YouSaid · the spoken record

Ortiz Martin

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS ORTIZ MARTIN

lines on the record: 64
first: 1959-09-24
most recent: 1961-09-24
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

“For that reason, and because in our country we worship God and revere liberty, we have no ideological problem. Our problem, as I have already said, is an economic one; and it is because it appreciates that fact that the Government of the United States has undertaken to join with us in this struggle against under-development, in this fight to do away with poverty, so that to the dignity of the free man may be added his right to satisfy his needs and to enjoy the well-being which the civilization of our day, in its many inventions, has placed, to be enjoyed, within the reach of everyone who labours and earns his bread by the sweat of his brow.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“This is not the time for me to enlarge on the matter, but I must say enough to make it clear that to agree to this new study we should have to transform our social and juridical organization from top to bottom. We do not, of course, deny the importance and seriousness of the problem, but in our view its solution depends essentially on education in all its aspects, which will help families, within the framework of their own moral and religious convictions, to remedy this acute situation. Let me in conclusion reaffirm our ideological position. That position has in no way changed, since we are a free and independent State by virtue of our ethnic origins, our education in Christian civilization and the fact of our having had our birth in America, which has always been the land of liberty.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“We have spoken of these problems before from this rostrum, and we shall be compelled to repeat our words so long as the injustice continues. 105. A new item has been placed on our agenda at Denmark's proposal, relating to the need for a study of over-population [item 84]. In our opinion this problem is not simply one of economics, and we are obliged, because it would have serious implications for the social and political organization of our country—not to speak of its religious organization—to oppose such a study in the form in which it has been proposed. Our society is based on the family, on marriage. Our Civil Code provides that "the object of marriage is procreation and mutual aid". In Costa Rica, marriages take place for the purpose of procreation. Abortion is punishable under the Criminal Code.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Do they know what this reduction of a few cents means to the peasants in our country who produce the coffee? A reduction of one cent on 20 million sacks of coffee at $1.32 per sack, for example, means a loss to the producers of $26,400,000. But there is worse yet. This loss falls upon the ill-fed, diseased and ignorant; in general terms, it falls upon those countries whose economies are based on the agricultural product in question. If the housewives of the highly-developed countries knew what great evils such a reduction of a few cents in the price of a pound of coffee caused, if they knew that it meant greater hunger, less housing, greater poverty for their fellow-men over the seas, they would certainly not accept the few cents they gain—which in any event cannot improve their family budget.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“That is why we say that until this problem is solved there can be no progress; for what is the use to us of a loan to help us develop a new industry, for example, if our basic industry remains sick? We must find a way to stabilize markets. Our coffee, our cotton, our bananas, our sugar must fetch stable prices, allowing for the wages of those who produce them. This problem of prices and their stabilization is not one for Governments alone but for the peoples also; the peoples must, in the anxious times through which the world is now passing, co-operate in solving it—particularly those which have highly-developed economies. We are repeating this because the Press has recently reported a new fall in the price of coffee, and the manufacturers have excitedly announced a reduction of a few cents a pound.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The first thing we have to do is to put our own houses in order, by ensuring that our countries are properly organized to produce what they need to feed themselves adequately, that they are self-sufficient, and that if, because of their agricultural economies, they are exporters of some primary commodity—such as coffee;, in our own case—they have fair markets for their produce. That is where one of the most serious difficulties lies; so much so that until a favourable solution is found there can be no progress in our task. The price of coffee is not fixed by our farmers and producers; it is fixed for us by the buyer—who, however, prices his manufactures on the basis of his costs of production and the standard of living of his workers. We sell very cheap and buy very dear.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“We in Costa Rica are firmly resolved to put an end to poverty, ignorance and disease, and we know that in this titanic struggle we must be able to rely on the deep understanding and the co-operation of the United Nations. We enthusiastically welcomed the United States "Alliance for Progress" plan, which will be of great help to us in achieving our goal, and which demands of us adequate plans of our own, men trained to carry them out and world markets in which justice prevails. 104. We consider it important to draw attention to some of the essential problems involved in the struggle against under-development.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“For that reason, we must not, in an enterprise of such grandeur, waste our energies in raking- over the embers of the past to determine the nation or nations responsible for the evil. We must turn to the past only for the purpose of studying the causes and eliminating the origins of the evil, and in no circumstances in order to dissipate our energies in vain recriminations. Costa Rica was once a colony, and it knows how the great Powers, in their struggle for commercial domination, made the colonies the victims of their ambitions, cloaking these with attractive banners decorated with symbols of the ideal. The important thing, I repeat, is to begin the task of extricating ourselves from under-development, and to work hard at it.