YouSaid · the spoken record

Jaime Lusinchi

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS JAIME LUSINCHI

lines on the record: 70
first: 1985-09-24
most recent: 1988-09-24
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 know that all United Nations organs are prepared to continue performing the tasks entrusted to them and to face in a constructive way any situation that threatens the well-being of mankind. Nevertheless, it is fitting to recall the serious financial difficulties which the United Nations has undergone - difficulties that require our utmost attention. It is clearly understood that it is the duty of all its Member States to contribute to supporting it on a permanent basis. My final words today, as the representative of a country that is democratic in spirit and in action, ace to wish the United Nations success in its primary purpose of ensuring peace and security for the world. Venezuela will always stand by the United Nations, devised and created for the sake and the benefit of universal mankind.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“For that reason, noting that in other regions there are definite prospects for peace, we urge the five Central American countries signatories of the Procedure for the Establishment of a Firm and Lasting Peace in Central America to devote themselves to complying with their commitments, regardless of the interference of elements alien to the area. The political dialogue between them should be restored genuinely and promptly, with a large dose of determination and with each party doing its share to put an end to a conflict that is being needlessly prolonged. We trust that reason will prevail, that peace and friendly coexistence in freedom and democracy will be the symbols of that cherished region.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Along those lines, I should like to emphasize the achievements of the United Nations in its endeavours to put an end to conflicts in regions that are particularly dear to us - such as the peace agreement in Afghanistan and the end of hostilities between Iraq and Iran, countries with which we maintain cordial and constructive relations. It has been made evident that it is only the resolute will of the States involved that is capable of ending conditions favouring the attainment of specific objectives.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Venezuela confirms it rejection of racial discrimination in South Africa - of which the classic example is Mandela's martyrdom - and affirms its solidarity with the people of Namibia, while urging that the talks and negotiations now under way should bring about the independence of that country. For all those reasons, and because of the outstanding role the United Nations has played in bringing about peaceful solutions to international disputes, I reaffirm our solidarity with the Organization, express renewed faith in its principles and offer our best efforts in the service of the cause of peace and the coexistence of peoples.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“In this constant pursuit of the most elementary rights of States and men, we have all relied on the United Nations - as the appropriate forum not only for conveying our concerns but, what is more important, for channelling resources and establishing competent bodies and mechanisms. United Nations efforts have made progress possible in matters to which we are particularly attached. I should like to mention some items which perhaps the distortion of priorities has downgraded to routine questions but which are still fully valid from our point of view. As is well known, Venezuela recognizes and promotes the interdependence of all human rights; political, economic, social and cultural. There are situations which constitute a permanent threat to those principles.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“We might likewise explore the traffic in toxic wastes, which has now taken on special dimensions in that attempts are under way to transport to earth-based reservoirs - for the most part in the territories of developing countries - the garbage of a wasteful consumer society imposed on us as a model j transferring, hand in hand with that, habits of corruption to facilitate the continuance of this illicit, repugnant business. As members will have been able to appreciate, my message to the General Assembly endeavours to take up again, on an ethical basis, some of the challenges we face. We should never lose sight of this, because civilization and its progress are inconceivable if they are not linked with the most intimate aspirations of our Individual and collective being.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Venezuela, which has earned an authoritative position in the anti-drug struggle, is determined to act on all fronts, as we demonstrated in 1984 when we placed before the General Assembly the idea of adopting a convention against the traffic and consumption of illicit drugs - a convention that was subsequently approved unanimously. But we notice that no-one has taken the trouble to point out the existence of and to act against an economic situation that is nourished by and profits systematically from the drug economy, which fosters the creation of economic power centres and consolidates them and, in practice, serves as its financial agent. It would certainly be relevant for the United Nations to reveal the linkage between some members of the international financial world and the underground drug economy.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Perhaps we should renounce our traditional procedures and, through the Secretary-General's activity, bring the item before the highest political bodies and attempt to revive the philosophy and practice of co-operation to ensure development through joint agreement. Economic problems are not unrelated to a host of others which we could begin to tackle in the same context. It has been said that Latin America is being absorbed by the underground drug economy. Radical measures have been required to deal with the crop areas, and, with increasing emphasis, relations between countries are to be made conditional on the eradication of this activity.