YouSaid · the spoken record

Julio Maria Sanguinetti

lines on the record: 72
first: 1985-09-24
most recent: 1998-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
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

“We must all fight against racial discrimination; we must all respect and be very mindful of cultural diversity. But no ethnic or cultural diversity can sanction the enslavement of women or the killing of men: we are speaking here of universal values that are essential to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that we must not only proclaim but must also practice. As Toynbee said, “Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour” (Readers Digest, October 1958). We must therefore clearly identify the stars that will guide us on that voyage. It is in those stars that Uruguay believes.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Today, the drug trade reflects the spiritual scourge of societies which, in their economic development, have lost sight of spiritual values. Such societies have weakened the family in a world where images, emptiness and passing trends have caused a vacuum that in turn causes the phenomenon of the search for artificial paradises that aim to replace a meaningful life. We must enhance spiritual factors to give democracies genuine content. We must, of course, be pragmatical in economic matters, but pragmatism alone will not keep alive the hopes of peoples. We must strengthen family values, human dignity and the universality of human rights, as our friend President Mandela has said. We must all respect ethnic individuality; in the final analysis we are all the same.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Democracy will be closely related to an efficient State, for only an efficient State can stand united if the objective is to improve the lives of our people, only a State which is not a mechanism for waste, but rather a strong instrument to promote the forces of society; to a market economy and increasingly open trade based on standards that protect us from unfair competition; and to a process of integration such as those being carried out in the Latin American countries to enable us to join the world with suitable economies to improve our production. We must also think of the basic values of our societies, such as the family, which is the historic nucleus of our civilization. The weakening of the family has come at a high price.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“At times we have suffered from excessive political passion, which sometimes leads to divisions within countries, intolerance, racial hatred, abuse of economic power and abuse of the media; all of these factors are part of a democracy, but when used without ethical limits they may weaken it. We also have a right to ask the citizen to participate. It is not through an alienated or indifferent citizenry that democracy will be strengthened.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Therefore, we must not fall into another oversimplification. At one point we believed that the 21 simple freeing of markets would bring about the miraculous result of achieving growth and equity; we cannot now return to the past and believe that through closed economies, through stronger protectionist measures or even through authoritarianism we will be able to resolve a situation that, now more than ever, must be addressed with the guidance of democratic principles. No one has a clear road map. Thus, there is all the more reason to reaffirm the basic principles, the first one being political democracy, which calls on us, as President Clinton said earlier, to fight against terrorism, which through violence attacks democracy, in all its forms, from the outside; and to fight against the enemies which democracy generates from within.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“In 1989, it seemed, with the market economy triumphant over the socialist economy and liberal democracy triumphant over the Communist world, that we were entering an era of peace and stability in which the old Hegelian dialectics would yield to a world of synthesis — what was termed the end of history, what others called the pensée unique. Undoubtedly, that was an oversimplification. Today it would also be an oversimplification to believe that we have once again entered the crisis of capitalism. In my long political career, I have been invited many times to the funeral of capitalism. Times have definitely shown that the market economy, with its dynamics and its spirit of initiative, once again recovered, and this will happen again now because no one is pointing to a better alternative.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“For that reason, warding off and resolving the crisis through international cooperation and concrete measures are also very important in a democratic context. When such instabilities occur, messianic demagogues appear, all those pyrotechnists of prosperity who have always led peoples to misfortune and to whom we should not offer, through instability, another opportunity. This is therefore a financial and economic crisis, and ultimately a crisis in political democracy. It is the fundamental chapter through which we must continue to work here. Our world is living in disconcerting times.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“We should thus protect ourselves from a dangerous neo-protectionism and continue to fight for increasingly open and transparent markets, from which the persistent subsidies in the large States disappear — subsidies in the United States and the European Community, agricultural subsidies which undoubtedly are a troublesome factor in international economic activities and must be left behind. If the crisis teaches us anything, it is that we must find balance, and balance will not be found on the basis of subsidies which continue to promote opportunity for artificial economic sectors. We must also protect ourselves from messianic demagoguery, which is the political dimension of this crisis.