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“In Latin America, at least, there has never been a single dictatorship, whether of the right or the left, that has not based its tyranny on the army. We are against armaments which are used for wars between nations, and we are also against armaments which are used within the frontiers of States to enslave peoples or subject them to the tyranny of Governments lacking majority support. 103. Our real problems are those of economic underdevelopment, which, apart from the material evils it brings in its train, is the source of social injustice caused by inequality among peoples. The principles of the Charter will not be realized until we have left behind the backwardness which at present afflicts the great majority of the human race. The struggle is not in itself an easy one, considering its complexity and the real difficulties it involves.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“My delegation remains particularly grateful to Canada for having invited us, at the fifteenth session of the General Assembly, to co-sponsor a constructive draft resolution on disarmament; for my small country is so dedicated to the idea of disarmament that its Constitution prohibits the existence of an army. We are still unreservedly in favour of genuine disarmament, and for that reason we support the proposal made by Mr, Kennedy, President of the United States [1013th plenary meeting]. In our view it is not only the great Powers whose armaments raise the threat of great wars, who should disarm. We should like to see the small Powers disarm too, for we feel that armies eat up the very scarce resources of our weak economies, and in most cases serve only to sustain political regimes repugnant to the peoples.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“So far as concerns these inhuman experiments, we should do well to appeal also to those who are terrorizing the world with the threat of atomic annihilation by proclaiming the destructive power of their infernal machines to have some consideration for the lot of the children and young people of all nations, who are growing up in an atmosphere of anxiety which fills them with uncertainty and with distress for the imminent end of the world. Those responsible must be convinced once and for all that they cannot reduce the world to rubble without themselves being destroyed in the process. 102.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“While we were being told of the need for the prohibition of nuclear armaments, it seems that these armaments were being manufactured in such numbers that the stocks available were considered adequate to permit an attempt to terrorize the world by exploding nuclear devices daily for several days, regardless of the fact that the radiation caused, as the Canadian delegation has already pointed out, would affect the health of the peoples. 101. My delegation wishes to remind the Assembly of all the arguments which were advanced a few months ago in support of the appeal made by Morocco and other African countries that France should be called upon to refrain from carrying out nuclear tests in the Sahara. On the basis of these arguments, as also for profoundly humanitarian reasons, my delegation has always been opposed to nuclear tests.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The people of Costa Rica, desiring to demonstrate their complete support of the cause of the refugees from East German communism, send their traditional wagon, laden with 'grains of gold' plucked from the very heart of the Motherland, as a token of their faith in the ultimate triumph of freedom and of a democratic and united Germany." That is how Costa Rica has demonstrated its feelings on the German tragedy. 100. The resumption of nuclear tests has spread dismay throughout the world, which feels itself drawn into a struggle which it does not want. We are amazed at this evidence of bad faith.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“It carries the sincere greetings of a people dedicated to freedom and democracy. "On 15 September, Costa Rica's independence day, the 'Freedom Wagon', laden with hundreds of pounds of 'grains of gold' contributed by the people, was paraded through the principal streets of the capital, and crowds of students thronged round it and escorted it to demonstrate the joy they felt on the eve of its dispatch to West Berlin." This offering is decorated with the following legend "Freedom Wagon.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The people of Costa Rica have sent me a message asking me to tell the General Assembly that they have symbolized their attitude on the Berlin question by the dispatch of a wagon load of coffee. This message reads as follows; "The traditionally free people of Costa Rica wish to express their moral support and their deep sympathy for the thousands of refugees who have succeeded in courageously escaping from East Berlin. "When we go far back into our country's culture, we find that the obvious symbol of our democratic, proud and honest way of life is the richly decorated wagon which is in daily use by our industrious peasants. Such a wagon, carrying a full load of our finest coffee, we send with our affection to a brave ' people which has resolved to break for ever the shackles of tyranny.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Our brother Republic of Ecuador has expressed for us the anxiety we feel with regard to the question of Berlin, which is keeping the world on the brink of war. We shall never tire of repeating that the shield of the small nations must be justice. Our sole strength is morality, and our sole objective liberty. For that reason, our support and our co-operation will be forthcoming in any matter that involves the very essence of our way of life. We have no hesitation in supporting Ecuador, which has expressed the hope that those responsible for the German tragedy will realize that Germany cannot be suppressed, that the people of Germany must decide their own fate and that they must be given the freedom to give clear expression to their right of self-determination. 99.