YouSaid · the spoken record

Guerrero

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS GUERRERO

lines on the record: 167
first: 1968-09-24
most recent: 1970-09-24
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

“It is precisely because my Government wishes to have these ultramodern means of warfare banned that it considers that simple declarations of the Assembly are far too weak to achieve the aims pursued and believes that the United Nations should embark upon the slower but only sure and effective course of modifying the Geneva Protocol or of negotiating a new convention. 11. Furthermore, my Government expressly stated in the First Committee and reiterates in this Assembly that it considers that the General Assembly of the United Nations lacks competence to interpret treaties and that for such purposes the United Nations has a competent body, the International Court of Justice; moreover, in accordance with Article 96, paragraph 1, of the United Nations Charter, the General Assembly may request an advisory opinion from the Court. 12.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“The report of the fourteen experts mentioned by the SecretaryGeneral, on the scientific evaluation of the effects of chemical and bacteriological weapons and their effects on the physical and biological environment is a valuable element for the orientation of United Nations action in his field. 10. As for the manner in which the prohibition of the use of defoliants and other gases which are clearly banned in the Protocol can be made effective, my Government believes that General Assembly declarations which lack binding force are not the appropriate means to achieve that end.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“Among the numerous and complex disarmament problems, the prohibition of the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons has become a topical subject. To this end it is appropriate to recall the existence of a convention that enjoys great authority: the Geneva Protocol of 17 June 1925. The scope and meaning of that Protocol were discussed in the First Committee at the twenty-fourth session of the General Assembly. On that occasion my Government, through its Permanent Representative, established its position concerning the scope and meaning of the aforementioned Protocol.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“For instance, we hope that in Central America reason will prevail over passion and that the geography, the history and the principles of coexistence and the peaceful settlement of disputes will again become the guiding beacons of the subregional policy. In this connexion, my Government maintains a clearly defined and unalterable position to which it has remained faithful in the most tragic moments of its history and to which it is prepared to adjust its international conduct, that is to say, the line of reasonable and rational cooperation, of the defense of fundamental human rights, of the observance of the principles of international law construed as a system the components of which condition and interact among each other, and of compliance with formally contracted obligations. 9.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“The appeal addressed by the Secretary General to all the Members of the Security Council in July 1969 to exert all their influence in the United Nations in order to make the ceasefire effective was especially timely and has yielded, through a patient exercise of persuasion by friendly Governments, the initiation of a dialog within the framework of the United Nations. For our Organization it is decisive that those efforts be conceived and developed within the framework of its action machinery and under its aegis. 8. In other regions as well, the violent antagonisms of the year 1969 have gone into a period of recession and dialog has yielded its first fruits.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“Hence, it is to be hoped that intelligent and realistic efforts may lead towards negotiation which will replace confrontations from positions of strength. 7. In the Near East, where until a few days ago the horizon looked bleak and forbidding, there has been a promising opening which must be preserved and, as far as possible, extended. My Government conveys its best wishes to the friendly Governments of the United Arab Republic, Jordan and Israel for their determination to initiate and to keep the dialog open. Long and thorny is the path that these countries will have to tread. But it is precisely because of the difficulties that those Governments will have to overcome, that they deserve the commendation of the international community and should be given encouragement to persevere in the stand they have taken.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“As a learned commentator of the Charter, as a veteran diplomat at innumerable conferences, you represent the ideals and the experience of the diplomatic community of the international organizations 5. The matters that are before the United Nations, some old and others more recent, are so numerous that without minimizing the importance of any and subject to their discussion in the different committees, I shall confine my remarks to the following major issues: peace and security, maritime law, the Second Development Decade, the principle of universality and the review of the Charter. 6. In the current year the major tension spots and even those of open warfare have been somewhat on the decrease.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“The United Nations has reached a stage where, instead of proliferating by addition, there is need for it to look into itself, to its structures, machinery and operative practices, so that it may grow in depth and density. 4. In this year in which the United Nations celebrated its first twenty-fifth anniversary, it is particularly gratifying to my Government to have you, Mr. President, occupying the highest post in the General Assembly. It is with much feeling that I recall your association, Ambassador Hambro, with Dr. Jose Gustavo Guerrero, at the time when Dr. Guerrero was President of the International Court of Justice. You, Ambassador Hambro, are for ever linked by strong ties to El Salvador, and it was for this reason that my Government was among the first to sponsor your candidacy for the Presidency of the General Assembly.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“There can be no accurate evaluation of the United Nations by comparing it with an ideal world in which its problems would invariably be solved rapidly and wisely; but it can be assessed in realistic terms by comparing it with its predecessor. Viewed from this perspective, the United Nations stands up well against the most critical analysis, in both its political and its technical aspects. 3. Now that the United Nations has reached its twenty-fifth year it is appropriate to take stock of the situation. Hence it is to be hoped that at the current session, apart from thoughtful speeches, measures will be adopted for the administrative review of the Organization.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“Twenty-five years have elapsed since the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, and during that short span of time the scientific and technological revolution has acquired greater momentum, colonized peoples have achieved their independence, trade and communications have increased and international organizations have been successively embracing all the possible fields of cooperation among States. International policy has changed in character, and new diplomatic techniques have emerged in international organization. By looking back to the League of Nations, wherein the major part of United Nations activities finds some antecedent, we can gauge the distance covered by the international community in fifty years. 2.”
