YouSaid · the spoken record

Álvaro Colom Caballeros

lines on the record: 49
first: 2008-09-24
most recent: 2011-09-24
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

“In another crucial area, we regard as an important step towards resolving our age-old territorial dispute with Belize the signing of the Special Agreement, which, when the domestic juridical processes are concluded, will enable both countries to seek a legal solution through the International Court of Justice. I am pleased to report that the Congress of Guatemala has approved the Agreement unanimously. The next step will be to submit it to a national referendum. In the ancestral Mayan calendar today is the day of balance, the day of dawn, the day that the Guacamaya sings, announcing the coming of a new dawn. Today we have come together to witness a new dawn. It should be the dawn of peace, the dawn of less poverty, the dawn of harmony and above all the dawn of respect for fundamental human rights.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“We understand that the international community can take part in the process of fulfilling that vision, as indeed is happening through the so-called Quartet comprising the United States, the Russian Federation, the European Union and the United Nations, but its realization is up to the two parties — Israel and Palestine — and should be achieved through direct negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues. We reiterate our commitment to the relaunching of the regional integration process of the Central American Integration System to bring about even closer relations with our neighbours of the Caribbean and Latin America, and we enthusiastically support the creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“We believe that such a step would have many favourable consequences in both countries. We are following closely, and with hope, the events affecting several countries of North Africa, which will give a greater voice to their peoples. Clearly, it is up to them to decide their own destiny. But in the midst of the current turbulent situation, it is not possible to delay a solution to the secular conflict resulting from the confrontation between the State of Israel and its neighbours. We support the creation of a viable and prosperous Palestinian State living in peace and harmony, behind secure and defensible borders, side by side with the State of Israel.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“I thank our regional group, the Latin American and Caribbean Group, for endorsing our candidature, and I thank all Member States in advance for the support that I trust we shall receive when new members are elected to the Security Council. The central theme of the session is mediation. I reiterate our full commitment to strengthening preventive diplomacy and the instruments that the United Nations possesses to prevent conflicts. In this context, we can even accept sanctions regimes, provided that they come about as a result of collective decisions taken by the Security Council. 11-50847 4 The other side of the coin is that we reject sanctions and coercive measures taken unilaterally. In this regard, we urge the Government of the United States of America to abandon the economic embargo of the Republic of Cuba.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“My Government has developed an active foreign policy, which includes strengthening the integration process in the framework of the Central American Integration System. We are confident that, as part of that active policy, in some three weeks we shall attain one of our main objectives at the multilateral level — Guatemala’s election by the General Assembly to a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for the next biennium. This will renew our commitment to the United Nations, and also strengthen our foreign policy, exposing us to a broad and complex diplomatic agenda. We shall carry out our work with responsibility and independence, and with respect for the principles and values enshrined in the Charter.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Thirdly, it is difficult to promote development when we repeatedly face severe natural disasters, which recently have been occurring at a rate of at least one a year. This can be attributed, at least in part, to climate change, given the high vulnerability of Central America to the effects of this phenomenon. Therefore, it is imperative that humanity close ranks in defence of our common habitat: our planet. So far, progress has been minimal. We urge the international community to redouble efforts to take tangible steps at the next Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Durban, South Africa, in December. In my previous statements to the Assembly, I have concluded with references to our foreign policy, especially as it affects, or is impacted by, the United Nations agenda.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Member countries of the Central American Integration System have adopted a historic Central American Security Strategy, which was jointly presented, with the support of the Governments of Colombia and Mexico, to the international community at an international conference held in Guatemala on 22 and 23 June. The main point is that we have acted forcefully, but that it is imperative to implement the 22 projects that need funding. Here I recall the words of President Calderón of Mexico at the June conference, when he asked what peace there would be in Central America, and Mexico and Colombia, if we were north of Canada; if we simply changed our geographic position we would eliminate the problem of drug trafficking. Once again I stress the co-responsibility of the drug-consuming markets.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“In economic matters we need a revival of productive activities in a framework of financial stability and fiscal reform compatible with financing for development. Secondly, due to our geographical location, Guatemala has become an important transit point for illicit activities, including drug trafficking and human trafficking, both of which are increasingly in the hands of transnational organized crime. We have made strenuous efforts to deal with them and to address the public demand for improved security for every citizen. It is essential to have regional and international cooperation.