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Of course, the leading economic countries have a great responsibility. President Clinton said last week that this was the most important economic and financial crisis of the second half of the century, and no doubt it is. That is all the more reason for the major economies to assume their responsibilities and for smaller economies, such as ours, which basically seeks more and more equitable living conditions, to try not to bring bad news to the world, even while lacking the capacity and opportunity to be those who can offer the world good news.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Only by growing our economies could the external debt be made manageable in the future. The former, unfortunately, were not lucky and the latter, fortunately, were. In that way, we were able to refinance the external debt and return to investment, and growth enabled us to pay off the debt effectively and thus achieve better living conditions for our peoples. Turmoil and speculation are not what are most needed for the prosperity of needy peoples. To the contrary, profit- making opportunities for speculators come at the expense of the majority. That is the path that we see clearly defined today for this situation, and we must all redouble our efforts in that direction. We will also have to strengthen anew the international financial community so that there can exist a real international safety net that will allow us to work in peace.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“As the Brazilian Foreign Minister said today, the magnitude and the duration of this crisis are unpredictable, but what should not be unpredictable is the behaviour of States. Therefore, it is essential that we act to bring to an end those financial imbalances and avoid the mistakes and temptations related to such crises. First, we should not believe that by isolating ourselves in neo-protectionism we will find a way out of the crisis. In Latin America in the 1980s we had an external debt crisis. There were those who advocated not repaying the debt and returning in some way to more protected economies. There were those of us, on the other hand, who thought that the debt should be refinanced and that we should join the international community more actively and in that way grow again.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“We must all feel and know that the origins of this crisis have been identified. First, there has been excessive speculation, which has been clearly reflected in stock markets. It also stems from macroeconomic imbalances in 20 many States, which have not been able to correct those imbalances, mainly their fiscal gaps, that have been fundamental causes of this situation. Fortunately, the North American economy and the European economy still appear to be solid. Japan is the country of which we are all hoping for a recovery so that the measures under way today will allow us to view much more calmly the future of this situation, which could very well continue for a long time.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank — which is the main source of financing for our hemisphere — are the tools we rely on today. We must strengthen them. Indeed, this crisis will leave behind consequences once it is over. Somehow the debate that took place between Lord Keynes and Harry White, at the time of the establishment of the International Monetary Fund at Bretton Woods, hangs over the world today. The British economist held the view that it was necessary to have a central bank of central banks. I shall not bring in that debate here today, but I think that it will nevertheless have to take place once the crucial moments of this crisis are over, because of the need for prevention and for a market economy which actually works.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“They lowered their rates of inflation, opened up their economies and began strong processes of integration — in the Andean area, in Mexico to the north and with us in the south, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, and now with Bolivia and Chile as associate partners, to the south. All of this meant that we had a Latin America which was growing again and which would once again be a place for investments; a Latin America which was able to harmonize the return of democracy and peace with economic growth. We now find ourselves faced with the new crisis. What should we do? In our view, the first thing to do is to consolidate and support the Organization and the international community. We should do that here, in this institution, which is a hymn to internationalism, as well as in the economic area.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“That is our challenge today: how to play our cards in this crisis which could even affect not just finances and economies but also the democratic stability of our countries, our social peace and the fundamental values which inspire us. In the 1980s Latin America went through very difficult economic years. This is referred to — mistakenly in my judgement — as the lost decade, for those were also the years in which we consolidated the strongest process of democratization in our continent, which today allows it to have more democracies and freedoms than ever before. Countries which had never before known democracy are now building republics and institutions and developing their societies. The fact is that after that crisis our countries made enormous efforts at transformation.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“When we see stock markets carried away by a microclimate of psychosis, and when we see so many irrational phenomena spread, we feel like Anatole France, who saw life as a struggle among various forces, of which we are not always able to know which is the strongest. At times it seems that science and intelligence predominate. At other times it seems that lunacy and fear prevail. This is also part of this phenomenon that started as a financial crisis and then became a very peculiar psychological phenomenon. The point is that, both as Latin Americans and as a member State of the international community, we must once again face this situation. Shakespeare, who is often quoted in connection with major tragedies, said that fate dealt the cards but we were the players.