1970-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 25 (1970)
“Now it has learned all too well the meaning of such words as “solidarity”, “human rights”, “brotherhood” and the like. It has affirmed its intention of maintaining its identity, and for this it is stronger than ever, thanks to the total unity of its people. It is prepared, then, to face, in circumstances which may well become even more adverse, the hazards of this contemporary international society which still lacks maturity; but in settling its disputes, it intends to make use of the means, incomplete and often inadequate though they are, provided by the inter-American regional system and the world system of the United Nations.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The year 1969 has brought about a radical change in the life of El Salvador, a change which will necessarily be reflected in all its domestic and international acts. In some cases and in some relationships, it will mean a withdrawal, in Others a search for new channels of communication, commercial and diplomatic. The scrutiny of the past will serve to open its eyes to reality, not to record debts for future recovery. 154. El Salvador is no longer and never again will be what it was in May 1969. It has suffered a profound upheaval, an awakening to the realities of Central America, and a great many myths have shattered in its hands. It had been participating out of solidarity in a series of activities because it had hoped that the reality was approaching the splendour of the rhetoric.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Its policy of provocation and pressure is accompanied not only by the infliction of unlimited damage but also by something really sinister, which it is cunning enough to conceal beneath the submissive and humble manner it affects when it appears at inter-American meetings. 152. The Organization of American States will have to take cognizance of the most recent expression of this continuing aggression—the arbitrary closing of the Pan American Highway. El Salvador can plead the justice of its claim before any international tribunal and express its absolute repudiation of the Honduran contention that it is not bound to El Salvador by any rule of international law, a contention which is the legal basis for its policy of aggression and its plan against El Salvador. 153.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“I should like to know whether there are any States which can conscientiously, seriously and responsibly affirm that they would stand idly by and witness the mass persecution of their nationals abroad solely by reason of their nationality. El Salvador confined its actions strictly to halting this aggression and the Organization of American States has assumed a solemn undertaking to protect Salvadorians resident in Honduras. 151. The international obligations of the two countries to one another have not lapsed. El Salvador is fully entitled to demand that the continuing aggression by Honduras should cease and to denounce in this world forum that country’s plans for the physical extermination of El Salvador and the Salvadorians.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“El Salvador recognizes geographical proximity as a fact, but is not prepared to surrender to it rights whose renunciation would jeopardize its very existence. 150. I have referred to treaties which are in force and impose multilateral obligations established by law, treaties which have not been denounced and for whose termination in conformity with international law no grounds have arisen. Honduras opened the dispute on 15 June 1969 with a merciless mass persecution of Salvadorian residents carried out by mobs and agents of the authorities, with the connivance and condonation of the Honduran Government. Since El Salvador has the right to defend its nationals abroad, it considered that this right had been violated and that, in the persons of its nationals, it was the victim of an aggression which assumed the character of genocide.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“It neither seeks nor desires any extreme or irreparable situations; it is prepared to make use of any channels provided by the international community, though these have not as yet been indicated, and it hopes to contribute to a policy calculated to establish conditions of peace and security, on the understanding that the dissociation of peace from justice, which has on occasions been the basis for international compromises, runs completely counter to the objective of a peaceful world, since justice is the essential ingredient of a lasting peace. 149. Apart from any views that may be held on the modern international community, geographical proximity is a fact which imposes certain consequences and which must be taken into consideration in establishing a coherent and realistic policy.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“It might be submitted to the decision-raking organs on the proposal of El Salvador, if the Organization of American States proves unable to ensure the survival of the country, which is being overtly threatened by economic aggression, taking unjustified advantage of purely geographical circumstances. The United Nations is vested by its Charter and the inter-American instruments with the higher and final competence for the maintenance of international peace and security. 148. El Salvador will wage an unflagging struggle for the guaranteeing of fundamental human rights. It will never commit itself to a policy of abandoning its nationals abroad or of waiving the rights inherent in it as a State.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Advantage was taken of the presence of the American Foreign Ministers in New York to hold informal conversations, which are continuing, but since, during these conversations, it has not proved possible to reach any agreement at all likely to lead to the early cessation of the economic aggression to which my country is being subjected, I have requested on behalf of my Government that the consultative organ of the Organization of American States should be convened so that we can submit to it the relevant complaints with the urgency which the situation dictates. 