the will to ensure the rule of peace founded on social progress, freedom and justice. 29. Because of its long legal tradition going back to the origins of its nationhood, Colombia must always speak the clear and honest language of harmony.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“May I also once more remind Cuba that within the American system it will find all the peaceful processes necessary for resolving its differences with the United States of America, and the due protection of its integrity, independence and sovereignty. Let me also reiterate that harmony and good relations between States can only be achieved if the principle of non-intervention is rigorously observed and respected. 255. Let me likewise reaffirm our growing faith in the Organization of American States and in the United Nations. 256. I wish to thank the Assembly for the indulgent attention which it has given to my remarks. They reflect the views of a country which loves peace, extols the benefits of social justice, proclaims the values of liberty and respects the rule of law.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“We might well meet frequently with the African representatives to agree on plans for mutual assistance and for defending the prices of our common products on the international market. 253. I am sure that I am speaking on behalf of all my colleagues from Latin America when I express to the peoples of Africa, through their illustrious representatives at this Assembly, our sentiments of esteem and solidarity. We are their allies in the fight against economic under-development and in the endeavour to ensure peace on foundations of liberty and well-being. 254. May I be allowed to emphasize the necessity of taking full advantage of the presence here of such authorized spokesmen of the great Powers as we have among us, to beg of them earnestly to agree at least on the bases of procedure for the resumption of disarmament negotiations.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Colombia identifies itself wholly with the purposes of the United Nations and the Organization of American States and believes that the interests of peace would suffer great harm if, to the prejudice of all, the authority of these two bodies should decline. Any weakening of the world Organization would mean the destruction of the one barrier which has been effective in holding back war. 252. I would be most loath to conclude this speech without stressing the feeling of solidarity of our continent with the nations of Africa. Africa and America have many problems in common. Malay of our experiences may be useful to them, and we are anxious to co-operate with them since, to a certain extent, their cause is one with ours.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The effectiveness of this world Organization has been put to the most gruelling tests and has fortunately triumphed over them. The balance-sheet which the United Nations can present to the world is fully satisfactory and justifies the efforts of its founders and the trust placed in it by mankind. 251. The signatories to the San Francisco Charter were careful to endow the Organization with sufficient powers to act speedily and effectively in every situation in which peace might be endangered. My country considers that the world Organization can better fulfil its vital task when all Member States back up its authority and support its decisions.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The United States has no need for any country to come to its defence, but in the name of justice I must express Colombia's appreciation for the way in which the United States representatives conducted themselves at the Bogota economic conference. They gave ample proof there of their familiarity with Latin American problems and of their willingness to cooperate. We feel convinced that this is not a passing attitude but a permanent policy which the United States will not abandon until we have finally won the battle against poverty. 250. The United Nations was instituted in order to keep alive contacts between the representatives of Member States and thus to ensure that peoples would not adopt unilateral positions which might easily lead them into war.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Not only could they intensify their technical assistance and make larger investments in our continent, but they could also consume a greater volume of our products and eliminate many of the obstacles in the form of tariffs and taxes which today impede the access of our products to European markets. We feel sure that the countries of Western Europe will not be backward in making the contribution which they could today offer Latin America in every sphere. Just as for several years we declared the urgent Necessity for a radical change of attitude towards our peoples on the part of the United States Government, we today make the same appeal to the European countries and express in anticipation the gratitude which we would all feel in Latin America for a change in their position with respect to the nations of this hemisphere. 249.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Since, however, the question at issue is the defence of democratic values, it is clear that peoples professing the same principles and having the same systems as we do ought to come to our aid, the cause of freedom being indivisible. These are the circumstances in which we. have gratefully accepted the economic cooperation offered us by the United States, which many countries in other continents have long been receiving in abundance and which only now is beginning to reach Latin America in a systematic and sustained form. 248. In the Act of Bogota we pointed out that the European countries which have now overcome their post-war economic difficulties would be well advised to co-operate more fully with the countries of America, which have given them so many proofs of their solidarity.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Yet it would be hardly fair to tell our people that until we have constructed all the hydroelectric plants and all the irrigation canals and all the railways and roads that are included in the Latin American development programmes, they have no right to own their land, or to live in decent dwellings, or to have adequate education or medical services. The programmes of economic and social development are complementary, and both constitute the natural basis for peace and well-being. 247. It is obvious that in the struggle against underdevelopment, the peoples who live and produce under conditions of poverty must contribute the main effort themselves. We accept it as our task to devote to the work of recovery an indomitable will to act and an ordered planning of public expenditure.