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The last few years have shown Uruguay to be a country which is making strides in its economy and prosperity and which, as the recently published United Nations Human Development Index states, is once again making progress. It ranks third among developing countries, and we can say that we have attained the best improvement in the hemisphere with regard to poverty indicators. However, we come to this session not only with the concerns about its institutions and peace which always permeate the spirit of the Assembly; we come here also having seen the spectre of a crisis which began as an Asian financial crisis and which today is a global economic crisis that touches all of us. This undoubtedly deserves particular concern.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“But we did harbour the dream that has inspired all our great statesmen — that of being a small, model country which in the past century made secular education universal, free and compulsory and built a State of well- being with a solid middle class as the foundation of its political democracy. Thus did our country feel that it was a fundamental part of the democratic development of nations. Unfortunately, we were not exempt from the upheavals and consequences of the cold war. As the Assembly knows, the cold war was bloody and fierce in Latin America. The hemispheres were locked in a state of conflict over positions: here guerrilla wars and there coups d’état, both manifestations themselves as part of a hellish dialectic in which democracies were wounded and sometimes fell.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Uruguay comes to the Assembly today with happiness, pride and even excitement at seeing you, Sir, a countryman of ours, representing Uruguay, as President of the Assembly. Uruguay was a founding Member of the United Nations and has been one of the its most active participants ever since, in all its endeavours. It has even contributed its best soldiers, who put their lives on the line every day in the difficult peacekeeping operations of the United Nations. Our country came to this Organization at the time of its founding with the hopes and dreams of a world that was being rebuilt in order to usher in a time of peace, 19 prosperity and stability. It certainly did not come here with any dreams of power, which could have had no place in our country given its small land area and relatively small economy.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Its tragedy is the tragedy of America as a whole. I wish to reiterate that my country, within the context of its modest strength, wishes to be on the front line of solidarity and support for Mexico, which is so greatly admired and to which our people owe a debt of imperishable gratitude for the noble and generous way in which it remained at our side during the past years when so many Uruguayans found in Mexico a brotherly haven. But I also wish to express a feeling of hope. Mexico always reaps growth from its adversities. That has been its history and that will be its present. It is for this reason that, faced with this pain, we oust pay tribute - and this is a final word here - to the cry of hope that has endured throughout the history of this nation: Long live Mexico!”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“As Uruguayans we cast our lot with peace, as well as with change, the conferring of dignity on work and life, and the new approaches that the end of the century is already requiring of us. But, above all, we cast our lot with peace, which is nothing less than a means of achieving freedom and development. Revolutions," Bertold Brecht advised so correctly, "occur at dead ends." That will not happen in Uruguay where all the channels of understanding and comprehension are open, open within the country and open towards the rest of the world. You may be sure that Uruguay will sow only seeds of harmony. In closing, I wish to convey to this Assembly a deep feeling of shared pain and brotherly hope. Shared pain regarding the tragedy which has cast the people of Mexico, our noble brothers, into mourning.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“We have seen the consolidation of the Peruvian and Bolivian processes, despite the threats that the wrathful unleashed against both sister countries. We have hailed an exemplary peace agreement regarding the borders between Argentina and Chile. This is proof of a prospect for hope, which in turn makes co-operation in the region our duty: and we wish to state here and now that we are doing our duty, that we are already doing it in the political, cultural and commercial spheres and that we wish to continue to do it, with neither aggressive nor resentful feelings towards anyone. We know that a lasting peace will not be on a firm footing until democracy prevails in all our countries, because it is the only way to avoid the interference of alien dogmatisms and interests.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“But time justified those of us who waited with faith; reason, common sense and the instinct of coexistence finally prevailed. Power was returned to the people with not a drop of blood shed, and the democratic institutions recovered their status and their authority. Our specific experience, very much our own, leads us to aver that if Uruguay was able to find its way peacefully back to democracy, it was because there were people who thought that peace would not come alone, that peace was not simply the result of abstaining from violence, that peace was a valuable political endeavor which required action, struggle and strategy. In Latin America we have returned to democratic life. During this year both Uruguay and Brazil have done so, following the course taken earlier by Argentina.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“As we face this situation, so often denounced and so often ignored, we view with similar apprehension the breaking-up of a whole edifice of multilateral organizations established to defend solidarity among men and nations, organizations that today are weaker than they have ever been since the post-war period and, in some cases, under serious threat of extinction. The present state of international relations is not a cause for optimism regarding the future of the human race. But optimism is not a rational sentiment: in these sombre times it is the nutrient the spirit needs to continue living. Thus it was for us, even during the most difficult hours of the long night that lay over our country for more than a decade, during which freedoms were lost and happiness disappeared from our land.