YouSaid · the spoken record

Rafael Caldera

lines on the record: 42
first: 1994-09-24
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

“The Organization can rely on Venezuela for anything relating to service to any and all human beings, or to friendship, cooperation and peace among nations, and anything required by the fight against crime, poverty, drug-trafficking, terrorism, hatred, discrimination — all the evils that have beset humanity. We trust that the United Nations will always stand against those evils as a shield against adversity and a beacon of hope.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“May I remind the Assembly that, although our fight for political independence was perhaps the bloodiest of the nineteenth century, we have not had a single violent conflict with any other country since the birth of our Republic. In international forums, Venezuela has distinguished itself by its constant support for universal peace and has always made its modest contribution to any initiative in favour of justice and peace. That is why I can assure the Assembly that the next Government of Venezuela, whatever the electorate may decide, will continue to follow the same path within the United Nations.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“For 40 consecutive years, at each constitutionally determined interval, the transfer of power stipulated by the Constitution of the Republic has been carried out. In shifting circumstances, the institution of democracy has remained stable in an atmosphere of full and absolute freedom. A difficult economic situation and the winds of change that are blowing throughout the world and are becoming stronger on the eve of a new millennium have focused Venezuela?s political debate on the idea of change. I am nevertheless convinced that, despite the change Venezuela envisages, its people?s love for liberty and democracy as the best system of government and its commitment to fight for peace and understanding among all nations will remain unaltered.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“If measures are not taken to put an end to the abuses of what His Holiness John Paul II called savage capitalism, which gives rise, with its excessive desire for profit, to unstable situations that are transmitted with vertiginous speed to all the world?s economic centres, we will have replaced the fear of nuclear war with the threat of an economic and social catastrophe. It is my view that in today?s globalized world, one of the primary commitments of the community of nations, working through and coordinated by the United Nations, is to strengthen its resolve to prevent and correct unacceptable imbalances, and to ensure the awareness and capacity of the international financial mechanisms for facing contingencies. In a few weeks, the people of Venezuela will go to the polls to elect their new leaders.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“To that end, the exchange of ideas between the Organization and the international financial institutions that make up the Bretton Woods system must be encouraged and strengthened. Fundamentally, globalization will depend on the balance between rich and poor, between the more advanced, the intermediately advanced and the least developed nations, and on the application of equitable formulas to alleviate the external debt burden referred to by the Secretary-General in his report. At the end of the twentieth century, there is no more important objective than to steer the concern of the international community in this direction.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The visible effects of the phenomenon of globalization have demonstrated the imperfections of the international financial and monetary system, which has 11 recently been characterized by, inter alia, the sharp impact of the participation of powerful financial groups and the decisive actions of certain parties, such as the agencies that assess risk, certain of which have become a worse threat than the terrible forces of other times. The time is ripe to encourage a better understanding between developed and developing countries, all equally affected by financial instability. Venezuela believes that financial and monetary issues must have a permanent place on the agenda of the United Nations system.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“My country?s delegation to the United Nations has set forth, first to the Group of 77 and then to the General Assembly, the need to call a special meeting to study the financing of developing countries. If financial assistance to the developing countries is not addressed on a priority basis, if the necessary resources are not forthcoming from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as other agencies dealing with the basic aims of development, globalization will not be as successful as we could hope it to be. The effects of the Asian crisis on Latin America have resulted in the weakening of some currencies, a significant downturn in the capital markets, rising internal interest rates, restrictions to the obtention of external credits and a rapid increase in the risk factors for many emerging countries.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The balance of terror imposed by the cold war has been replaced by a lack of financial discipline, by ruthless speculation that is alien to the values of solidarity and ethics that should prevail even in technology?s most sophisticated advances. The poorest countries are the traumatized victims of this reality, but the whole world community may be threatened by this situation that will affect even the advanced countries. No one can escape the consequences of this situation. I therefore believe that today?s international agenda must concentrate on this critical point, giving it priority over other objectives that, though also important, must give way to this indispensable matter.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“This was recognized by the victorious countries in the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the First World War, and it was also expressed in the Declaration of Philadelphia of 1944 by the belligerents about to triumph in the Second World War. The fight against poverty is ever more necessary and urgent, for the market economy and the current globalization process cannot on their own respond to the demands that social problems make on world leaders. In addition to its positive aspects and the progress it undeniably entails, the complex phenomenon we have come to call globalization can also have progressively negative effects on the emerging developing countries. Faced with the world?s present imbalance, we must therefore make a special point of emphasizing the harmful effects of international financial speculation.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The fight against poverty has been one of the most important aspects of international action in the last few years. The World Summit for Social Development reflected one of the priority concerns of the United Nations. The ongoing activities of specialized agencies and the projects of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mark out a clear path in the search for a solution to this problem, a path that must be extended over the whole surface of the Earth. We know full well that peace, true peace, stable and permanent peace, requires justice, and that justice is most truly expressed in social justice.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“And those who cultivate thought, pure science and art laboriously search for new avenues, driven by a zeal that arises from the progress already achieved in changing mankind?s way of life. We strongly favour the Secretary-General?s plans for reform of the Organization. We are convinced that the Security Council must be enlarged. The establishment of the International Criminal Court represents an important step in the juridical life of the international community. The fight against drug trafficking and terrorism increasingly requires that the international community become its centre of coordination. These are delicate and demanding problems that cannot be left to the individual actions of States, however powerful. The international community therefore faces an arduous task.