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“First, despite the progress in social matters, we must acknowledge how much remains to be done to eliminate poverty and raise the level of wellbeing of the Guatemalan population. There were many years of neglect, especially of the most vulnerable, such as children, single mothers, and a disproportionate part of the indigenous population. I am convinced that the actions taken should be institutionalized through social cohesion programmes and presidential programmes. That will require a substantial fiscal transformation to provide the State with the necessary funds. It should be recognized that that is not possible without the support and participation of Congress, even where the Central Government promotes it, as in my case.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Seven of the most wanted drug traffickers, who are known to all Guatemalans, are now in jail, awaiting trial. The Government has initiated trials for crimes against humanity committed during our 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996. Sentence has already been passed in some cases, and other trials are continuing. Here I wish to highlight the crucial role played by the United Nations through the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, a unique United Nations exercise which enjoys the strong support of not only my Government, but also 3 11-50847 Guatemalan civil society. We are pleased that the Commission’s mandate has been extended for two more years, until September 2013. We recognize the significant achievements it has recorded since its establishment. Among the main challenges facing us, I wish to mention the following.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Ninth, municipal power was given full respect and strengthened, being recognized as a fourth power in the democratic system. Tenth, the independence of the different branches of the State was faithfully respected. Finally, while everything that I have described was achieved we preserved and improved a solid, stable macroeconomic system. Guatemala is one of the three countries that had no shrinkage of their economy during the financial crisis. Some important topics require the participation of every State institution; we need legislation by the Congress of the Republic and rulings by the institutions that constitute the country’s judicial system. Among other matters, I wish to refer to the struggle we have waged against impunity, experienced in Guatemala for many years.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“They included the creation of the Secretariat for Transparency and the adoption of a law on public information. Sixth, the energy matrix was renewed and upgraded to make it more environmentally sound and to counter the effects of the rising cost of hydrocarbons. Seventh, we promoted two major economic corridors in poverty-stricken regions. In addition, the construction of the Northern Transversal Strip will unite the Mexican State of Chiapas with our neighbour, Honduras, and Polochic. Eighth, we pursued a dynamic foreign policy, putting the Central American region on a new footing and making possible a closer understanding with our neighbours of Latin America and the Caribbean. I shall return to this matter a little later.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Drug-consuming countries must accept co-responsibility for the daily killings in our countries, and for the uncontrolled sales of arms entering it. They must take co-responsibility for the control of money-laundering and of arms, which bring death to our region, and for the control of factories producing chemical precursors for drug production. Responsibility must be taken for the destination of the products and arms. We cannot control organized crime in Central America without the support of Mexico and Colombia. We can win the battle only if the consumer markets do their share. We cannot go on shedding blood and being wounded by bullets. That is unfair. The consumer markets must assume true co-responsibility. Fifth, a series of wide-ranging policies was adopted to gain greater transparency.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Fourth, in accordance with those measures, we recovered whole territories previously dominated by drug traffickers, particularly the Mayan biosphere in the northern Department of Petén, consisting of more than 138,000 hectares; 48,000 head of cattle were expelled from the area, and the Government has retaken control of it. Unprecedented seizures of drugs have taken place. In three and a half years we have seized $12 billion, the equivalent of almost two national budgets. By comparison, over the eight-year period before my Government came to power scarcely $1 billion was seized. However much we do in the Central American region, Mexico and Colombia, it is essential that drug consumption be controlled.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“We have tried to reduce poverty and extreme poverty, with tangible results, especially through our social cohesion programmes, particularly conditional transfers of cash to mothers of extremely poor families — more than 940,000 families. Second, space was recovered for the State in areas previously dominated corporately by private interests. Third, we began to contain and reverse a shocking escalation of the criminal violence that had started in earlier periods, by reorganizing the security forces and promoting policies that confronted, instead of coexisting with, organized crime.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Let me then start with a few words about the progress made in Guatemala, despite the exceptional obstacles created by the international financial crisis of 2008-2009, a severe political crisis in Guatemala in 2009 that was overcome in compliance with the rule of law and truth revealed by investigations, and the impact of three major natural disasters, which led to a 109-day state of emergency, as well as historical challenges that we face now and shall face in the future. 11-50847 2 I shall sum up in a few words the significance of my period in office, as follows. First, my Administration gave priority to the individual by dealing with social issues that had not been addressed for 50 years.