YouSaid · the spoken record

Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena

lines on the record: 96
first: 2009-09-24
most recent: 2013-09-24
sittings or episodes: 5
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

“I thank the United Nations for its invaluable cooperation in the pursuit of our major aspirations as a nation, and the Assembly for its attention.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Before I conclude, I should like to express my firm belief that the United Nations will take the necessary steps to guarantee the development and implementation of a comprehensive post-2015 agenda. In that context, I believe that we will realize a better and fairer world for all of humankind. In El Salvador, we are preparing to implement that agenda. We are happy to be among the few countries in Latin America working on multidimensional poverty measurement. Next year we hope to use these statistics to complement our income-based poverty measurement. We will thereby be in a better position to implement comprehensive policies that will allow us to eradicate poverty in a definitive and lasting way.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“I invoke international solidarity and the agenda of the General Assembly in which we are gathered here today in order to advocate once again for the lifting of the blockade against Cuba. I have made this same request in my previous statements before this forum, as I believe that Cuba is part of the American soul and that the blockade is a relic of the past. The brotherly people of Cuba, like all peoples of the world, have the right to seek development and well-being through comprehensive integration. Similarly, we support diplomatic efforts seeking a swift peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria. We condemn the use of chemical weapons, and we support the agreement between Russia and the United States whereby Syria’s chemical weapons would be destroyed under the supervision of the United Nations.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“In that respect, all the efforts of national Governments must be complemented and strengthened with the support of the international community and the United Nations system. Radical change is needed in the global economic system, which is based on financial speculation and consumerism and not only has an impact on the most developed economies of the world, but also and especially makes the least developed countries even poorer. International cooperation must seek fundamentally to improve the productive capacities of our countries and to invest in people suffering from poverty and exclusion. My Government believes that the path to growth is investment in the poor and their transformation into a middle class with access to health care and education.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Moreover, my Government has promoted a reconciliation process without precedent in the nation’s history and a recognition of the human rights atrocities committed in El Salvador. As Head of State, I asked forgiveness for the disappearances, murders and torture, and from all those who experienced the brunt of such abuses during our civil war. I ordered a dialogue with organizations representing the victims of serious human rights violations. As a result of this process, in the days to come I will announce a national reparations programme, which will include the ratification of various treaties human rights adopted by the General Assembly and a guarantee that such violations will never recur. The right to food, education and welfare must be ensured in order to achieve sustainable development and eradicate poverty.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“This initiative is already considered by international organizations and world leaders a model of public management. It is a comprehensive and integrated system of specialized services for women in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, economic empowerment — through both formal employment and support for entrepreneurship — and prevention and treatment of gender-based violence. It also helps to focus the priorities and attention of my Government on women. Another tangible demonstration of the ongoing process is the dialogue undertaken to achieve reparations for victims of gross violations of human rights and the vindication of the rights of war veterans. With regard to the latter, we have succeeded in repaying a debt that adminstrations prior to ours had failed for years to recognize and to repay.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“A major challenge is to build a sufficiently fair and democratic society that is respectful of those who make up the majority of the population — women. El Salvador has undertaken serious efforts to achieve goals derived from the Millennium Development Goals in the area of gender equality and the prevention, punishment and eradication of violence against women. In addition to establishing a confidential call centre for reporting gender violence, the Government has approved the first national policy against human trafficking and achieved a considerable decrease in women’s deaths by homicide. Without a doubt, the most valuable contribution in this area lies in the City of Women initiative, through which we have created four comprehensive care centres for women and are on track to create two more, scheduled to open later this year.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The Government’s security policy has also dealt a heavy blow to organized crime gangs, allowing for significant seizures of drug shipments. We know, however, that huge challenges remain. There are major obstacles to development that will not be overcome in my new Administration’s four years in power. I would highlight in particular the challenges represented by climate change and the resulting need to protect and safeguard the lives of tens of thousands of Salvadorans. We are a region exposed to extreme weather phenomena, at least five of which El Salvador has experienced in recent years. They have had the greatest impact on the most vulnerable parts of the population and the country’s infrastructure, causing losses in the billions of dollars.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“But in addition to poverty, there are other scourges such as violence, drug trafficking and organized crime that deprive our people of well-being and happiness. With this in mind, we have implemented public policies to reduce violence and fight crime. The Government has created new police units, overseen the graduation of 4,000 new agents and redoubled operational plans to curb crime. At the same time, a non-aggression pact between the two main youth gangs was agreed on two years ago. The Government was only a facilitator of that pact, which has established the minimal conditions to reduce gang violence levels in the areas most affected by that phenomenon. Thus, ongoing crime suppression and prevention efforts have resulted in a 50 per cent reduction in homicides.