147. The dispute between El Salvador and Honduras has been raised in the plenary of the General Assembly through statements by representatives who have expressed an interest in its settlement.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“1 assert emphatically and categorically that El Salvador has complied with every one of the pacification measures, but that the other party, Honduras, has not responded in the same way and, accordingly, a lack of balance has occurred which is putting the prestige and efficacy of the Organization of American States to the test. What is more, Honduras is again escalating the dispute by means of economic aggression in the form of the closing of the Pan American Highway and confiscatory measures against Salvadorian businesses legally established in its territory. 146. The case is under consideration by the Organization of American States.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“An exaggerated optimism has gained circulation about the efficacy of the pacification measures adopted by the Organization of American States during the outburst of violence which began on 15 June 1969. The Organization adopted a great many measures of pacification based on existing treaties, but it has not so far been able to ensure their complete implementation. It is not a matter of being optimistic or pessimistic, but realistic; we must draw up a cool and objective balance of the results of the pacification activities and determine at what points they have met with resistance, so that we may adopt additional measures as urgently as necessary in conformity with earlier treaties and resolutions of the Organization.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Such study is useful as a guide to political action, but it must be preceded by conduct consistent with existing obligations and with the civilized rules of community living. The fact that causes may be of one kind or another, remote or not so remote or interrelated to a greater or lesser degree, does not exempt any State from its obligation to fulfil the agreements it has entered into and to comply with the rules governing the international community. The remote causes of events too must be dealt with, but this cannot usefully be done so long as a policy of deliberately and intentionally harassing or even destroying other States is being pursued. 145.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“From the political and legal standpoint, immediate causes are of direct importance; the other causes should also be dealt with, and should not be left solely to the schools, the professors and the trained speculative scientists, because all the social sciences are notoriously immature and what they tell us contains a great deal of the speculative with an unknown admixture of reality. If we immerse ourselves in the study of the chain of causation, we may discover what happened in the original molecule or the original nebula. Some will claim to tell us by means of electronic computers what concatenation of causes brought us together here and why we say what we say, but such speculations tend to remove problems from their true context and perspective. 144.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The categories of development and under-development were devised for the purposes of the analysis, originally in economic and later in more comprehensive terms, of a world thrown out of balance by the simultaneous existence of a great absorptive industrial belt and of a situation in which two-thirds of the world’s population is reduced to producing raw materials and gathering the crumbs of industry and the dregs of technology. 142. Attributing every evil to under-development is not at present making the powerful countries more receptive to the notion of a balanced world development. They will probably become more receptive to this notion when they realize that the development of the other parts of the world will benefit everyone, including themselves. 143. We should distinguish between the remote and the immediate causes of problems.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“But El Salvador is not prepared to broaden this preferential treatment, because it would be unfair for it to have to bear the burden of the development of a country with vast natural resources, which will shortly be able to rise to El Salvador’s own level of production and to compete on equal terms. 141. Technology, too, produces problems and sometimes generates a violence which is no less than that in the developing countries. There is no clear-cut relationship between conflict and violence, on the one hand, and under-development, on the other.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Or rather, not under-development as such, but an unbalanced process of development, which places some countries at a temporary and relative advantage in which others acquiesce. As meteorologists do, we must investigate not only the climate but the microclimate, and then the process of unbalanced development appears against the background of under-development, forming an integral part of it. 140. We made our contribution to a policy for remedying the process of unbalanced development in Central America, having approved the protocol on preferential treatment for Honduras to that end. Through that protocol El Salvador showed that it is prepared to shoulder the burden of solidarity by artificially creating competitive advantages for one of its partners, Honduras.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“El Salvador still hopes that the Organization of American States will succeed in overcoming the problems of its internal operation and will honour the solemn undertaking signed and endorsed by the American Foreign Ministers in the resolutions adopted on 30 July 1969. 138. El Salvador is prepared to abide by the rules of the international community, but it is not prepared to pass beneath the yoke nor to learn to bend the knee and beat the breast to appease the policy of other States. 