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The economic conflict still remains unchanged and is growing steadily worse. Imbalances in the world economy will lead us to disaster if the main countries involved do not assume their responsibilities with a full sense of obligation towards the international community. Perhaps the time has also come for the Secretary-General to take in hand the quest for a dialogue that will ensure that the international community takes a definite course of action to meet this unsatisfied need, a course of action in which external debt would occupy a prominent place. We certainly cannot go on having these kinds of parallel monologues in which the developed and the developing worlds have become entrenched.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“From this process, which we trust will be successful, there will emerge once again the possibility of channelling more resources to development. It is inconceivable that material backwardness and human misery should continue to exist; and there is no possible justification for their increasing in a world whose global wealth is unprecedented. Will the international community ever be able to channel its resources in a constructive direction? When we celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations, we all had in mind the tragic economic, social and political conflicts from which the Organization was born. To date, however, we have for the most part been incapable of overcoming the lack of understanding which prevails as to how to bring prosperity within the reach of all.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The relaxation of tensions and the beginnings of solutions to grave international conflicts in various parts of the world are not fortuitous, just as the tensions and confrontations which provoked them were not. The great Powers have entered into a process of dialogue and disarmament. We congratulate them and trust that this will be sustained. Countries in confrontation, zones in conflict, ate beginning to feel the results of those agreements, and at last recourse is being made to the multilateral institutions which were created to promote peace. In this context, allow me to congratulate the Secretary-General for his efforts and convey our sincere wishes that they may be supported and sustained by all in this Organization.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The Acapulco Commitment to Peace, Development and Democracy, which we eight Latin American Presidents signed last year, is the expression of our shared concerns and our common purposes. We have set ourselves the necessary goals in the three fields covered by our commitment, and we intend to further and enlarge them. We shall soon be meeting again in fraternal Uruguay to refine our perceptions and take note of the degree of acceptance and understanding which our assessments have received. Venezuela is prepared to make its contribution to ensure that Latin America will not be relegated from the world which, it seems, is being forged at the current time.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“It is impossible to imagine that their exercises in co-ordinating their economic policies are in themselves efforts which we could consider to be consonant with the circumstances facing the rest of the world; nor to imagine that our problems will be solved in this way. We welcome the apparently greater clear-sightedness of the discussion at the Toronto meeting regarding the realities facing the developing world, but since there has been no constructive dialogue or short-term operational measures, we believe that we are entitled to reserve for ourselves the right to explore the possibilities that may prove to be needed. In Latin America a group of countries have been thinking along these lines.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“To be able to bring this to fruition now, we must avoid the risk of inflation, reactivate investment processes, improve productivity, and raise the standard of living of our people, all of which depend on the level of resources we can invest in our own progress and on whether or not we are able to guarantee stability and predictability, which every economic activity and social advance require. Like the majority in our region, we stand a chance of coming out of this crisis successfully. It is accordingly imperative that we should not allow ourselves to slump in inertia and that we should take advantage of this transition. In order to do this, we need full understanding on the part of the international community and of the developed countries in particular, of what is at stake.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“In our view, this situation can be achieved only if the debt problem is approached and managed in a radically different way. Venezuela - and I am saying this on its behalf with full moral and political authority - considers that the efforts made have been more than enough. We cannot envisage staying where we are as the scenario for our society in the future. We have reached the point at which development and foreign debt have become the antithesis of each other in a contradiction which we cannot evade indefinitely. Venezuela has made praiseworthy efforts to restore to its economy a stable and predictable frame of reference. The internal reorganization and adjustment which it has carried our have been beneficial in so far as they have been able to stimulate the strength and reserves of our society.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The existing interrelationship between the development of our economies and the international economy is a fact of life which, instead of leading us on to progress, seems to lead us to backwardness. Is this, or is it not, a collective responsibility? A very recent diagnosis of the Latin American economic situation produced by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) , indicates that since the region has had to make thorough adjustments which give priority to the balances in external accounts, the end result is that we may be in a position to overcome the stagnation in growth and recover greater price stability; but in order to so, it is vital to put an end to, and reverse, the transfer of resources to which our economies have been subjected.