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“I have been unable to hear from the lips of any of communist China's semi-official advocates, who claim to speak on its behalf, what are the intentions of their principal. Nationalist China is a State; it possesses an entirely legitimate Government, a population of eleven million and a clearly-defined territory; moreover, it has been a bastion of the law. I cannot conceive how we could desert it and agree to its being replaced by aggression and brute force. Accordingly, Costa Rica stands today, as it has always stood, at the side of whoever in its view supports principles and justice. In a matter in which the spirit and the letter of the Charter are at stake, our position is inflexible and we shall hold to it. 98.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The United Nations is made up, at any rate so far as its spirit is concerned, or States which believe that human felicity is to be found in peace, and that all conflicts between nations must be settled by peaceful means. What we receive from communist China is not messages of peace but heralds of war. We cannot but note that Red China does not directly state its desire to come to seek peace and international co-operation within the United Nations. Others speak in its name; as though Red China had not the means to tell the world, in its application for membership, what it would propose to do if it were admitted— whether its intention is to abjure war and become a peace-loving nation dedicated to international cooperation or whether it will come to use the veto or to destroy our Organization.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Just as seats are added in the General Assembly chamber and the Committee rooms when new Members are admitted, so should places be added on a proportional basis in the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, subject to the provisions of the Charter, which require adequate representation in accordance with the principle of geographical distribution. The problem is an easy one to solve and should not be complicated; and we accordingly declare our view that an increase in the membership of the two Councils is an urgent necessity. 97. We have continued to maintain our opinion that nationalist China represents a moral concept which is in harmony with the principles on which the United Nations is founded, and that Red China, on the contrary, is manifestly opposed to the Organization's purposes.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“The consequence is that we have peoples that are the victims of the political strategy of certain great Powers—which are very quick to forget the demagogic harangues they have treated us to on this very subject of colonialism. Equality of treatment—that is what my country stands for. 96. To turn to other fields of our work: we need changes to reflect the fact that there are now a hundred States Members of the Organization, or double our original number. The procedure of the various organs must be revised and their membership must be expanded. It is wrong that in a matter of such plain logic the revision of the Charter should have met with resistance based on petty political considerations so that the functioning of the Organization's entire administration is being hampered.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Regrettable problems have arisen in connexion with the applications for membership in the United Nations of the newly-independent countries. It is the view of my delegation that all States which, on achieving their independence, possess the juridical attributes recognized by law and satisfy the requirements laid down in the Charter should be admitted to member ship without being subjected to political manoeuvres which treat them as objects available for exchange, pledge or sale. It is inexplicable to us how leaders who style themselves champions of anti-colonialism can deny a colony which has achieved its independence the right to enter this Organization, with the bald assertion that they would admit it if some other State, protected or proposed by them, were accepted.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Hammarskjold, the Secretary-General, then we must translate our tears into acts, and must follow the counsels offered by the distinguished departed in his desire to lend dynamism to the office he held. The office of Secretary-General must not be, nor can it be, converted into a triumvirate of the type of those which brought such discredit upon themselves in the political history of Rome and of the French Consulate. If he is to be able to act, the Secretary-General must be vested with indivisible authority. In championing this' view we are at once being faithful to our own convictions and honouring the memory of the man who, both in his life and in his work, was an integral part of the United Nations: Dag Hammarskjold. 95.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“One of the factors which has reduced the effectiveness of the United Nations—and this has been a matter of considerable concern to us—is undoubtedly the veto exercised in the Security Council, a veto used to such excess that the Council's resolutions have remained without effect. One necessity if the United Nations is to be helped to greater achievements is to revise the right of veto; and for that reason it seems inexplicable to us that any support should be expected for the proposal that the executive organ of the United Nations—for that is what the office of the Secretary- General is—should include in its ranks, with the right to veto its decisions, any person coming from the Power which has stultified the work of the Security Council. If we are sincere in the distress we expressed at the irreparable loss of Mr.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“To be a member of the United Nations in itself implies being against colonialism and all forms of discrimination; for one of the Organization's purposes is to bring independence to the colonies and aid them in their development. The fact that there should be serious problems between some countries and their territories or colonies is understandable; but we are confident that these problems will be settle by peaceful means and that the day of independence is not far off. So far as we are concerned, just as we believe that all men are born equal so we believe that nations are absolutely entitled to be born to freedom and independence. 94.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“It is the weak, the small, the under-developed countries, without distinction and in whatever part of the globe they may be situated, which must devote their efforts to strengthening the United Nations morally and materially. The most unchallengeable demonstration of the Organization's achievements may be seen in the new nations which have attained their independence under its maternal wing. But for the magnificent work of the United Nations, the new States which now share in our tasks would never have thrown off colonialism without shedding a drop of blood. All of them are to our Organization what her children were to the mother of the Gracchi — her proudest jewels.