139. The problems of the Central American region have remote and immediate causes. One of the remote causes mentioned is under-development. Rather than a cause, under-development is the background to certain phenomena.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The circumstances experienced by the Salvadorian people were so harsh and moved so rapidly to extremes that it had to improvise the defence of its rights and did so in admirable fashion, achieving its identity in a prodigious and single surge of national unity. El Salvador has decided, in the prevailing political and social circumstances, to maintain its identity as a people and to revise its national and international policy in order to adapt it to current realities. 137. El Salvador is fighting, has fought and will continue to fight for the protection of its nationals’ fundamental fights within and beyond its borders. A policy of renunciation has never paid off in terms of peace and security, because it is unfortunately misinterpreted; it is construed as weakness and consequently encourages hostile acts.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The past must be subjected to rigorous analysis; lessons must be drawn from it and appropriate reforms devised. The international community and the regional communities are not yet sufficiently developed to accomplish their aims speedily and fully; the facts speak for themselves only too plainly in the Middle East, in Viet-Nam and in Central America. 136. El Salvador has become an entirely different country since July 1969; its outlook has changed and it is now no longer prepared to sacrifice words and deeds on the altars of many of the myths which have been invented to lull consciences. Speaking as an observer, I must say that my country had swallowed the tales of declarations of human rights, brotherhood, solidarity and integration.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“But the events of 1969 are marked by features which some observers have been unable or unwilling to discern. If anyone had prophesied a year ago what was going to happen, we would have been incredulous because we sincerely believe in the depths of our heart that systematic persecution on grounds of nationality alone could never occur on American soil, which seemed to have a special affinity for fundamental human rights. 135. When put to a substantive test, the system for the protection of human rights has proved to have huge gaps, and the means of enforcing it have been shown to be defective. This is an experience which must be examined objectively by participants, parties and observers, and the examination must pave the way for reflexion and reform.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“An undesirable alien may be expelled from a territory, but he may not be deprived of his property; his house may not be ransacked nor may he be beaten or killed. The rules of international law do not allow of the mass treatment of cases of migration, because injustice then becomes the rule and engenders a policy of overt hostility to the State whose nationals are being inhumanly treated and mistreated. 134. This year 1969 will go down in the history of El Salvador as a bitter year, marked by very serious problems which had not arisen in the more than a hundred and fifty years since it became independent. There had been civil strife and every sort of rivalry in Central America, the expression, by means that were not always appropriate, of a spirit of rivalry or dissent.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“I am quoting this legal history and this background to official regional policy to show that migratory movements in Central America are not the result of a country’s political misconduct towards its neighbours and that the mass expulsions of Salvadorian nationals constitute a violation of clear legal obligations, a flouting of solemnly declared policies and, furthermore, a disregard of the duties of States and of the fundamental human rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. A State may establish regulations to govern particular aspects of migration, but it may not rescind acquired rights of residence and property or impair the freedom, the right to work and even the physical integrity of residents.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Within what seemed to be a clear-cut Central American policy, specific bilateral agreements were concluded to facilitate the application of the legal rule I have mentioned, which is clear and binding and whose validity and force do not, of course, depend on any regulations which may subsequently be agreed upon to facilitate its application. Moreover, in conformity with the region’s policy, one of the decisions taken by the Central American Presidents, meeting at San Salvador, was to accelerate the stage-by-stage development of the capital market and to take steps to facilitate the free movement of persons. 133.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The Treaty of Economic Association between the Republics of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador signed on 5 February 1960 and ratified by these three Central American States, provides for the free movement of persons between the Parties, for article II states that “the nationals of each signatory State shall enjoy the right to enter and leave the territory of the other contracting Parties with no restrictions other than those established for nationals of such Contracting Parties,” and, further on, that “the nationals of any contracting Party shall enjoy national treatment in the territory of the others”. 132. The General Treaty of Central American Economic Integration, signed and ratified by five Central American countries, leaves in force those parts of the Treaty of Economic Association that are not subject to new regulations.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Though Central American integration has neglected the human element, some of its legal instruments, signed, ratified and in force, deal with migration. I mention this point because the myth has been created that the Central American conflict in 1969 was due to the population explosion.