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“My presence at every General Assembly session during the four years of my presidency testifies to our backing for the United Nations and our gratitude for its support. This occasion is unique, for two reasons. First, I can tell the Assembly about the achievements of my Administration over the past four years and also about some pending issues. Secondly, I can report that just 10 days ago the first round of general elections was held in my country, in a calm, normal climate with broad citizen participation, thus consolidating our progress towards a democratic and participatory society.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“I begin by saluting Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, who presides over the current session. His long experience at the United Nations augurs well for our work. I also acknowledge the outstanding work of Mr. Joseph Deiss of Switzerland, the outgoing President. Our delegation worked very closely with Mr. Deiss, and we can testify to his exceptional commitment to the United Nations and his immense capacity for work. I also salute Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. I reiterate our appreciation of his management, and congratulate him on his re-election for a second five- year term. I thank him for the support he has given to my country and Central America, shown especially by his recent visit to Guatemala.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“I would like it to continue to give priority to the poor, those with limited incomes, children, young people living in the mountains of our countries who do not have access to health care, education or drinking water. The drought and the malnutrition we are seeing among our children in Guatemala are nothing more than the product of historical injustice. If all of us in the United Nations share in this fight to help those who have so little, I am sure that we will have more for everyone. The more we support those who have less, the more we will all have in the end. I hope that this Assembly session reaches a fruitful conclusion.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“We support United Nations and Organization of American States (OAS) resolutions with regard to Honduras, and I am also happy to affirm that we have made very concrete progress in honourably ending our historical dispute with our brother nation of Belize. In December, under the good offices of the OAS, both Governments signed a special agreement, which, prior to complying with the domestic ratification processes of our Congresses, commits us to seek a juridical settlement through the International Court of Justice. We hope that, through these internal procedures, we will be able to proceed to plebiscites in both countries, in order to put an end to the dispute with our brother country of Belize. I would like to conclude with some very brief reflections on our Organization and its agenda for the future.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“That is why we need better adaptation of the United Nations mechanisms so we can really get to the bottom — al grano, as we say in Guatemala — of the problems of poverty and inequality, to strengthen democracy and the rule of law. I have the honour to be familiar with the Mayan cosmic vision, and I am quite sure that in 2012, the transformation of civilization it prophesied will begin. This is a very ancient prophecy and it will be fulfilled, just as all the others have been. We will enter an era of great humanity and great human strength. And America is also changing. If you look at the Americas today, they have nothing to do with the way they were 10 years ago. Democracy, although it has problems, has improved and been strengthened, thank heaven.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Let us make progress in the definition of the concept of the responsibility to protect our respective populations from genocide and war crimes, which we have already endured; ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, from which Guatemala suffered greatly for 36 years. I wish to express my total conviction that the United Nations must be constantly renewed and 09-52425 38 adapted to today’s needs. Our civilization is changing. This is a crisis not just of energy or finance or climate; it is a crisis of values, of principles. The financial crisis is a crisis of values and principles, and we are paying for it with the poverty of our people.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“We have adopted a law on free access to information, with very few problems, which has guaranteed free access to all State information except that related to security matters and foreign relations. That is why we wish to stress the need to strengthen the mechanisms for human rights and arms control. I believe that countries have the freedom to arm themselves for defence, but I do not agree that our countries should be arms-trafficking corridors. I also believe that countries exporting armaments should be more careful and have more controls and standards with regard to the entire weapons trade. Our country, my Government, has increased its seizures of illegal weapons almost tenfold, but we still have much work ahead of us. Meanwhile, many innocent people are dying as a result of drug trafficking, smuggling and organized crime.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Our Government has been unsparing in its support for President Zelaya, and I am sure that we will see Central America return to its natural rhythm of integration, democratic development and democratic security. I should also like to highlight our adherence to nearly all human rights mechanisms, principles and norms within and outside Guatemala. We are a multi-ethnic, pluri-cultural and multilingual nation. We have a beautiful 108,000-square-kilometre country with 23 cultures and 23 peoples sharing the blessed land that God gave us. That is why we are committed to promoting the strengthening of the participation of all the indigenous peoples of Guatemala in terms of our daily life, development, peace and security.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“I should like to mention the case of Honduras, our fraternal neighbouring country. From the very beginning, Guatemala has supported a return to democracy and the rule of law in Honduras. Nowhere in the world, much less in Central America — where democracy has cost us so many lives and where so many deaths and, in the case of Guatemala, massacres, have affected us — can we allow a President to be deposed at gunpoint and fail to use democratic and legal mechanisms. We will accept nothing less than the return of President Zelaya to power so that the elections in Honduras can be carried out legitimately and our Honduran brothers can soon live in peace and tranquillity.