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Thanks to our family agriculture plan, which provides small and medium-sized farms with free delivery of improved seed packets and fertilizer, training and access to technology and credit, last year we had record food-crop harvests and were still able to keep the price of basic grains within reach of the entire population of El Salvador. We have also successfully implemented school lunch programmes, so that children receive at school fresh, healthy food grown on Salvadoran farms. Today, more than 800,000 poor Salvadoran children receive two glasses of fresh milk a week in school as part of their diet. All these efforts have brought more prosperity to Salvadorans, especially the poorest.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“I believe that the time has come to conceive of social programmes for people as an investment and not as an expense, or even worse as a waste, as some leaders in the country mistakenly continue to believe, stuck as they are in their stingy and outdated ways of thinking. It is clear that the gains we have made in my country in recent years have not been the result of chance. El Salvador is going through a period of great change. This profound transformation has occurred first through a change in the economic model that has set a different course for our nation. We are working primarily on restoring the vitality of our countryside in order to make it once again a central engine for economic development.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“I cannot speak of advances in health care without talking about access to and improvement of basic services such as drinking water. Our efforts have gradually borne fruit in the areas under our responsibility in this respect. We have met the target of 71 per cent of households having treated water piped into their houses. In 2011, under our Government, this was already true of 72 per cent of households. Sanitation is covered by another Millennium Development Goal, which set the target of 89 per cent of households having this service by 2015. As of two years ago, 96 per cent of Salvadoran households had access to sanitation. In summary, great efforts have been undertaken to achieve the best possible outcome on each of the indicators, leading to enhanced well-being for all Salvadorans.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The comprehensive health-care reform initiative that we launched has been tasked with bringing health- care services to the most remote corners of our country that, historically, have been isolated from economic and social development. This firm commitment of our Government has led us to increase the health-care budget by 60 per cent over a period of four years. That has allowed us to increase the supply of medicines in hospitals and public health clinics by between 50 to 82 per cent in that time and to significantly expand the proportion of the population who are immunized. Similarly, free health consultations mandated by our Government have contributed to a 40 per cent increase in demand for such services, which represents a significant step in our goal to extend that service to the majority of the population.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“With the help of thousands of volunteers, we are teaching over 170,000 adults to read. In terms of health, one of the achievements we are most proud of is related to the significant reduction in maternal mortality, one of the two sections of Millennium Development Goal 5. With the health-care reform undertaken by my Administration, we have increased access to health services by hiring more doctors, nurses and specialists and establishing new women’s centres. Pursuant to the Millennium Development Goals, the objective is to achieve a maternal mortality rate that is equal to or below 52.8 maternal deaths per 100,000 inhabitants by 2015. We have reached that goal in El Salvador and even exceeded expectations by reducing the rate to 41.9 maternal deaths per 100,000, or 11 fewer than the target for this Goal.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“We also made major achievements when it comes to access to education. In 1991, the net coverage for primary education was 75 per cent of the population; last year it was 93 per cent. We have gained almost 20 percentage points in those years. Since the beginning of my Administration, all students in public schools — some 1.3 million children and young people — have received free shoes, uniforms and school supplies. The impact of this was immediately noticeable, as we increased enrolment while dramatically reducing the dropout rate. Twenty years ago, 85 per cent of the population of working age was literate, but this rate has now reached almost 100 per cent. Over for the past four years alone, the Government has managed to reduce the illiteracy rate by 5 per cent.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Our Government put an end to the old concept of the patrimonial State, which defended only the interests of small political and economic groups. Now the Salvadoran State is at the service of the most underprivileged. That shift in public policy has translated into an increasingly modern and effective State that is fighting poverty, social exclusion, violence and corruption. Thus this new type of governance, which is based on the implementation of best practices, transparent and increasingly participatory, has already begun to have a positive impact on the achievement of the MDGs, as demonstrated by the following results. El Salvador has made great progress towards eliminating poverty and hunger. In the past year, we not only achieved but exceeded the goal of reducing the number of households living in extreme poverty.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The Government’s five-year plan states that our strategic plan is to have a healthy, educated and productive population with the capacity and appropriate opportunities to fully develop its potential to become the foundation of our development. The Government’s plan incorporates strategic instruments and policies aimed at achieving the MDGs over the short and medium term. We took the strategic decision not to shift the costs of the crisis onto the poorest segments of the population, as had been the habit in the past. For that reason, we devised and implemented policies aimed at combating poverty, reducing inequality, achieving a process of social inclusion and creating new institutional mechanisms that would make it possible to more equitably distribute wealth and the benefits of economic growth.