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Costa Rica, which has been a Member of the United Nations since its foundation, is more than ever convinced that this institution, besides being the finest instrument ever designed by man in his desire to maintain a supreme organ capable of regulating and resolving the differences between the Governments of the world with a view to preserving peace through justice/ is also the most effective protector of the small States. The great Powers, it seems to us, do not need the United Nations for their military defence. They are sufficient unto themselves. The weaker States, on the other hand,, are protected by this Organization against any aggression, and have free access to this rostrum to broadcast to the world their complaints against social, economic and political injustice.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“Faced with the power-madness of those who daily announce the destruction of their alleged enemies, accompanying their threats with acts such as the reckless resumption of nuclear testing, we who are doomed to die have no other recourse than to raise our voices; and I do so not on behalf of a small country which is a Member of this Organization but as a member of the human race, to appeal for calm and moderation in the face of the tempest of passion set off once again by the historic ill-judgement of the men of power, who have forgotten the wise maxim that he who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind. 93.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“May I extend to you, and through you to the Tunisian Government and nation, my own warm congratulations and those of the Government and people of Costa Rica on your election to the office of President of the Assembly—congratulations which my delegation wishes to be placed' on the records of the general debate. 92. It has been the practice of my delegation to concentrate the major part of its attention on the problems which affect our country; we believe that that policy is what a due sense of proportion demands, having regard to the influence we are able to exert on the conduct of the high affairs of world politics. Today, however, the situation is so serious that it affects the survival not of a group of nations but of all nations.”
1961-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 16 (1961)
“We offered them a clean and simple house, students directing the traffic because the police were busy safeguarding the security of our distinguished visitors, and an atmosphere of complete freedom, where the very word "discrimination" is unknown, in all of which we Costa Ricans take pride. I speak to you from this rostrum with the humility which is a part of our very existence, so that to the voices of so many great leaders who have spoken in this general debate I may add the modest voice of American and world brotherhood.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“This is one of the many reasons, why we love this regional agency, which, as you know, came into being long before the League of Nations. Latin America has encountered great difficulties in its stormy independent life and, for better or worse, Bolivar’s principle has been upheld. In August 1960, San José, the capital of Costa Rica, had the great honour of receiving the sixth and seventh Meetings of Consultation of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American States at which the thorny problems of the continent were discussed. We could not offer our American brothers sumptuous palaces, great parades or lavish festivities.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“We want to advance along the honest path of freedom, peace and justice, knowing our responsibilities and ready to meet them, working vigorously to rid ourselves of poverty. 147. This does not mean that we should ignore the great international problems, for at this stage in history they concern us all. I had occasion to visit some Eastern countries, where there are dangerous tensions which may give rise to terrible events. Travelling through the lands of the Bible, I became aware of the tenuous impermanence of an armistice and I resolved both to pray to God in church and to ask men of good will, in this temple of the United Nations, to do their utmost to ensure the reign of peace not only in the Holy Places but throughout the whole world. 148. The Organization of American States was born of the genius of the liberator Simón Bolívar.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“We must be morally and socially prepared to make proper use of whatever economic resources we may obtain, not only for scientific and technical ends, for which the United Nations generally provides, but in the educational field and above all for moral purposes, so that we do not waste our strength in sterile political discussions, in disputes between brothers or in impossible ambitions for world political leadership, squandering the energy which our people need. We should concentrate on working twice as hard, intelligently, in true political stability, to protect the health of our people, to build more and more schools and, in short, to achieve the dignity of men who wish to live in freedom. Those who have should give to those who have not.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“These are supposed to be temporary but they become steadily higher and no one can guess when they will finally be abolished. We must express our gratitude to the United States of America, which has begun to understand our needs and has prepared to meet them. President Eisenhower has started a movement to give economic meaning to the Good Neighbour policy, which will pass from theory into fact, for which we are duly grateful. At the recent economic conference held in Bogota in September 1960, a beginning, was made, with effective assistance, on Operation Pan America, which will stimulate our economic development. In this connexion I should refer to the widely held view that we, the under-developed countries, should not think that all we need for our development is money. That is quite true.