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“I am confident that the efforts of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala will reach the masterminds of that despicable crime and that the truth will be found and justice done. What could have become a technical coup d’état has become a genuine example of justice and truth. I am sure that my Government, which has ensured the total independence of this investigation, will get to the heart of the matter and that the truth will soon be found. We have worked hard on the security of our citizens, and I recognize that it is a long and complicated process. Here again, the assistance of the International Commission is essential, and we believe that this experience will be effectively used by our Public Ministry, which has already begun the process of re-engineering and restructuring itself.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“However, thanks to the United Nations and the presence of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala — a United Nations exercise in Guatemala, unique in the world — we have support and advice for our Public Ministry, and our prosecutors and are making significant progress. For the first time in Guatemala’s history, one of the drug-trafficking bosses is a fugitive, and we will capture him very soon. The notorious drug-trafficking families have never been sent such a strong message. We have also imprisoned 10 murder suspects connected to the 10 May crisis. I take this opportunity to thank this forum, the United Nations, for the unrestricted support provided to my Government during the crisis.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“That is why we are working closely with the 37 09-52425 fraternal country of Mexico and our Central American brothers to address it directly and regionally. The problem of drug trafficking has had a serious impact on Guatemala. For more than eight years, the country was handed over to organized crime — specifically, drug trafficking — leaving territories and trafficking corridors more unprotected than ever before. The national army was reduced beyond the level mandated by peace agreements, and territorial control was suspended. The National Civilian Police were seriously compromised by drug traffickers, becoming corrupt and dishonest.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“In this forum, I wish to express my appreciation for the magnificent cooperation and support that we have received, particularly from Colombia, Panama and Mexico, to attack and staunch the scourge of drug trafficking and to begin a process of eliminating it. I also wish to inform the Assembly with great satisfaction that, in terms of seizures of cocaine alone, we have seen a 700 per cent increase compared with the same period under the previous Government; seizures of marijuana have risen fifteenfold, and poppy eradication has increased by 300 per cent during the same period. Our efforts against drug trafficking are definitive and resolute, but we recognize that it is a phenomenon that must be attacked at the regional level.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“In addition, we support the efforts being promoted within the multilateral international financial institutions and the United Nations to improve their capacity to help developing countries and to address the crisis. That is why our country is seriously promoting the capitalization of the Inter-American Development Bank and our regional financial organization, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. I should like to mention the lack of security in our country. Our country is being assaulted by organized crime, and our Government, within the space of a year and a half, has begun a merciless war against it.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“It is a change of attitude, a change of will, as President Lula said yesterday. It is important that we see the birth of this new international order, this new order of justice and equity. The drought in Guatemala exacerbated abject poverty, but a solution to drought will not resolve the poverty situation in the country, because it is structural and historical, resulting from 50 years of neglect of rural populations and our indigenous peoples. We will follow with interest the deliberations of the Group of 20, which is meeting this very day in Pittsburgh. We trust that that exclusive forum will also take into account the concerns of countries with small and medium-sized economies.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“Now we have the problem of schools that cannot cope with the number of children, but we prefer that problem to not having children in school. This means that there is an urgent need to build more than 14,400 classrooms over the next 14 months, but we prefer that to having children on the streets or working. The international cooperation that we have received in this effort is important, and we would like to recognize here the support of the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, which have helped us with our efforts to build social cohesion and to support the indigenous people who constitute our population. I wish to sincerely express our total conviction with regard to the change that we all must make.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“The picture is complicated by the fact that the imperative of the State to address the people’s needs is severely restricted by fiscal considerations. Nevertheless, we are not sitting on our hands, far from it. We have surged forward with a dynamic and strong social cohesion programme. Today, more than half a million families are covered by programmes in the poorest and most excluded regions of the country. Today, I note with real satisfaction that in only 18 months since our Administration began, our health indicators — all of the health indicators — have improved to an extraordinary extent. Education indicators have improved. For example, this year enrolment increased by 37 per cent in secondary education, by 9 per cent in primary education and by 27 per cent in preschool.