YouSaid · the spoken record

Alvaro Arzú Irigoyen

lines on the record: 62
first: 1996-09-24
most recent: 1999-09-24
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

“Never before have we shared such a profound and keen awareness of our immense multi-ethnic, multilingual and multicultural wealth, or of our environment, which is extraordinarily varied. Never before have we been so keenly aware of our need for internal integration and for the development of our own potential. 4 We have within our grasp a unique opportunity, one that will never recur, to transform this moment into a moment for the future and for renovation. This is perhaps not the appropriate occasion for detailing all the progress made in recent months. Such details may be found in the various reports of United Nations Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA) and other agencies of the United Nations system.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“There is a part of our country that never came into being, because Guatemalans were bogged down in fratricidal domestic struggle that we were not able to stop in time — an internal conflict that — it is true — was fuelled by our own injustice, but — it must be acknowledged — was also fanned from abroad. But such is history: hope springs up amid tragedy, and lessons are drawn from mistakes. Our people has an extraordinary capacity for recovery and learning. We are nearing the end of this stage, and another has already begun: one in which all of us — absolutely all — are responsible and committed. One of the consequences of this deeply traumatic and protracted conflict is that never before have we found ourselves in a situation so propitious for dialogue and reconciliation.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“While technological, commercial and political changes were taking place in the rest of the world, and nations were discovering new opportunities in their relations, we were plunged deeper into the violence of a domestic conflict that took the lives of thousands and thousands of young people, who were unable to provide their country with the fruits of their talents and endeavours. While new international options for well- being were blossoming elsewhere, we continued to be consumed internally by a dirty war that crushed entire villages and compelled many people to flee.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Let us recall the words of the singer- songwriter who asked, “Who will return to us the fatherland that could have been?” While more difficult to pinpoint, and perhaps impossible to measure, these too are irreparable losses: all that we could have done, but did not do; all the growth that could have occurred, but did not occur; all we could have built, but did not build. While others were progressing, we were stagnating, locked in a cruel domestic struggle that included elements imported from the cold war, which arbitrarily kept in check for 40 years our political, social and economic evolution.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“As many of the representatives in this Assembly know, the internal conflict caused great misfortune and suffering for our people. I am referring primarily to the irreparable loss of thousands of lives. I also have in mind the traumatic aftermath of the conflict, which is evident in the faces of every cripple, orphan and widow, and in every surviving family, a number of which were eye-witnesses to the tragedies. I am also referring to the economic losses, in the form of damage to infrastructure and lost opportunities for productive development. I also wish to call to mind the set-backs caused by the conflict.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“In the course of this year we shall initial, God willing, the final agreement for a firm and lasting peace, which will put an end to an armed conflict that has lasted 36 years. It is worth emphasizing then, that for the last five months there has been no armed confrontation, which has allowed the peace talks to progress without subjecting our negotiators to the anguish and pressure of knowing that as they are working Guatemalan blood is being shed. That is over. Far from deadening or delaying the dialogue, this state of affairs has stimulated it, given the prospect of a definitive cessation of hostilities. This has also stimulated us to see clearly where we are going and to gain a more profound understanding of what has happened.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“We are on the threshold of signing the peace. We look forward to this historic transition with hope and jubilation, and we foresee the complex stage of strengthening the fabric of society and production. From that stage we can look hopefully to the future. Peace will come to Guatemala because we Guatemalans have striven for it and because the international community has helped us along the way. As is well known, last week in Mexico City the parties signed the agreement on the last substantive item of the agenda agreed upon in the peace talks, the one concerning the strengthening of civilian power and the role of the army in a democratic society. We now have to deal with the operational issues: demobilization, reinsertion into civil society, the cease-fire and the timetable for the implementation of the agreements.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“And Guatemala has suffered greatly from authoritarian intervention and the imposition of alien patterns that once impaired a political and social maturation process that sought to infuse its own life- giving fluids with contemporary ideas of equity and democracy. Domestic injustices and imbalances were aggravated by the tensions of the cold war that exploded within my country. 3 Now is the time for reconciliation. Now is the time once again to take development in hand. Now is the time to search for effective formulas to link our villages with the World Trade Organization; to link the poverty afflicting the families of our neighbourhoods with international financial institutions; and to link decisions independently taken at the level of our domestic communities with the large development agencies.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“It is, in fact, a constant exercise in discovery with living social tissues, an exercise in which we have all had to pool our best efforts. The creativity of individuals, Governments, and various organizations — private and public, local and national, regional and multilateral — has come together to produce a constant quest for the solutions we need. It has been an exercise in international solidarity that, complementing internal endeavours, has made it possible for us to forge ahead along the right path to recovery. But the test tube is the life of our people, and for that reason there is little margin for error. Errors increase the suffering of my people.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Today, at a time when the reform of the system is the subject of such intense discussion, our national experience may perhaps be useful, as it is an example of cooperation that is at once respectful and dynamic, based fundamentally on internal efforts with appropriate external help. For us this approach is indispensable since, to a large extent, it has been possible to build peace, thanks to the valuable and diverse forms of support received from agencies of the United Nations system. But this has not been effected through the mechanical application of preconceived formulas, or of automatic institutional moulds. On the contrary, what we have here is a challenging and complex empirical laboratory where all of us are learning step by step.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Our country is healing its deep wounds and revealing its true face, as a generous land that is the home to age-old cultures. Guatemala is coming to terms with itself and, in so doing, is reconciling itself with the world. We are once again speaking as a friendly nation among friendly nations. The peace process has enabled us to evolve our own agenda, which responds to the needs of our country without our having had to accept an agenda imposed by anyone else. To that end we have received the constant support of the international community, and in particular of the United Nations system.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Allow me to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your well-deserved election to preside over the General Assembly at its fifty-first regular session. I also wish to convey our appreciation to Ambassador Diogo Freitas do Amaral for the skill and efficiency with which he conducted the work of the General Assembly in the course of its last regular session. We are very close to the achievement of peace in my country. This can already be felt in the silence of the guns and the newly flourishing spirit of unity among brothers. Intolerance is giving way to awareness of the common challenges we face. We now realize that, for example, if we are to combat corruption and impunity, we need to share values and principles, though not necessarily ideologies. United in diversity, we must discover our own means for building our future.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)