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Never before, since the post-war period, have we been shaken by so much uncertainty regarding the future, by so many threats to peace, which is being violated systematically in many corners of the earth and exposed every day to the risk of a nuclear holocaust, by so much ambivalence regarding the economic situation, by the tragic persistence of irritating differences between the rich world of the North and the poor world of the South, by so much racial, religious and nationalist strife, by the widespread daily presence of insane terrorism of all types.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“One is justified in hoping that those responsible for the warlike escalation will have a moment of supreme enlightenment.which will lead them to put a stop to this suicidal race and devote to life a part of the resources, talents and energy that they now devote to death. The world is at present going through a period that is as disturbing as it is promising.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“It is stupefying to think that there are 50,000 nuclear warheads ready to be detonated, while the use of a small fraction of such an arsenal is more than sufficient to cause disasters, loss of life and catastrophic damage to the environment. Perhaps the most tragic contradiction of the world we live in is that if the budget that finances that lethal fraction were to be earmarked, not for the massive construction of artefacts for destruction and death, but rather for co-operation and aid, the lives of millions of human beings who are suffering and dying of hunger at this very moment in the desolate lands of Africa could be saved, and disease and ignorance could be eradicated in the American continent.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Our children, surely, will have much to reproach us for and may never be able to forgive the omissions which are so prevalent. I propose that we discard the assumption of self-satisfaction and apply# in its place, Albert Einstein's maxim, "The most grievous fault is not to be aware of any fault." The arms craze, which is taking on interplanetary dimensions, is the worst threat that hovers over the collective aspirations of our peoples and the individual happiness of their members. It is a threat that makes us feel that we are not the masters of our destiny, which remains entirely in the hands of the ruling elites of the great Powers.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Its territory must be freed from the presence of foreign armed forces, regardless of their origin. Afghanistan, Kampuchea, the Iran-Iraq war, the situation of Namibia and of the majority of the people of South Africa - all are situations that are not consistent with what the Governments involved state in international forums. It is tragic to perceive the deep gap between the world of words and proclamations heard in this forum and the world of reality. This gap is illustrated by the appeals for peace and the declarations insisting on the need for disarmament and the need to create an international atmosphere conducive to confidence and security that are made by the very same States that have embarked upon an arms race of colossal dimensions. Let us not be content with our actions.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“In the meantime, millions of human beings are experiencing insecurity, fear and exile, we believe that it is time for all those directly affected by the situation in the Middle East to accept the notion that there will be no prospects for a lasting peace while there are parties who insist on not recognizing Israel's right to existence as a State, while the need to establish safe and recognized borders is not acknowledged, and while the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is not recognized, without the constant coercion of forces that only raise their flags for their own advantage. Moreover, peace in the region will not be secured if the independence and territorial integrity of Lebanon is not reaffirmed and respected.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Uruguay, the product of the same genealogy as that of Argentina, is convinced of the justice of its position; it has maintained historical ties of co-operation with Great Britain, sealed in brotherhood during the Second world War; and it appeals in this forum to the two parties to find solutions to a situation which cannot remain unchanged without peril to us all. We are all aware of the long list of situations and conflicts that endanger in world peace and security. Small States, such as Uruguay, are powerless witnesses to the tragedy of subjugated States, of nations torn apart and of peoples victimized by ideological wars and by expansionist ambitions, in the case of the Middle East conflict the worst has happened: it has become a routine problem; we have learned to live with it.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“The permanent British presence in the Malvinas ignores one of the principles which were the basis of the political organization of the Ibero-American continent, the principle of utipossidetis, which was formulated and applied on the continent long before Great Britain's de facto occupation of the Malvinas which had the effect, precisely, of not allowing any American territory to remain unclaimed and open to occupation by extra-continental Powers. We trust that Great Britain, which knew when the historical moment was ripe to abandon vast possessions all over the world, will succeed in reconciling the dictates of law with the rules of international coexistence. Hence we support Argentina's claims and we are prepared to do everything in our power to contribute to a rapprochement between those two parties at the negotiating table.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Some are peculiar to itself and cannot be transferred, such as the many unresolved border disputes, fueled by immature and anachronistic visions of nationalism which eventually serve only to support arms races, with their devastating effects on our institutions. Others must be viewed in a different context, such as that in the subregion of which my country is a part - the South Atlantic, which was ravaged by war more than three years ago. The problem of the Malvinas is not simply a bilateral problem between Argentina and Great Britain. It is a Latin American problem and, as such, we assume it in its full dimension.