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Ever since we have been a member of the Economic and Social Council, we have strongly supported the view that the prices of basic export commodities should be fixed, just as the Governments of the highly developed countries fix the prices of their industrial products. We can no longer patiently accept the fact that, while the wages of our peasants and workmen are subject to the fluctuations of international markets, the wages of workers in industrialized countries rise steadily, so that there is a dangerous difference, leading to constant social tension. Our people can no longer be deprived of the products of modern civilization, which they cannot buy because of the high price, since in order to protect our scanty reserves of gold, and currencies we have to set up excessively high customs barriers.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Let the Congolese themselves settle their own disputes, with their eyes on the future of their beloved country and with the help of the United Nations, not allowing themselves to be used for the purposes of the cold war. 145. We are resolved that Operation Pan America, which was so wisely proposed by Mr. Juscelino Kubitschek, the President of Brazil, will soon be a reality, for the problem of Latin America is becoming more and more urgent,, because of the great and pressing needs of our peoples, who have waited so patiently for the economic impulse necessary for their development. 146.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Convinced as we are of the uselessness of an army in Costa Rica, we finally abolished it under the 1949 Constitution. The Costa Rican budget does not allocate a single cent for armaments. Costa Rica settles its disputes by reason and not by force. It takes its decisions with votes, not bullets. We warmly recommend this attitude to all the new nations, which will find the best safeguard for the stability of their institutions not in armies but in the institutions themselves. I assure my new colleagues that it is much more useful to spend the people’s money on schools than on armaments. 144. That last point in my greeting to the new countries will serve to explain our views on the difficult question of disarmament. What I have said will also show what is our general opinion of the sad situation in the Congo.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“In welcoming the newly independent peoples, there is one last experience which I should like to tell them about. We in Costa Rica found that keeping an army was of no use to us, for our habitual love of peace made it impossible for us to think that we might need it to make war on our neighbours. The barracks were used only to train a military class which kept Government in power against the will of the people or acted as an electoral instrument, frightening the voter with its strength and its ability to seize power and impose Governments ready to protect its privileges. We believe that our regional agency, the Organization of American States, and the United Nations are adequate safeguards for peace and justice in the unlikely event of any aggression against us.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“I have made this survey of our own experience in order to show the new countries the importance of this Organization as an institution set up not only to keep the peace, but to help, protect and advance all peoples who aspire to independence. We, the small and under-developed countries, have no part in the disputes of the great Powers except to take care that we are not used as a pretext for developing conflicts between us which encourage cold wars and create tensions which may finally destroy the world. We must steadfastly stand by institutions — in this particular case the United Nations, to which we are deeply grateful, not only as the people of a Member State but also as human beings who realize the value of its universal protection. 143.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“During those years, up to the end of the last century, it was only our pure faith in our own destiny that could, begin to break down our long and painful isolation. from a world indifferent to our longing for progress and culture. We are still fighting; desperately for the economic development which Latin America needs if its peoples are to live in the dignity proper to men who love freedom. What a different picture we see today, when we welcome new countries into this great institution, the United Nations, in which they will find political safeguards, technical assistance, human brotherhood and certain protection! 142.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“I hope I may be pardoned for this digression, which I have made for the sake of historical truth and in gratitude to what is our mother country, not in fine poetry but in the reality of prose. 141. Costa Rica was born to independent life in such hard economic conditions that it looked as though our terrible poverty might bring about our destruction. When we became independent from Spain, having reached our majority, we offered an easy prey to European imperialism, from which danger we were freed by the Monroe Doctrine, which did not, however, bring us any possibilities of economic development but, through isolation, greater poverty. Many years passed, while we prepared ourselves, through the education given in our schools, to live in dignity.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“The basis upon which this great Spanish enterprise was built was the evangelization of the indigenous inhabitants in order to open their minds to the light of Christianity, which is love, charity, equality and peace among men. We have heard enough of the black legend against Spain. Spain gave everything, absolutely everything — its spirit and its flesh — for its colonies. The material decadence of Spain began with the discovery of the Indies, but there was no spiritual decadence because its quixotic spirit, its Christian philosophy and its splendid generosity run freely in our veins, together with the untamed Indian blood. Spain did not enrich itself in America; it ruined itself there.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“We should remember that the Spanish conquest as such was one thing and the colonial administration another. The "conquistador" was a man of war, and war, unfortunately, has always stirred up primitive instincts in men and made them as fierce as beasts. The Spanish administration was distinguished by the many laws it made to protect the indigenous inhabitants; every complaint was heard by a regional or metropolitan court. It should not be forgotten that Iberian officials in America were subject to impeachment proceedings, which consisted of broad public and judicial inquiries into their administration, and an official could not leave his previous jurisdiction until an absolutory sentence had been pronounced.