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“There had been a considerable drop in exports, especially to the United States, our principal market. Income from taxes and family remittances had decreased, and broad sectors of the population were impoverished or excluded from the benefits of public policies. But that harsh reality was not just a product of the crisis. It was the result of decades of the implementation of economic and social models that excluded the great majority and promoted backwardness and injustice. As from June 2009, with the process of political alternation in El Salvador, that reality began to shift. As soon as our Government took power, we made a commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and to use them as a road map.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“It is an honour to join other speakers in addressing the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. This year the Assembly has as its theme “The post-2015 development agenda: setting the stage”. These annual meetings are thus an opportunity to consider and reflect on the course that each of our countries is following to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There can be no doubt that recent events have posed a major challenge to the achievement of prosperity, development and progress, especially in those regions of the world that have suffered most from the effects of the international economic crisis and of climate change. El Salvador has been no exception. When, on 1 June 2009, the Government that I head took power, the nation’s economic growth rate was at negative 3 per cent, with 40,000 jobs lost.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“For that reason, the dialogue and negotiation that have been launched by President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón deserve the full support of the international community, and in particular of the Latin American countries. We congratulate the Colombian people and wish them the greatest success on the road that they have taken towards peace and national concord. Along the same lines, we hail the process of economic reforms undertaken by the sister Republic of Cuba, which is bringing about a transformation that is worthy of our support and encouragement. We therefore reiterate the call we made last year in this Hall. The blockade against Cuba must be lifted. It is an anachronism from a past that has been overcome in our America. Peace, unity and change are essential values when it comes to working for the happiness of our peoples.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We are certain that the differences that divide us within our countries can be overcome only through dialogue. That is the manner in which we must resolve conflicts. Dialogue, consensus and agreement are the guidelines for the road maps that will lead to societies that are more fair and prosperous. I should therefore like to conclude my remarks by sending along a warm greeting to the people and Government of Colombia for their efforts to attain a definitive peace in their country. For several decades, our sister Republic of Colombia has suffered an armed conflict that has limited its possiblities and clearly hindered its economic growth and the well-being of its people.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Central America, together with Mexico and Colombia, have agreed upon joint policies to wage that battle. We need the support of the Government and people of the United States in that battle. It is essential. El Salvador has launched a massive campaign to raise awareness and mobilize our people against gender violence in the understanding that violence against women is violence against all of society. If gender-based violence is a problem throughout all of our societies, it is one that we should address and that is even more pressing in societies where there is a strong tradition of tolerance of violence and chauvinism against women. Governments bear the biggest responsibility, but societies should also show solidarity and commit to those efforts.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“For the past three years, El Salvador has been undertaking a policy of civic security that has been bearing fruit. Recently, a truce signed between rival gangs, with the Catholic church as intermediary and facilitated by the Government, contributed decidedly to that crime reduction process. However, let me also say that if violence and organized crime are to disappear in our countries, we must modify the conditions for millions of young people who live without hope and without opportunity. These are tasks that are incumbent upon the Governments and societies of each of our countries. However, there is more. As we have said on other occasions, without the strong and decided support of the drug-consuming countries, and without an unequivocal commitment from those large markets, we cannot wage this good fight successfully.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“I am referring to civic security and the fight against organized crime and all forms of violence. El Salvador is today the focus of the region, multilateral organizations and the countries that historically have close ties to my country. That is due to a phenomenon that we have been experiencing for more than half a year and that has brought a significant drop in violence and crime. El Salvador was the second most violent country on the American continent until a few months ago. We had 15 murders per day on average, as a result of violence, crime and infighting among criminal organizations, in particular among gangs. By September, the average had fallen to 3.8 murders per day. We have seen drops in other crime rates that, while less significant, are still steady and substantial.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“The unfair distribution of wealth and goods, the constant aggression against the environment, and the lack of global control over financial f lows that leads to recurring crises — which are always paid for by the people and never by those who are responsible — are realities that do not arise from any ideology. The problem is not one of ideology. These are realities that we must change in order to establish a climate of peace and security in which we see the domestic changes that give our peoples better living conditions and access to the material and cultural goods that produce progress in our global society. I do not wish to conclude without first alluding to a topic that we have also addressed in this forum and that is a source of ongoing concern for the international community.