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The economic Act of Bogota, of 1960 clearly reflects the determination of the nineteen signatory Governments to fight against under-development until victory is won. We committed ourselves to an ambitious programme of social measures which we considered of the most vital importance. Land reform, housing, education, health and small industry will now receive the benefit of external credits which were formerly reserved only for programmes certain to be profitable. 246. It would be a wrong interpretation of the Act of Bogota, to suppose that the needs of economic development were overlooked. On the contrary, we reaffirmed our conviction that the prime need of our peoples is the reinforcement of economic programmes.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Within the American system, we have long been calling for a more active participation by international institutions and by the Government of the United States. In this sphere we can say today that important advances have been made. Last year we founded the Inter-American Development Bank, which has already begun its activities and is destined to become the most effective of all instruments for continental assistance. At the beginning of this month, the representatives of twenty American States met at Bogota to study, in the framework of "Operation Pan America”, the problems connected with the economic and social development of our peoples. I would be unjust not to state that that gathering constituted the most decisive step forward yet taken in the field of inter-American co-operatiom 245.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“They also need schools and hospitals, and we cannot refuse them these. The time has come for the great social evolution which, as the English statesman said, will give to the people by peaceful processes all that it longs for and does not always attain through bloody revolution. 243. For many years we have been stressing the need for reinforcing all the means that can be used in the vital work of technical and economic assistance which the great Powers, in a free spirit of co-operation, must offer the under-developed nations. Where the United Nations has failed in its work of rehabilitation has undoubtedly been in the insufficiency of the economic aid which it has been meting out in tiny drops to the most needy countries. 244.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The heroic people of Cuba need not rely on the Soviet Union for protection which can never be more effective or more fitting than that which we, her American sisters, have offered her not once but many times. 242. Latin America need have no fear of advanced ideas or of social justice. We who today hold the reins of government in America are fully alive to our obligations to pursue vigorously the economic development of our nations. The era has gone in which it was possible to restrain the longing for social renewal which is to be found today in every land of the earth. Our rural masses need their own land and adequate tools, and we must therefore introduce just agrarian and technical reforms without delay. Our people require decent dwellings, and we must provide them with the means for building such dwellings.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“In the sense of continuing to uphold the international rule of fair play, I am afraid I would not be wrong in affirming that all States are very conservative. Some States, however, tend to be more categorical in defending their own rights than in recognizing those of others. 241. Allow me to dwell further on the position adopted by the American Foreign Ministers at San José, Costa Rica, in order to underline the positive attitude which we followed there. We declared at that time, and we now affirm it once more, that Cuba, as well as every other American State, can be assured that its independence, integrity and sovereignty are fully guaranteed and protected by the safeguards which our regional organization provides.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“We declared at San José, and we reaffirm today in the United Nations Assembly, that any attempt to intervene in the affairs of another State for the purpose of imposing upon it one's own ideologies or one's own political, economic or social principles is unlawful. We have no desire to be either the importers or exporters of revolutions. We wish to bring about the evolution of our peoples within an American framework, using methods and procedures which are in keeping with our civilization and our customs. We are not prepared to renounce our autonomy in order to prove that we are revolutionaries. We frankly cannot accept as a criterion the anarchic policy of renouncing the principle of non-intervention.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“At San José, Costa Rica, we reaffirmed the principle of non-intervention by any American State in the internal or external affairs of the other American States,, and we reiterated that each State has the right to develop its cultural, political and economic life freely and naturally, respecting the rights of the individual and the principles of universal morality. 239. This example demonstrates that in rejecting extracontinental intervention, America is not applying to outside Powers a procedure different from that which it has applied to itself. We have the moral authority and the political authority to act in harmony with the proposals and the spirit of independence that were made evident at the Seventh Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs held at San José, Costa. Rica. 240.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The position which we American Foreign Ministers adopted at San Jose consisted in rejecting and condemning every such attempt at extracontinental intervention in the problems of America. 237. Within the framework of peaceful coexistence, peoples of the most varied political, philosophies and the most incompatible systems of government can have diplomatic, commercial and cultural relations. Some nations of this continent have relations with the Socialist countries and even with the Soviet Union itself. We must, nevertheless, emphasize that under the guise or pretext of such relations, we American peoples are not prepared to accept any act of extracontinental intervention in our continent, even should such an attempt be accompanied by the threatened use of guided missiles. 238.