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“On the contrary, we strive to avoid exaggeration and to keep cur sense of proportion, which shows itself in the humility, simplicity and sincerity of our feelings. 140. Costa Rica became known to the world when it was discovered by Christopher Columbus on behalf of the Catholic Monarchs. From that time until we became independent, in 1821, we were a colony of Spain. I think it only fair to refer to certain violent words and offensive ideas which have been indulged in here in connexion with Spanish colonialism in America. Every age has its own political features. No one can claim, for example, that at the time of Queen Isabella the Catholic the democratic system was established in the newly discovered lands, since that system was not practised in Spain at that time.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“May it please God to disperse them, so that with tranquil minds we may calmly discuss the difficult and serious problems of the moment, which the United Nations has to resolve in accordance with the provisions of the Charter. 138. There can be no doubt that the outstanding feature of this Assembly which will go down in history is the admission of Cyprus and of the new independent nations of Africa to the United Nations. In greeting them warmly on behalf of my delegation and my country, I should like to recall some of our experiences which we think may be of assistance to them, especially to the smaller countries, because of their similarity to us. 139. We do not attempt to go beyond the limits within which a weak and small country like ours must develop.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“Although Mr. Boland is not present, my delegation would like to address the following greeting to him. 136. We are far from your country, Mr. President; few of your countrymen live among us, yet this has not prevented our having a sincere and devoted admiration for your peopled perseverance in its historic struggle for freedom. We admire Ireland for the fervour of its faith, which is also ours, and thus we feel at one with you and are happy to congratulate you on your election as President of the Assembly, on behalf of our delegation and of the Government and people of Costa Rica, who hope for great things from your efficiency, equanimity and clear intelligence. 137. Storms have raged around this fifteenth regular session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.”
1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)
“It should be recalled here that on 21 October 1958, Costa Rica, together with Bolivia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti and Uruguay, submitted an amendment [A/C.1/L.209] to the seventeen-Power draft resolution [A/C.1/L.205] inviting all States to devote larger resources to assist the under-developed countries out of the funds made available as a result of disarmament. From that spring, we shall draw the clear waters to wash away so much of the poverty, hunger and injustice in the world today. With the savings from disarmament, let us build a new world in which all men shall be economically free so that they enjoy our present civilization and savour fully the divine gift of freedom.”
1959-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 14 (1959)
“He says that "the fact that more than 1,500 million people in this world live in dire want poses a challenge to which we must respond” [797th meeting, para. 88]. That proclamation is being issued by the strongest economic and moral power on earth. We have been summoned to wage this Christian and holy war to extricate men from poverty with our best weapon, justice, which we, the under-developed peoples, implore. 238. The attention of the Assembly and of the world is riveted on the question of disarmament.”
1959-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 14 (1959)
“All this shows that our peoples are fighting resolutely, with confidence and zeal, to extricate themselves from their state of economic backwardness, and that is why they are appealing for the justice due them in the solution of those of their problems which can only be solved by outside economic groups or forces. 237. The Secretary of State of the United States of America, Mr. Herter, referred in his statement to the continuing and substantial co-operation of his country in its economic relations with our countries, but he recognizes that there is still much to be done and dramatically appeals to the United Nations to join forces with the United States in this war being waged against poverty, disease and illiteracy.”
1959-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 14 (1959)
“If Central America is to succeed in its plan for economic integration, it not only needs technical assistance and capital for industrialization, but it must in the meantime be protected from the economic disaster of a drastic decline in the prices of its basic commodities. 236. The sub-committees of ECLA have successfully brought about a lowering of the tariff barriers of the countries of Central America, the prospects for an integrated meat and produce market- are being considered, and determined progress is being made towards a common market. At the most recent meetings, we were happy to learn that our sister republic of Panama is watching these economic developments with keen interest and may join in this great United Nations experiment.”
1959-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 14 (1959)
“While we are forging ahead with the diversification of our production so as to free ourselves from the bondage of a single-crop economy and foster our development, the price of our basic commodity, coffee, is going down on the world market, causing economic and social ruin and confusion, and we are unable to provide price supports as is done by the economically more developed countries. It is an unequal battle, and our difficulties are becoming more acute. That is why we feel that what the under-developed countries need is not assistance, not charity, but justice, which is the corner-stone of peace.”
1959-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 14 (1959)