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“I wish to remind those Governments - every one of them - that when they seek to satisfy their national interests without consulting the interests of others and without applying the basic standards of ethics and international law, their victories are short-lived and, ultimately, will not offset the damages suffered. Anecdotal history, as presented by newspaper or newsreel reports, radio and television, can extol the apparent but incidental successes obtained through pressure, the use of force or demagogy. However, the history that endures is very unremitting and will not be deceived, and it records and extols only those who respect the will of the people and struggle to meet their needs and aspirations. There are other disorders that afflict Latin America.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“For this reason we have fully supported it and we have decided to contribute to its consolidation together with other sister countries of the region, as a mechanism through which peace in the region may be restored. But the work of the Contadora Group will be completely sterile if there is no change in the attitude of the countries involved in the crisis. We urge the latter to soften their attitudes based on preconceived ideas and prejudice, and to marshal their will to respond to what their respective peoples demand and need - that is to say, purely and simply, peace.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Likewise, it would be a mistake to ignore the way in which these tragedies are exploited politically, or to think that there must be some lasting solution that is not based on strict observance of the principles held in greatest regard by the political traditions of Latin America, namely, non-intervention, respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of States, non-use of force and non-use of the territory of one State to undermine the sovereignty and independence of another, wherever it may be, in Latin America or elsewhere, in America or in another continent. We believe that, at this time, the Contadora Group offers the most appropriate path to resolve the crisis.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Within a context in which poverty and backwardness prevail in most sectors of the population that have traditionally been left on the sidelines by dynasties and elites, ideological aggression finds fertile ground. But to persist in viewing the Central American crisis as a crisis of an exclusively political and ideological nature is a mistake fraught with tragic consequences.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Central America has lately become the stage of a tragedy where violence is manifest in all its forms: civil wars, conflicts across borders, terrorism, repression. How can we stop this infernal process that destroys lives, well-being and wealth, and that continues to inflict indescribable suffering on the peoples of that region, who deserve a better fate? Basically, the problem is deeply rooted, going way back beyond the time when the present Governments or political systems were established. The disease afflicting Central America is one that will not be cured if attention is not paid to its deeper causes - both political, economic and social.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Let us be allowed to produce; give us the resources with which to strengthen our capacity for investment and productive modernization; open up the doors to our export capacity, and the debt problem will be just one more financial problem on our agenda. Those are the essential terms of the problem; if today we were to imagine for em instant that foreign debt had magically disappeared, we would still not have found the solution to the roots of the problem. We would only have found incidental relief: that of maintaining the present international conditions of trade and investment flows. Within a decade we would surely witness a renewal of the same critical problems of today. To view foreign debt as a purely economic problem is as mistaken as to view the crisis in Central America as a purely political problem.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“The foreign debt problem is indissolubly linked to the trade problem. If the prices of our raw materials continue to decline, if the present protectionist barriers remain unchanged, if the present new trends, which auguring the dangers of an undeclared trade war with outdated and suicidal protectionist policies, are confirmed, there will he no lasting solution to the debt problem and the whole edifice that we have tried to build with our post-war institutions may fall and pave the way to a world of stagnation or uncontrollable crises. We also wish to be among the driving forces of world growth.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“No, a political focus has two meanings: one, that the merits of acting as a hemisphere be recognized; the other, that it be understood that the debt will be paid by means of growth and exports. Growth only comes about with investment. This implies receiving investments, and recycling into productive activities some of our savings from reducing the servicing of these liabilities. The aim of this political focus is not to default on our obligations or confront the financial system, but rather to seek a solution to the problem which, in the existing situation and with our usual resources, our countries will be unable to cope with in the long run, except at the price of chaos. Together with investment growth, however, we also need to increase our exports, in this regard we must be quite plain.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“In this regard, we welcome and firmly support what the Secretary-General has stressed in his annual report to the General Assembly, to wit, that in recent years economic, financial, monetary and trade issues have become so interrelated and are of such profound political and social importance that they can only be dealt with effectively as part of a wider political process. We shall insist on that aspect of this problem, which in the long run will have to be accepted by industrialized countries. On this problem Latin America must be regarded and listened to as a united group. This does not imply a club of insolvent debtors seeking to reduce the amount or extend the term of their debts.