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We are leaving behind a perverse model that had impoverished our people and turned our region into the most unfair of the planet — not the poorest, but the most unfair. Today, we are aware that no model is successful if it leaves out vast majorities. With all the people involved we can achieve much, but without the people we can achieve nothing. That is the road that we have begun to travel in our region. Without a doubt, it will be a difficult and long road, full of progress and setbacks, but in the end, and I stress this, it is the only road that will allow for certain success.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“The fact that there are people who are marginalized and excluded from the progress and goods that only a small portion of humankind is able to enjoy remains an open wound that we cannot and should not continue to tolerate. We live from crisis to crisis, ever more frequent and ever deeper, which lead to a system and models based essentially on the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a tiny minority, leaving large majorities in poverty and backwardness. The phenomenon of migration, which we once addressed in this forum, is the child of that planet-wide inequality and an striking ref lection of the need to change and change quickly. Latin America has taken important steps in that direction.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“El Salvador resolved on its own an institutional conflict that in other eras would have led to coups d’état and breaches of constitutional order with serious human, economic, political and social consequences for countries that suffered such situations. We found the solution through dialogue, which is a fine example of the theme for this session of the General Assembly. At the same time, we are aware that the strengthening of democratic processes — which, happily, is the one-way road on which Latin America is now travelling — should bring profound changes in the economic and social structures of our countries, which must clearly be based on the rule of law.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“In the end, that agreement led to the appointment of a new President of the Supreme Court of Justice and the normalization of the administration of justice in our country. I wished to share with the Assembly this brief sketch of events in order to underscore that once again El Salvador was able to find a felicitous solution to an institutional crisis through dialogue and as the fruit of negotiation. In short, it was a new triumph of the young and ever-stronger Salvadoran democracy. Of course, many challenges lie ahead, such as that of promoting a process of constitutional reform that will lead to an unequivocal interpretation of our Magna Carta so that we do not once again suffer conflicts such as the one we saw recently. We also must move to update State institutions in the light of what we have learned over the past two decades.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“It was a protracted crisis that generated opposing positions within our country, and the lack of agreement between the parties drove the Legislative Assembly to call for a settlement through the Central American Court of Justice. The conflict and that decision of the parliamentary majority set off strong reactions from groups on either side. Unfortunately, it was also exploited by foreign groups, including by campaigning United States senators who blew the conflict out of proportion without understanding it fully. Therefore, with no agreement to resolve the crisis, the President of the Republic offered to mediate and facilitate the dialogue. After 17 long days of meetings with representatives of the different political camps in the Legislative Assembly, the longed-for agreement was finally reached.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Not long ago, our country experienced an institutional crisis whose nature and scope were very different from those of the armed conflict, but nonetheless put Salvadoran democracy to the test. I am referring to the recent crisis that arose between the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Legislative Assembly in my country. At no time did the crisis cause political instability; rather, it brought two State bodies in conflict and, in that respect, it was an example of the independence of those two branches of Government in our country today. The conflict, arising from different and conflicting interpretations of the Republic’s Constitution, lasted almost five months.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“As change and the break with absolute control took place, they began to permit genuine independence in the branches of Government, which in turn began to lead to the genuine f lowering of democracy that the people had demanded. Those changes, far from changing the rules of the game, effectively guaranteed judicial certainty and eliminated the privileges that had protected Governments in the past. On behalf of the State, the Government asked for forgiveness for the crimes committed by State agents during the armed conflict, and has undertaken and continues to undertake concrete efforts to make moral and material reparations to the victims of barbaric atrocities and their families. This was a debt to the Salvadoran people and the international community that had not been settled by previous Governments.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Three years ago El Salvador passed another milestone signaling a step forward in the strengthening of our democracy. After 20 years of Governments led by the same political forces, we witnessed a political change that brought in the current Government to administer the State. This was not simply a change of political party; it opened the way to a movement of renewal that has been expressed in various issues of enormous importance for the rule of law and for reinforcing the work of our democratic institutions. The long-term control of our country’s Government by a single political party for two decades gave absolute power to a small group over the organs of State — executive, legislative and judicial — and over other institutions such as the Court of Accounts, the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Public Ministry, among others.