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“This phenomenon has affected the harvest of basic grains and has had a serious impact on the poorest regions of our country. Because of this, I decided to declare a state of emergency. The disaster is not just because of the drought, but also an historic disaster, striking the poorest people in our country, whom our Government is aiming to lift from extreme poverty. This situation illustrates one of the manifold manifestations of climate change occurring in diverse regions, and it comes on top of the burden of the regressive effects we experienced during the first half of 2008, in the double crises of energy and food, followed by the aforementioned effects of the economic crisis. Unfortunately, the adverse effects of this situation disproportionately affect those sectors of the population with less capacity and less income.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“I would like to touch briefly on some topics that are at the heart of our concerns but that at the same time have an important international dimension. First, like the other countries of our region, Guatemala has been strongly impacted by the international economic and financial crisis. This fact is reflected in the value and volume of our exports, in the level of family remittances and especially in the level of economic activity, employment and tax collection. 09-52425 36 In more general terms, the crisis has made it more difficult for us to meet the Millennium Development Goals. To make matters worse, our efforts to mitigate the impact of the crisis have been partially annulled by an irregular climatic event, as we are suffering the worst drought in the last thirty years.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“At the outset, I would like to salute Mr. Ali Treki, our President and a distinguished diplomat. I wish him much success in leading the deliberations of this session. At the same time, I would like to express our admiration and respect for Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, who led the Assembly at its last session. My presence highlights our commitment to multilateralism in general and to the United Nations in particular. I salute Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and reiterate to him our appreciation for his management. Allow me to say how the Guatemalan people appreciate and value the presence of the United Nations. We try to reciprocate, in part with our participation in various peacekeeping operations.”
2009-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 64 (2009)
“The “My Family Makes Progress” programme is now affecting 40,000 families, 08-51839 30 and the young people are going to school and to health facilities. The “Shopping Bag Solidarity” programme is yielding results in the urban areas, and “Open Schools” is reducing delinquency in the areas of higher risk in Guatemala City. If we had the courage to globalize the economy we would now have the challenge, and almost the obligation, to globalize all of mankind. Such globalization would lead to comprehensive, global solidarity; it could be the way to save our planet. It could be that we save it by combining our successes and trying to avoid our errors.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“I should like to acknowledge and reiterate our gratitude to the United Nations system for the peace in Guatemala that was sought during the eight years of negotiations, in which I had the honour to take part. Its follow-up with the 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 now with the presence of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) makes it easier for us to take the difficult road towards the integration and development of Guatemala and towards equity in Guatemala. I should like to share with members that the programmes for social cohesion that were learned and developed in Guatemala, but also acquired in friendly countries, are yielding results.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“There are significantly more children in schools in the 45 towns that are priorities. This can be done, if there is the determination to do it. Our security is perhaps the greatest while El Salvador, Colombia and Mexico are more successful in fighting drug trafficking. Guatemala pays the bills. That is why in this brief time I wish to thank my neighbours, Colombia, for the support that they have given us so that we can confront drug trafficking and organized crime on a regional scale. Our young people should not have to pay for the weaknesses of others. Our unassuming people and our indigenous people should not have to pay for the vices of others. I believe that if we work regionally things will go better.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“We give oxygen, but we receive solidarity. We give oxygen, and we receive the understanding of countries that we deserve a better fate on the basis of this international solidarity. We have also promoted tax reform. It is no secret for many that tax reform in Guatemala meant problems and coups d’état. But now we have tax reform, with a good level of consensus. There is also commitment to transparency and to the quality of expenditures. In only 254 days 7 per cent of the national budget was directed to the poor, money that used to be and today would have been spent entirely on other things and without reference to the poor. Seven towns have begun to lower their maternal mortality indicators. Health centres are packed, because they now provide services and they are open.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“I am convinced that new times have come for Latin America. I am convinced that all our Latin American summits and meetings herald new times. We have our differences and individual characteristics, but Latin America has begun to look north, south and to the centre, to the Caribbean, and we see a continent with the possibility of stronger unity, of stronger horizontal South-South cooperation and North-South cooperation. Our neighbours, our dear Central America — we are peoples rooted in the region who want a strong and united Central America. This Assembly could take a momentous turn for our future as a planet. Of course we are concerned by climate change, but we have to maintain our Mayan biosphere so that others can breathe while our communities are dying of hunger. That is solidarity. We give oxygen, but we receive technology.