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Other Central American integration agreements provide for road vehicle traffic, such as the Regional Agreement for the Temporary Importation of Road Vehicles, signed at San Salvador on 8 November 1956 and the Central American Agreement on Road Traffic of 10 June 1968. 129. The Declaration of the Presidents of America at Punta del Este on 14 April 1967 refers to the need to eliminate or reduce to a minimum restrictions on international travel. 130. Economic aggression, though mainly taking the form of the closing of the Pan American Highway, is also evident in the freezing of ail Salvadorian bank accounts and in the pressure which the Honduran authorities and national banks have brought to bear on Salvadorian undertakings to sell their interests on terms so onerous as to be tantamount to confiscation. 131.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“This reversion to the status quo ante entails the maintenance of free transit through the territory of the two countries. The return to the previous situation and to normal thus decreed by the Organization of American States is not compatible with the Honduran contention that no contractual obligation of any sort exists between the two countries. This return to normal is not compatible with the economic aggression involved in the closing of the Pan American Highway to Salvadorian vehicles, goods and nations, nor is it compatible with the measures of pacification adopted by the Organization of American States, because it violates them and renders them null and void.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The Charter of the Organization of American States states categorically that “no State may use or encourage the use of coercive measures of an economic or political character in order to force the sovereign will of another State and obtain from it advantages of any kind.” The economic aggression by Honduras flagrantly violates this provision of that Charter and therefore calls for immediate collective action by the American States. This aggression is, in accordance with article 5 (f) of the same Charter, an act of aggression against all the other American States. 128. In conformity with existing inter-American instruments, the Organization of American States adopted resolutions to the effect that El Salvador and Honduras must revert in toto to the situation prior to the conflict of June and July 1969.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Evidence of compliance with the conditions of this Convention shall entitle motor vehicles and motor vehicle operators to circulate on the highways of any of the Contracting States”. 126. Moreover, article XV of the General Treaty of Central American Economic Integration states that ”each of the Contracting States shall maintain full freedom of transit through its territory for goods proceeding to or from any of the other signatory States, as well as for the vehicles transporting the said goods”. 127.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“One of its links cannot legitimately be cut to a country’s detriment. Early in this century the American countries planned a Pan American railway, which was later replaced by the Pan American Highway. The construction of the Highway was the subject of a Convention? signed at Buenos Aires on 23 December 1936. 125. Article 1 of the Convention on the Regulation of Inter-American Automotive Traffic, in force among all the Central American countries, recognizes “that each State has exclusive jurisdiction over the use of its own highways, but agrees to the international use as specified in this Convention”; article 4 lays down that “the Contracting States shall not allow customs measures to be put into effect that will hinder international travel“; and article 7 states that “...”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The most recent — but not the only — example of the arbitrary violation of the Central American treaties and inter-American agreements is the Honduran decree closing the Pan American Highway to the passage of Salvadorian goods and vehicles bound for Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. This is the Pan American Highway, planned many decades ago aS a continental undertaking and financed by a co-operative effort. The closing of this highway is yet another abuse of sovereignty and constitutes deliberate aggression. Here you have an example how the Central American Common Market operates, despite the existing legal instruments. 124. This is, I repeat, the Pan American Highway, which was conceived and planned to serve all the countries on the continent and was in fact financed internationally.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“It must be carried through in sections and stages and at a certain pace, but when the stages are unduly protracted, when they become an end in themselves and lose their significance as links in a long process, when there is no authority to enforce decisions and retaliation therefore becomes the ordinary method of bringing people to reason, and when there are no rapid means of preventing arbitrary action, the integration process is definitely suffering from a chronic disease. Worse than the disease itself is the lack of concern for the patient’s recovery. 123. Examples about to prove what I have just said.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“El Salvador supports integration, but it does not applaud the process in its present state, which permits capricious management, the practice of bargaining, the representation of private interests by Governments and arbitrary action in restraint of trade. What El Salvador desires and proposes to the parties concerned is a genuine integration which would provide the opportunity to plan a sound economy and which would not be managed in the old parochial spirit. Integration calls for uniform labour, social, monetary, economic and financial policies. Either it is a total process or it is just one more of those inflated fairytales to amuse the grown-up children of the technological age.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Integration cannot be timorous and hesitating, nor can it be governed by the obsolete spirit of economic nationalism; it must be bold and total, though carried through in stages. 