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We took a giant step forward as a nation 20 years ago when, on 16 January 1992, we signed the Chapultepec, Mexico, peace accords that brought the armed conflict to a definitive end. The United Nations itself acted as mediator; the then Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Pérez de Cuellar, in consultation with the Security Council, appointed the Peruvian diplomat Álvaro de Soto as mediator. I would like, if I may, to pay tribute to Mr. De Soto’s work, as it is an example of how even exceedingly difficult disputes can be settled through dialogue. In that regard, he proved to be a true architect of peace. We can say that, beginning in 1992, Salvadorans launched a new process that has gradually consolidated our democracy and created modern institutions.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“My country, El Salvador, is a clear example of such contradictions, finding itself as it does stuck between a process that is strengthening the rule of law and the persistence of conservative forces that still entertain the fantasy of communism. I bring these thoughts to this forum because I believe that El Salvador’s young democracy is a good example of how to settle disputes through dialogue. It is also a good example of structures that are mired in backwardness, privilege and the Manichaean view that belongs to the Cold War. As is well known, El Salvador endured a long armed conflict that lasted 12 years and cost more than 80,000 lives. Our emergence from that conflict has been a model of the effectiveness of dialogue and negotiation for my country and the entire world.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“For various reasons that we need not go into, we are witnessing violations of the principle of non-interference — through various mechanisms that are not necessarily military — of our countries’ constitutions and our own international treaties, as well as various manifestations of intolerance, xenophobia and other attitudes that provoke violence and foment conflict. Hard as it is to believe, we still see political parties, leaders, intellectuals and representatives of the media who continue to see global realities through Cold War eyes, as if the last half-century had not produced enormous changes in the international political map. Such outdated positions hinder the progress of our peoples and nations in strengthening and broadening their democratic borders.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“I bring cordial greetings to the authorities of the United Nations and to all the Heads of State and representatives here with us. This session of the General Assembly, which will address the theme of the settlement of disputes by peaceful means, offers us an opportunity to reflect on the course of the history of our countries and humankind, and to showcase the issues that the world’s peoples need to solve. The peaceful settlement of conflicts is an essential part of how we strengthen our democratic institutions and the rule of law in a world that has not yet consolidated peace.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“At the start of my statement I spoke of the leadership that our peoples expect from us in these difficult times, of the courage that we need in order to face the challenges that extend beyond our borders and also of this great opportunity before us now. Let us show that leadership, from the smallest country, such as my own, to the great Powers. Let us show an unequivocal will to achieve peace, social justice and the well-being of the men and women who place their faith in us, in particular in times such as these when crisis once again threatens our peoples. Let us not fail them once more. We should not favour those in power who triggered the crisis but rather the weakest, who are affected by it.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“In short, we call once again for North American leadership in this common struggle that we are waging alongside Mexico, Colombia and all of Central America. Struggles such as these, which are being waged across the American continent, once again show how important it is to have a strong and united America. Unity is a necessary prerequisite in order to meet our common goals. Given this need, I now wish to refer to 11-51185 14 the blockade against the Republic of Cuba. We believe that this blockade is an anachronism from a past page of history that we wish to turn once and for all. Essentially a blockade against Cuba is a step towards disunity. It is a stumbling block on the road of history that weakens us as a continent.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Many of these challenges were referred to by the President of Mexico — the fight against money- laundering, disarmament, crime prevention, an effective judiciary — and will require the reform of our judicial organs. Inevitably, organized crime has infiltrated the organs of the State, in particular the judiciary and the police forces. That is why we must wage a strong fight in order to clean up those institutions. But the consumer countries, in this case chiefly the United States, are morally responsible in this struggle that must be seen not only as a criminal problem but also as a matter of public health. While drugs consumption and narcotics use grow, the business of drugs trafficking will remain powerful.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“We require the firm resolve of our great North American neighbour in order to strike the necessary blows to weaken and end this criminal phenomenon. Naturally, that does not mean that our countries will in any way shirk their share of the responsibility. We shall continue to strengthen our institutions, to reform our security forces, to strengthen our presence on the ground in order to protect our young people from criminal gangs. At the regional level we are working together and have undertaken significant steps in a common undertaking by sharing strategies and tasks with Mexico, Colombia and the United States. Of course, these are truly difficult challenges that lie ahead.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“That means that the fight against organized crime is a common struggle and, in that regard, I wish to make a special and hopeful call upon the people and Government of the United States resolutely to lead us in this the good fight against drug- trafficking and organized crime. I believe that the Government of the United States must lead us in the struggle with great resolve. It must make the commitment and apply all its economic, human, technological and political resources in waging the struggle, which is indeed the harshest war to affect our continent. The violence that is fuelled by drugs trafficking and by its machinery of death has taken more lives in Mesoamerica than conflicts that occur elsewhere on this planet. That is why I wish to draw attention to and invite all Members to focus on this shocking fact.