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“A few days ago, meeting at the Regional Conference on Poverty, Latin American representatives observed that 61 million Latin Americans lived in a state of poverty which did not even allow them to satisfy their basic need for food. Faced with this reality, which could easily be observed even more dramatically in other developing regions, it is fitting to ask oneself: What right can be invoked, what obligations can be adduced, that transcend fundamental human rights? It can, of course, be argued that it is up to each Government to deal with the problems of the society it represents and that its responsibilities cannot be transferred to others. True, yes, but only when those responsibilities are theirs alone. No one can claim that it is so.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“We, the developing countries, are the victims: of that there can be no doubt. It is likewise true that we are not virtuous. We are not virtuous victims. Yet, in this case, the sins are not the sins only of just some but the sins of one and all. We cannot therefore accept that our people should bear the punishment. They most certainly are not to blame. Nor is this a unilateral plea for our peoples. We are certain that the perils of the future will not spare those who now have the power to take the major decisions. This is the message that Î wish to place on record here before this forum on behalf of the people of Venezuela, a message which is, or should be, the sum and conscience of mankind.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Let us not delude ourselves. If we are not able to devise a multilateral mechanism to meet these objectives, we shall become passive witnesses to an economic and social disaster that will embrace all countries, whether developed or not. It is not possible to remain wealthy for long if that wealth is based on the ruin of others; far less so in today's interdependent world. The economist and university professor Carlos Diaz Alejandro once said: "To blame the victims is a tempting way to shirk responsibilities, especially when the victims themselves are far from virtuous." We have repeatedly maintained that debt is a joint responsibility and that, accordingly, seeking solutions to overcome its traumatic effects must necessarily also be a joint decision, one that is rational and equitable, agreed to by creditors and debtors.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The policy of gaining time, hoping for a financial miracle that will make it possible for the debt to be serviced under current terms, has had its day. We have to grasp this fact and act accordingly, and very quickly. Let us recall the crisis of the 1930s when more than half the countries which were then in the League of Nations filed for moratoriums on their debt; and let us also remember all the consequences, with the world-wide effects that sprang from not having acted in time. It is therefore our duty to try agreed solutions that will lead to international agreements under which the debtors will obtain conditions that are reasonable in relation to the size of their debts; and real schedules and interest rates will be established that will enable them to pay and at the same time develop their economies. There is no other solution.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The traditional scheme is bankrupt and the old timetable appears to us now to be a harmful and grotesque ritual. Where do we expect this road to lead us? Let us remember that there are limits which cannot be crossed with impunity, and the limits include that concept of security and that right to development and social justice which we shall never tire of claiming to be inalienable. The dramatic, compelling fact of the matter is that social problems are becoming more acute and that there are no more adjustments to be made; the net flow of capital from debtor to creditor countries continues; countries service their commitments and, with very few exceptions - and so far Venezuela has been one of them - debts rise, interest is paid on interest, and the dilemma of the debt is further compounded.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“And it is far less reasonable that nations which profess to be our allies and friends should seek not only to justify but to impose such logic, using the most blatant euphemisms. We have seen, in the schemes so far presented, one refinancing negotiation following another, with adjustment policies in the debtor countries and protective policies for the financial systems in the creditor countries; interventions by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the regional development banks; one international conference following another, with specific plans from developed countries - all with no practical result. The fact is that for both the countries that have paid and those that have not, the situation is untenable. Debt can never be repaid by means of more debts.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“The result has been that some loans that were contracted at interest rates at a level in balance with inflation rates have to be serviced at an almost impossible level of interest, because there is no economic activity that can generate enough wealth to cover that imbalance, which is the result of a political decision taken by the Governments of developed countries. The logic of international financial capitalism is unethical and immoral. An economic system cannot function indefinitely on the basis of such a mechanism. Nor can it be claimed that it is reasonable for the expectations of our peoples to be subordinated to the covetousness of the most crass mercantilism.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Among the basic causes of the external debt crisis are the serious errors made by banks and lenders when they set aside the very principles on which private credit activities operate and try ineffectually to supplant the development financing institutions and take over the functions assigned to them. Secondly, immediately following this, there occurred another very important change: the Governments and monetary authorities of some of the countries in which the creditor banks operated, to defend their currencies and fight inflation, took the political decision to raise interest rates to levels far above the average inflation rates, without taking into account the devastating effect that this step would have on the debtor countries.