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“In this regard, I would like to call to mind the exercise in co-ordination and consultation that we, the debtor countries of Latin America, are carrying out through the Cartagena group with the purpose of negotiating collectively with our creditors on such a problem as that of the foreign debt which, has taken on a predominantly political dimension that requires a political solution, and that can no longer be dealt with simply as a mere relationship of a legal-financial nature between debtors and creditors.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“There must be more trade, more technical assistance, more transfer of technology, more co-operation in the areas of education and scientific research, more projects to establish multinational corporations, greater policy co-ordination, at the subregional, regional, continental or intercontinental level, in all areas in which we have common interests. All these are channels which have not been sufficiently explored, that may open up new prospects for emerging from our economic stagnation.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“During the last few years, only a fifth of the total value of commodity imports - including oil - came from Latin America. The Latin American region, for example, exported $7,300 million worth of food in 15)82, of which only $730 million worth went to other countries in the region. The value of its oil exports in 1982 amounted to $48 billion, of which only $5 billion were intraregional exports, while oil imports from the rest of the world amounted to $26 billion. In view of the severe external restrictions which our countries face, the fact that we are buying abroad the very same goods that we are producing within our own borders is a sign that we have failed to organize trade that it will provide us the greatest possible benefits. Consequently, we must stimulate economic integration among our countries.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“At the same time we should place greater stress on the possibilities that co-operation among equals can open up,, Wa are convinced that if we were to put more energy and more imagination into managing our relations with countries that are in a situation similar to ours, either within our region or even elsewhere, we might find new avenues of progress. By intensifying or expanding co-operation with other developing countries, we can reduce the contradictions in our own economies. Latin America is, with a few exceptions, self-sufficient in terms of most of our commodities. However, despite the existence of areas and subregions with excess production, and others that cannot meet their own needs, there is not enough intraregional trade.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“But it will also be useless if all that the developed countries seek in the negotiations is to consolidate their positions of power, or if we, the developing countries, only use them as a pulpit for spreading ideologies or for making Utopian claims, instead of putting forward realistic demands or exchanging concessions on an equitable basis. We, the people of the developing world, must act more pragmatically and be aware that our solidarity has not yet developed sufficiently to be able to impose our conditions on those with whom we are dealing, we cannot expect gratuitous concessions. We must insist on our demands, but not expect too much from the generosity of others. We must be radical in our principles but moderate in applying them.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“I trust that those countries whose level of economic, political and social evolution ensures that they obtain the greater share of the benefits of progress will understand that if they adopt an attitude based less on national short-term interests and more on common long-term interests, they themselves will benefit. Surely it is more to their advantage to coexist with nations that have prosperous economies and stable governments, that are active markets, sure sources of supply and friendly partners, rather than be surrounded, as they now are, by States that are plunging towards insolvency and that bear within them the seeds of misery and of its inescapable corollary, violence? As Montesquieu said, "An injustice to one is a threat to all." Any opportunity to negotiate is welcome.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“In terms of our small country, this has meant that so far during 1985, all the prices of our raw materials have dropped by about 10 per cent, in addition to the sharp drop suffered during the decade as a whole. Traditional markets for our meats are being closed to us because of the ruinous competition from highly subsidized meat being exported by the European Economic Community (EEC) countries. Our exports of industrial products based on the agriculture and livestock sector are threatened or excluded by all kinds of protectionist barriers. Does anybody believe that under these circumstances we can achieve a peaceful social climate and the conditions necessary to lay the foundations of economic development?”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“The proclamation of the principles of the new international economic order and the subsequent attempts to make some of those principles a reality raised great expectations in international forums. But let us not be deceived. The new international economic order is for the time being simply a rhetorical listing of good intentions. The terms of trade of Latin America have deteriorated by 20 per cent during this decade, and in this very year, 1985, the continent is prey to a new decline in prices. It already seems quite probable that the drop in prices of raw materials in 1985 will mean a loss of export income for the region as a whole of close to 310 billion. In the meantime, Latin America must continue to make new net transfers of resources abroad of nearly $30 billion, in addition to the $70 billion of the last > three years.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)