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“How therefore can countries such as El Salvador with a gross domestic product of about $22 billion, or a country such as Honduras with roughly $15 billion, or Guatemala which barely reaches $40 billion, deal with this enemy? Not even a large country such as Mexico can successfully wage this battle on its own in dealing with this terrorist strength. It is not scepticism that leads me to speak this way but rather a sense of realism in keeping with the reality experienced by Central American peoples on a daily basis. I wish to draw attention to this. The international community must understand that it is also affected by this problem. No nation on this planet is spared this problem. There are drug users in every nation in the world, who get their drugs from the criminal drug- trafficking networks.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“These are not mere empty statements. Studies have shown that violence and crime are 100 per cent more likely in regions that facilitate illegal trafficking than anywhere else on the planet. Our countries are suffering as a result of this. El Salvador and all of Central America are undertaking significant efforts to deal with this fact but the figures are not on our side. We are speaking of a drug-trafficking route that moves $100 billion a year and which leads to the largest market in the world, as well as the largest consumer of these substances, the United States. Consider this: $100 billion across our territories along with a veritable arsenal of weapons to protect this amount. That means $100 billion dollars that can corrupt public and private officials, destroy our social fabric and leave behind them a daily wake of chaos and death.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Many Latin American countries represented here have become, against their will, true corridors for illegal trafficking, thus becoming nations increasingly affected by violence, with institutions that are 13 11-51185 susceptible to corruption. Because of their poor economies of scale, their lack of development and the weakness of their productive machinery owing to widespread poverty and high levels of inequality, poor States are threatened by this new form of terrorism that has forged a strong economic network. All of the cartels that are operating in the Mesoamerican region — Mexico and Central America — possess more money and influence than our countries do. It is true to say that we are the true victims of organized crime. It is our territories and peoples that suffer from this violence and who weep for their dead.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“With this firm belief we support all diplomatic efforts that are aimed at achieving a peaceful settlement of this long-standing conflict. We firmly believe that dialogue is the only possible solution, and our actions have always been guided by that principle. Now I should like to refer to the main enemy, not only of my country and Central America but of a large portion of the American continent. I am referring here, of course, to organized crime and drugs trafficking. As was rightly stated by President Calderón of Mexico following the terrible attack that occurred in a casino in Monterrey, we are facing a veritable phenomenon of terrorism that threatens the viability of our countries, has taken more lives than many wars, and which endangers the present and future of our peoples.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Indeed, we are living in a most diverse and complex world where there are no magical formulas or quick fixes but common responsibility, which is committed to finding new avenues for peacemaking and justice extending beyond our national borders. That resolve must also translate into our quest for solutions to what is one of the oldest conflicts on this planet, and I am referring here to the Arab-Israeli conflict. As members know, my country recently decided to recognize the Palestinian State. This in no way seeks to undermine our good diplomatic relations with Israel. We are of the view that both peoples have the right and duty to coexist. Recognizing Palestine as a new State within the United Nations is, in my opinion, the right way to contribute to resolving the conflict.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“In that regard I welcome the fact that one of the central themes of this session is the search for the peaceful settlement of conflicts and prevention strategies to cope with situations of instability. This shows us that the arbiter is growing stronger, as are the possibilities to prevent injustice and human rights abuses wherever they occur. The United Nations arose out of the global desire to avoid a new major conflict, and that spirit of peace and harmony must continue to guide us in our actions, even when the conflicts that we face currently are very different from the conflicts of the twentieth century.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Therefore, it is time that we no longer see our future in terms of macroeconomic data but that we start to focus our political debate on our peoples’ needs and on social justice, which is what the debate should always have focused on. Any other debate would be sterile and would only lead us away from the common objective that should govern all our policies, namely, the objective of the common good. The unstable reality that we have experienced also takes the form of conflicts which, increasingly, call upon the indistinct arbiter, who goes by the name of the “international community” and which is represented here in the General Assembly better than anywhere else.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“It affects their options for health, education and social development in very tangible ways. That inequality has disastrous consequences, which has been tried, tested and understood by some of the wealthiest entrepreneurs, who are in favour of paying more taxes, as they are aware that adopting any other position would sentence us to a harsh future, even for those living at ease. The fight against poverty and inequality, as was recalled at the inaugural meeting of this session of the General Assembly by the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, has proven to be the strongest economic policy in these difficult times.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)