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“There is no other way to explain the lack of definitive solutions to problems such as the problem of external debt, which drains our countries' economies and deprives them of the tight to a stable future. The external debt problem acts as a stranglehold today on the economic and social development of the vast majority of the peoples of the world. It is essential to overcome it if we ace to achieve more just and humane social development. We must begin to tackle it recognizing that we shall find a lasting solution only when we face up to its true causes and admit the failure of the strategies so far followed in our attempt to manage it.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“For Venezuela, together with what is inherent in our national being, its security also means democracy, by virtue of the provisions and mandate established by its Constitution. It means the freedom of its citizens to dissent, under the rule of law, to be able to prosper and satisfy their material and spiritual needs with autonomy and independence. Nevertheless, in a contemporary world such as ours, our security and the security of our countries are threatened from outside. So it is high time to make this charge, and there is no more appropriate forum in which to do so than this, at this rostrum open to all the peoples of the world. Today, the legitimacy of our fundamental tights as nations and peoples, as communities and individuals, is being challenged.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“Today, after many difficult years of being divided by foreign interests, of inflamed prejudices among ourselves, of painful interruptions to our expression of the democratic will as peoples, Latin America, almost in its entirety, is able to present itself to the world once again, as it is doing at this Assembly, with a feeling of solidarity and a community of ideals. I have no fear that I may be mistaken, or arrogating the right of another, when I affirm that we, the nations of America, are undergoing a period of far-reaching changes which we cannot, nor shall, this time leave to the vagaries of circumstance. "Security" is usually defined in terms of custody, preservation and promotion of a country's basic interests.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“It is a happy and memorable coincidence that at this forty-third session two Latin American citizens hold posts of honour: one is President of the General Assembly and the other is Secretary-General. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Argentina, Mr. Dante Caputo, and the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, are distinguished representatives of our people, heirs to the best ideological and republican traditions which created the Latin American nationality. When we joined the international community, after the historic changes generated by the French Revolution - now nearing its bicentennial - there was in our continent a feeling of identity, unity, mutual interest in solidarity, and brotherhood in the face of the sufferings of the war of emancipation and of outside threats.”
1988-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 43 (1988)
“And to believe in the United Nations is, above all, to trust in the intrinsic capacity of the human being to reconcile conflicting interests, harmonize different views and cultivate the fertile soil of understanding. He who has faith can move mountains. Let us make the effort; let us together set the world on the path towards a new, more just, more humane and more free civilization. The United Nations can do it.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“I am particularly gratified to appear before this General Assembly, this democratic world, parliament, as a spokesman for the genuine feelings of the Venezuelan people, as President of the homeland of the Liberator Simon Bolivar, who foresaw an institution such as this one and who, by summoning the Amphictyonic Congress of Panama in 1826, helped to establish the foundations for the future development of the international Organization, designed to bring about a reconciliation of positions and co-operation with mutual respect among nations. By historical tradition and by deep-rooted conviction, we are firm believers in the enormous potential of the United Nations.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“I also wish to pay tribute to a Venezuelan who has played an important part in the struggles of the United Nations since its early days, Manuel Perez Guerrero, a Minister in my Government, who was present at the birth of the United Nations in San Francisco, but who has unfortunately not been able to be with me during this session.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“I could not conclude this message from the people and Government of Venezuela without paying tribute to those men who have devoted an important part of their lives - and have even given up their lives - in the service of the United Nations: Trygve Lie, Dag Hammarskjold, U Thant, Kurt Waldheim and Javier Perez de Cuellar, who, in the post of Secretary-General, have helped to establish the role of the Organization as an essential and irreplaceable instrument of co-operation and solidarity among the peoples of the world.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“As a corollary to this process, the Secretary-General of the United Nations has called for a meeting to be held at the ministerial level for the purpose of dealing with all aspects of the drug problem. We attach the greatest importance to this proposal. I must say very plainly that we must act simultaneously on the production, traffic and consumption of drugs. Only the co-ordinated actions of all countries can put an end to this tragic situation. Among the countries participating in this Assembly there are more than enough resources to do so. Clearly what is lacking, is the resolve to take the necessary heroic measures. I appeal to this Assembly: let us fight this war together.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Beyond our efforts for world peace, freedom, human rights and social and economic development, we are confronted by a new enemy, perhaps the most dangerous of alls drugs. They are the Trojan horse of our civilization. In this theater of peace, I take the responsibility of calling for war, war against this scourge which is endangering the very health of our peoples and, above all, of our poorest, and therefore least protected, societies. And it is in this context that I am gratified to refer to the two resolutions on the subject approved by consensus during the last session, in the adoption of which Venezuela played an important role: one condemned the traffic in narcotics and the unlawful use of drugs and the other proposed the adoption of an international instrument to combat the problem in its new and devastating manifestations.