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“To the very best of our information and knowledge there does not exist any threat of aggression against Cuba on the part of the Government of the United States or of any other American State. We therefore consider all attempts by the Soviet Union at political and military intervention in American affairs to be unjustifiable and inadmissible. 236. America not only believes in the necessity of peaceful coexistence but also desires that mankind should be able not only to coexist but to live together in a civilized manner and to co-operate in planning for the benefit of all. Peaceful coexistence is not, however, helped, but is rather undermined, when countries violate or encourage the violation of the principle of non-intervention.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“It is, of course, this Treaty — and not the Monroe doctrine, which we regard as definitely superseded — that enables us to mobilize the energies of all the American States to ensure the defence and solidarity of the hemisphere. 234. United States Secretary of State Herter was emphatic in declaring at San José, Costa Rica, that the United States has no intention of committing aggression against Cuba, and he confirmed the declarations previously made by Ambassador Cabot Lodge in the Security Council. All of us representing the other countries of America affirmed in clear and categorical terms that Cuba does not need the protection of the Soviet Union or of any other extra-continental Power, since its freedom of action is guaranteed by the principle of non-intervention which is the backbone of the inter-American system. 235.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“In the field of continental solidarity, we are bound by existing treaties which are surely a model of what a regional organization can do when it is established for defensive and not for aggressive purposes. We Latin American countries believe in the effectiveness of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance of Rio de Janeiro of 1947, which grants us specific rights and imposes upon us necessary responsibilities. That Treaty, which we regard as the highest achievement of inter-American co-operation, specifies that any extracontinental armed attack against an American State is to be regarded as an armed attack against the whole continent.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Khrushchev's proposals to use his guided missiles to intervene in the dispute between two American States, and the acceptance in various forms, each more compromising than the last, which the Cuban Government gave to that offer. 232. America possesses a regional system that is older even than the United Nations and offers abundant resources for the peaceful settlement of any dispute. We have outlawed aggressive war in our hemisphere and have laid down that conquest confers no rights. An armed attack by any American State against any other American State shall be considered as an attack against all the other countries of the continent. In this way we have been able to cheek the arms race that was consuming a large part of the economic resources of the Latin American countries. 233.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“In this Declaration we restated the democratic concept of the separation of powers and reaffirmed our conviction that the Governments of this continent should be the result of free elections. We condemned perpetuation in power. We proclaimed freedom of information and the unrestricted exercise of freedom of the Press, radio and television. We asked for respect for human rights and stressed the urgency of effectively combating economic underdevelopment in order to strengthen democratic institutions. 231. In August 1960, the American Foreign Ministers met again at San José, Costa Rica, where we had occasion to study the problems posed for the unity and solidarity of the hemisphere by Mr.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“In August 1959, the Foreign Ministers of the twenty-one American States met together in the Chilean capital and, after a detailed study of the causes of international tension in the Americas, concluded unanimously, or in other words without a single dissenting vote, that it was essential to stress that the conduct of the Governments of the hemisphere must conform strictly to the provisions of the Charter of Bogota of 1948, which is the basic instrument of our regional organization. Thus it was that, in furtherance of the basic principles of the inter-American system, we adopted the Declaration of Santiago de Chile in which the political aspirations of our peoples are enumerated and summed up.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“At the Fifth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American States, held at Santiago de Chile in August, 1959, and the Seventh Meeting, held at San José, Costa Rica in August, 1960, the characteristics of American democracy were clearly and unmistakably defined. I had the signal honour, at both meetings, of presiding over the General Committee, as the representative of Colombia, and I am thus particularly well acquainted with what took place. 230.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Rebellion of the spirit is better measured by refusal to accept any type of imposition than by slavish obedience in putting into effect the slogans of foreign revolution. 228. Freedom, however, cannot be an end in itself; it must be a means for developing the creative energies of man and encouraging the people's constant dreams of improvement. A free people is not one which blindly follows the will of a single man but one whose conduct is governed by law, and, above all, one that finds in free elections the means and the opportunity of establishing a government in keeping with its desires and needs. A people is also free when it surrounds with safeguards the supreme dignity of the human person and respects the rights of the citizen, 229.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Both East and West have made admirable technological progress, and both sides can quote convincing statistics. The spokesmen of the East in this Assembly have told us, for example, how many kilowatts of power are produced per caput, but they have not told us, and I fear that they will never be able to tell us, the amount of freedom enjoyed per caput under their system. 227. Peace will necessarily be threatened as long as government does not serve the general interest and does not ensure the same respect for its own views and those of other systems. We believe in spiritual values and in intellectual controversy, and that is why we do not hesitate to disapprove and system which prohibits opposing views and regiments thought.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)