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“We in Guatemala are a people of maize, but a few years ago they said it was bad business to plant maize and destroyed the production systems. Today, Guatemala imports maize. I believe that now is the time for solidarity and true global security. Perhaps civil security is the easiest to achieve, despite the fact that my country is complex. Sovereignty of food, sovereignty of health, sovereignty of knowledge — these are more difficult to achieve. We have planned to achieve solidarity, productivity, a regional spirit and governance. We have established a system of national dialogue that is enabling all the country’s social sectors to come to the negotiating table, to arrive at a true national understanding and to begin rebuilding a country that, for 54 years, was afflicted by marginalization, the cold war, hunger and bad Governments.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“29 08-51839 We have had a common market for 50 years, and we know that it works. But we also know that that common market requires social solidarity among ourselves. I have always believed that solidarity is not giving what one has left over, but rather giving what someone else needs; it is very easy to give what one has left over. Giving what someone else needs requires will and solidarity. We are aware of — and have heard our colleagues’ statements about — this international crisis, but there is a much deeper crisis. The crises that the world’s leaders must face are the crisis of hunger, the crisis of discrimination and the crisis of poverty. It is the crisis of hunger that all the Governments present here today are fighting against, but that is also a global issue.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“In 254 days, my Government has, through social cohesion, returned to the people of Guatemala what belongs to them under their Constitution: free education and health care — totally free, as stipulated in the Constitution. We have broken a paradigm. In Guatemala, it used to be forbidden to get sick after 5 p.m., because the country’s health clinics closed at that time. Today, 52 municipalities out of a total of 333 already have comprehensive health services. In addition, 300,000 children now have renovated schools with teachers, desks and all the necessary equipment. With determination, we can do what is required, but we need solidarity among everyone. We need and participate in Central American solidarity, which enables us to tell the world that the free market works.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“I should also like to discuss the scourges of drug trafficking and organized crime, which greatly afflict our populations. Only 254 days after taking office, our Government has begun a comprehensive process of reforming the security forces. We have changed the high command of the army and the entire command of the national police so that we can fight impunity together with CICIG and the United Nations system. Thus, Guatemala can finally achieve the true, firm and lasting peace for which, with such hope, we signed an agreement here on 29 December 1996. Everything that happens in the outside world affects us. Foreign manipulation and speculation related to oil and food affects us. As my good friend President Saca of El Salvador said earlier, our countries are accomplishing their national tasks.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“It was that very opening that worsened their poverty and encouraged them to abandon their communities. That is why I am making a special appeal and proposal to the Secretary-General that we no longer try to resolve the problem of migration bilaterally; rather, we must do so as a bloc. For example, I should like to propose that the United Nations create a forum composed of former Presidents of countries of origin and countries receiving great numbers of migrants, such as the brotherly countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. Together, in six months’ time, we could formulate a specific proposal to finally put an end to a situation that is a scourge for so many families, so many Guatemalans and many other nations.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Participating in the present session of the Assembly are world leaders who will be remembered in 10 or 20 years’ time for having had the wisdom to emerge from the present crisis — a crisis regarding which, in certain areas and at certain times, there has been a marked absence of global solidarity. I join Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann in his appeal for solidarity. I believe that the great remedy for this crisis is global solidarity. We have globalized trade and information, but we have not gained the wisdom to globalize humanity or to globalize labour to ensure that migrants are not treated as criminals and that — like products, trade and money — they have freedom of movement across borders. Our migrants seek nothing more than the opportunities offered by globalization and the opening of borders.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, whom we, with much Central American pride, see presiding over the General Assembly at its present session, following in the footsteps of a fellow Guatemalan, Mr. Emilio Arenales Catalán. I know that Miguel’s experience and life example will ensure the success of this session. I also wish to thank the United Nations for assisting Guatemala in its peace process and for following up on it with the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) and, most recently, with the presence of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a unique mechanism that will help us combat impunity — indeed, we are the only country to have such a mechanism.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“It is an honour for me to represent my country, Guatemala, in this high international forum. It is an honour for me to represent a people who have fought for their well-being and freedom for decades, specifically the past 54 years. My Administration is an expression of precisely that desire, because, after all those years, governmental actions are now being prioritized around the human person, the concepts of solidarity and social cohesion and, especially, in the 254 days since I took office, attention to the poorest and most marginalized among our population, in particular the 23 indigenous peoples that constitute our nation. First, I should like to commend Mr.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)