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“7) At one time, during the 1950s, when a terrible earthquake almost destroyed the city of Ambato in Ecuador, the powerful and resonant voice of a Latin American democrat, Enrique Rodriguez Fabregat of Uruguay, cried out under this same roof, "Let us respond to this so-called act of nature with an act of man: let us help." I was in Mexico some days ago to convey personally to President de la Madrid, on behalf of the people and Government of Venezuela, our solidarity with the Mexican people in this hour of sorrow and tribulation that has moved the entire international community and, at the same time, to convey our words of encouragement and our undiminished brotherly support. We therefore co-sponsored, with the greatest solicitude, the resolution unanimously adopted by the General Assembly regarding international help for Mexico.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“We cannot allow this multilateral experience to be divided or weakened even when faced with intransigence and a lack of understanding. Nor can we allow irreversible conditions that make possible broader conflicts or the creation of distrust among the peoples represented here to prevail. We fully agree with the call for reflection and action made by the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, in his report on the work of the United Nations, when he points out that "The Organization's function, and hence that of the Secretary-General, is therefore to harmonize, to encourage and to initiate. But the implementation, the drive, must come from the Members, when this drive does come, it can achieve remarkable results." (A/40/1, p.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“But the moment may have come to make it more positive and effective, to demonstrate that this dialog can be devoted to stimulating the potential of mankind and not only to fighting against the violence and exploitation that still exist in much of our world. We call for the fulfillment of the objectives of the United Nations and ask for the participation of the military and economic Powers, which is fundamental, to encourage a new turn of events on the international scene, based on the practical application of the principles and purposes that we have set for ourselves. We want those initiatives that are in harmony with the collective outcry for a better world to be sponsored and supported within this Organization.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“In Latin America, we have in recent years succeeded in eliminating regimes and practices that were shameful for mankind. That task has not yet been completed. centers of arbitrariness, violence and injustice remain that gainsay the essence of the Latin American peoples and that often, like grotesque ghosts, strike blows reminiscent of a militaristic and arbitrary tradition. We cannot remain passive in the face of these situations. Thus far, the joint action of the nations represented in this forum has had to be to a large extent a reaction against destructive trends, unacceptable practices, the temptation to dominate and structural deformities. This has been an arduous and commendable task.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Nothing must stop us nor cause us to move backwards in the struggle against apartheid and racial discrimination. The fate of Namibia is closely linked with the racist practices institutionalized by South Africa. We are filled with regret at the fact that we are celebrating this fortieth anniversary of the United Nations without the presence of a delegation representing a free Namibia. Numerous major obstacles have been placed in the way of that wish, shared by the overwhelming majority of nations represented here. We wish to convey to the people of Namibia our solidarity and our support in its struggle to exercise its inalienable right to self-determination and independence. The struggle for human rights and freedom cannot be given up.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“After so many years of repression backed by selfish interests and associations which have compromised and damaged the credibility and effectiveness of the United Nations, we must without delay act resolutely and decisively to apply effective sanctions. A decisive outcome is required to end once and for all racism and the vestiges of colonialism. We have seen how some Governments are taking selective measures to induce the Pretoria Government to desist from its ignominious practices of racial segregation. But we insist that the firm will of important partners of South Africa is needed for sanctions to be really effective rather than simply an empty threat which only serves to spur on the racist Government to an intensified deployment of its powerful repressive apparatus.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“As we celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, and 36 years after the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights, we see how the racist regime of South Africa persists in erecting a barrier to contain the will of a people that wishes, as is legitimately and humanly its due, to be master of its own destiny. Nelson Mandela's long imprisonment testifies to the tenacity of a brave and struggling people. It is at the same time, however, a sad symbol of our Organization's inability to end a universal problem that concerns us all.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“And I venture to say this fully aware that, as if by magic, every time the Contadora meetings take a step forward, incidents or actions of various types take place in the region which are perhaps intended to undermine the results of those efforts for peace and reconciliation. It would be a regrettable paradox if, as we move closer to the signing of the Contadora Act for Peace and Co-operation in Central America, we were to witness a systematic worsening of this type of hypocritical conduct. In any event, we Venezuelans shall not relent in this quest, since we are convinced that it is necessary to use dialog to oppose those who try to promote war and confrontation. Venezuela is committed to peace in Latin America and in the entire world. We are committed to promoting democracy, freedom, well-being and the defense of human rights.