121. Central American integration exemplifies a process which has been much lauded, outside the area more than within it. As a result of the self-satisfaction engendered by this applause, criticisms of its weaknesses and forecasts of crises have fallen on deaf ears. It is, however, a mirror in which other similar processes should be viewed, and it should be examined objectively and reconsidered, replanned and reorganized in order to give it consistency, depth and effectiveness. 122.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“To restrict the integration programme to goods and some investment in the infrastructure is reasonable enough as a first step, but disastrous if this first step becomes an end in itself. The Central American Bank for Economic Integration acts as a channel for external resources, together with some local resources, but there are no investment programmes using funds wholly derived from the area on a Central American scale. 120. The economy also generates competition, and if there are no channels for the speedy settlement of disputes and if the area integrated is too small for a system of internal compensation to operate, crises must inevitably occur; and if there are no organs vested with sufficient powers to bring the recalcitrant to heel, retaliation is the only form of defence.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The underlying assumption was that economic resources would spontaneously generate conditions conducive to peaceful co-existence and produce the necessary legal and political institutions. Political factors were disregarded, at this stage at least. The powers of the integration bodies are derived from unanimous agreement among the Governments concerned and these bodies have no rapid and effective means of preventing arbitrary actions and distortions of the process. The system is completely oriented towards the Governments, because it has no organs vested with powers of their own or any capacity to overrule members which dissent from majority decisions. 119.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“Among the most recently tested instruments for development are the integration programmes, which in recent years have had care, study and commendation lavished on them and have opened a way to be exploited by technology through large-scale production, wider markets and large geographical areas. Integration is making headway in several regions. Central America is making an effort to integrate, and the events of 1969 will make it possible to reassess and redirect this process and to give it the appropriate means of fulfilling its purpose, the means at present available being of doubtful efficacy. 118. In contrast with European integration, Central American integration has placed the emphasis on goods, and the human element has been neglected.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“This is the sober and objective prospect that emerges from the analyses of recent years and from the trends in world development. With this prospect before us, we may well ask whether it may not be necessary to rethink. all the relevant programmes from the ground up, because the imbalance between the regions, with its attendant train of tension, is increasing rather than diminishing. In planning the Second United Nations Development Decade, which will be one of the items on the agenda at its twenty-fourth session, the General Assembly will have to evaluate the successes and failures of the course so far followed and to set itself the goal of narrowing the development gap between the two major groups of countries. 117.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“The technological and economic gap between industrial countries and the countries which are called developing — an obvious euphemism — is widening yearly and no international policy so far has been able to narrow it. The First United Nations Development Decade and the regional and bilateral programmes, though meritorious, have not been able to prevent the gap from growing. Recent studies show that the gap is widening at the rate of 5 per cent yearly, and consequently in fourteen years the distance between the two groups of countries will have doubled. The developing countries’ economic and social progress should not be discounted, but, even so, the distance between the two groups of countries will have doubled by 1984.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“In studying the definition of aggression, we must bear in mind that the purpose of Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations is not to recognize the right of self-defence, but to clarify decisions on collective self- defence. The right of self-defence is inherent in the human person and in the State, and its existence does not depend on its recognition in an international instrument. Collective self-defence needs to be proclaimed and recognized, but not the individual self-defence of the State, which arises from the mere fact of its existence. It is absurd to contend that the aggressor must have discharged its defensive potential against another State or that there is an obligation to fold one’s arms before a deliberate assault on fundamental rights. 116.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)
“As an intelligence sharpened in the search for means of harassing other States will find means of committing direct or indirect aggression, this definition must be broad enough, must be adapted to contemporary experience and must make it clear that no territory may be a hortus conclusus in which, on the pretext of sovereignty, the rights of other States are breached and the fundamental rights of individuals are violated. Rights are not absolute nor do they exist in a void; all of them are interdependent, interlock and make up a harmonious whole. A definition of the concept of direct and indirect aggression followed by an illustrative but not exhaustive list of the commonest cases will provide valuable support for the accomplishment of the purposes of the United Nations and the regional organizations. 115.”
1969-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 24 (1969)