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“We believe that all the countries directly concerned in the region desire peace and that there are no sectors of the area bent on prolonging war-mongering speculation in connivance with foreign interests. We also believe that there is no more room to maintain the privileges and advantages that in large measure explain the present vicissitudes of the fraternal countries and the origins of the present crisis. Despite many difficulties, steps are being taken to endorse the Contadora Act for Peace and Co-operation in Central America. The recent meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of Central America and Contadora was quite beneficial in this respect and, without being overly optimistic, we believe that the conditions for progress are now present.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“This action in the cause of peace and good will, which has been given the support and encouragement of the international community, has now been strengthened through the establishment of a support group composed of Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay, in a categoric demonstration of the fact that Latin America is prepared to resolve its own problems according to Latin America criteria and formulas, that we are deeply aware of the problem and that determined solidarity is being brought to bear to resolve it. We unequivocally reject the interference in the region of opposing factors alien to the authentic aspirations of the peoples of Latin America, which in some way agitate and seek to undermine the possibilities of establishing peace and understanding in Central America.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“What we have said about the rapid depletion on the oil reserves of importing countries and of exporters not members of our organization has been ignored. The reaction has been short-sighted indifference. OPEC will continue to defend its right to establish the terms of trade for this strategic source, which is essential for international economic development. In Latin America we are facing the challenge of the social and economic development of our peoples, we are also, through the Contadora Group, tenaciously and with perseverance attempting to ward off the crisis in Central America.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Oil continues to be one of the basic elements of the world economy. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is now 25 years old. Its noteworthy efforts throughout that time constitute one of the most just claims of the raw-material-producing countries to promote and achieve more just, rational trade between the developing and the industrialized countries. Once again OPEC is issuing warnings that are not being heeded in world economic centers. Our warnings to the industrialized countries concerning the risks arising from an unstable, anarchic oil market and the negative repercussions of an erosion of prices on world financial and commercial markets have fallen on deaf ears.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Certainly, it was not without interest that we received the information about the talks held recently by Finance Ministers and Governors of the central banks of the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Japan. Although nothing specific resulted from that meeting, and the reports that did emerge were cloaked in the traditional frustrating wordiness, the timid acknowledgment of the need to resist protectionist measures, the possibility of opening markets to our exports and a certain understanding of matters concerning reasonable interest rates and the granting of financing in suitable quantities and on suitable conditions could mean that we are witnessing a change in the perceptions of the great Powers. The developing world has been waiting for a long time for the necessary dialog to materialize.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“It is even more significant that institutions designed to promote monetary and payments stability and an adequate flow of resources for development are undergoing disturbing changes in their purposes and objectives and being transformed from mechanisms for international co-operation into factors for control and security for the benefit of biased interests. In our view, it is more necessary than ever before to co-ordinate economic policies multilaterally, both for sustained growth and for development, and the scope and priorities of that co-ordination cannot be disregarded by this Organization.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“As regards matters of finance, it is scarcely necessary to recall that unless the multilateral bodies have the required resources and appropriate policies it will be at best a coincidence if we are able to overcome the widespread debt problem. In monetary matters, there is no prospect of controlling the persistent instability of exchange rates or of reaching a level of international liquidity in keeping with the present situation and the foreseeable needs of the economies enduring harsh adjustment processes at a time when foreign credit is Contracting. We lack the operational mechanisms needed to deal efficiently with the international trade and financial situation, which is characterized by volatility and instability.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Since 1982 this net transfer of resources has reached $70 billion, which in real terms is equal to nearly twice the resources used under the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged European economies. The development of circumstances makes it necessary for the General Assembly to undertake at this fortieth session, in the economic sphere, an essential exercise in joint reflection in which we seriously analyze the present situation and attempt to reach a common diagnosis which will enable us immediately to undertake the necessary action. In matters of trade, there has never before been such a demand for respect for principles and standards together with such a lack of compliance, such threats of trade war and such repeated and open use of the unilateral imposition of measures.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)