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The position of our solar system and the global unity we live in, in relation to the whole cosmos, is a subject we are trying more and more to define and penetrate. Furthermore, in just a few short years, compared with the span of history, the communications revolution has made the world more unified, more interdependent, more in need of standards and systems that cannot be imposed by the most powerful, but must be the result of consensus, with respect for each individual?s identity and right to life. In today?s society we are fully conscious of the infinite presence of what is large, but we also have a precise idea of the importance of what is infinitely small. The technological revolution has not left an iota of knowledge untouched by its transforming impact.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“The Organization has managed to keep its respected position, and today we hope to be able to strengthen it further so as to work firmly together to confront the new problems and realities, something that will require ever greater efforts. The century that is coming to an end has also been a time of incredible transformations. Air travel, which had 10 been the dream of a few visionaries, has become an everyday reality, and each hour thousands of people fly in and out of airports around the globe. The great adventure of space exploration has now left progress in air travel behind, starting with man?s travels to the moon. The very nature of the planet we live on has been the object of comparisons that take us across infinite distances in our thoughts about the basic nature of the universe.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Faith in ideals was not enough to resolve the problems; what was needed was the will and firm purpose, illuminated by experience. The United Nations has undoubtedly played a very important role in this peacekeeping task, despite all the deficiencies and errors it could be accused of. It has been the irreplaceable forum where all countries could talk to each other, where all ideologies, all ethnic groups, all political systems, could meet, without losing sight of the goal of encouraging and fostering freedom everywhere and of practising and promoting, by all legal means possible, the democratic system, the only system that is truly compatible with respect for human rights and the free competition of all to govern.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“But it was followed by two decades of lavishness and squandering that made people forget the root causes of the conflagration. The attempt to create a League of Nations awakened ideals and showed the way, but it disintegrated when the thunder of cannons announced the outbreak of the Second World War. The subsequent post-war era, enriched by the bitter lessons of experience, encouraged by suffering and inspired by the ideals of peace and liberty, lived for five decades under the threat of nuclear war. The terrible catastrophe predicted as the inevitable result of the so-called cold war remained at the forefront of the world?s concerns until the memorable fall of the Berlin Wall, which opened the new era in which humanity now finds itself. For half a century peacekeeping has been a difficult and sometimes agonizing task.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Venezuela?s words are candid and sincere, for we are ever at the ready to make our modest but solid contribution to the establishment of stable friendship and an effective and durable peace among all the peoples of the world. The century that is drawing to a close has left a deep imprint on human history. Two gigantic wars nearly put an end to our civilization?s impressive progress and, above all, to the respect for human rights that is fundamental to all progress. An unparalleled revolution seemed destined to change decisively the face and destiny of the world, and the end of that revolution was the most striking and fortunate surprise the world has ever seen. The world war that started in 1914 revealed to the horror-stricken eyes of the world the human capacity for evil and destruction.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“Please accept my sincere congratulations, Sir, on your election. I am convinced that your solid academic background and valuable experience as a statesman will serve your country, Uruguay, well, and will strengthen Latin America?s image. I also congratulate the Secretary-General on the excellent report he submitted to the General Assembly at this fifty-third session. It is a document rich in profound analysis and noteworthy proposals for these new times. I am speaking on behalf of Venezuela before the General Assembly of the United Nations at a time when my Government?s term is drawing to a close, in just a few months.”
1998-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 53 (1998)
“In this way we shall realize the ideal which our Liberator, Simon Bolivar, visualized as the most important goal of the best system of government: "the greatest possible degree of happiness", in other words, happiness for all.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Those of us who love freedom; those of us who have struggled to achieve it, regardless of cost and sacrifice; those of us who consider democracy and respect for human rights as priority objectives; those of us who sincerely yearn for friendship and fruitful understanding among all nations; those of us who believe in dialogue and resolutely support the endeavours of the United Nations to encourage it - all of us desire to see the United Nations displaying unflinching determination that the search for justice - and I shall never tire of repeating this - must play a key role in the building of peace. If peace is our goal let us strive to make justice its foundation.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“This concept has still not gained acceptance in the international field. It is true that there have been some minor concessions to the most needy countries but there is a lack of any clear course towards the achievement of universal well-being. It is not only States that should be the agents. Once the door was opened by the International Labour Organization (ILO), international organizations also provided access for unofficial bodies. The large transnational corporations which have and exercise real power must become involved in the management of programmes that will seek peace through justice; economic justice in so far as it 9 concerns them; and respect for the sovereignty of both large and small States.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“We are resolved to meet them, but we consider that this subject must be placed on international agendas and that a search must begin for a broad solution that will open up new horizons of justice and peace. I believe that as we approach the beginning of the second half of the United Nations first century the fundamental aim of the United Nations must be the search for justice in relations among peoples. Social justice has been one of the most important achievements of this twentieth century that is now drawing to a close. This demands of every individual and every group whatever is required for the common good. Above and beyond the numerical equality of commutative justice, it also requires of all of us that we make a contribution to the community of nations in proportion to our individual possibilities.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“It is true that there have been negotiations on restructuring and that they have temporarily alleviated the dreadful burden that problem represents for the debtor countries, but as the repayment deadlines fall due the burden for those in debt becomes harder to bear with the passing of every year. To cite a concrete example: in my country next year’s debt servicing payments will amount to 35 per cent of the national budget, and in coming years the situation will become even more acute. The drop in the price of our main export has made it very difficult to meet the basic needs of our population. We have never given any thought to disavowing our obligations.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Consequently, access to capital must be arranged on equitable terms to protect the interests of producers, who are often obliged to accept conditions that are little more than adhesion contracts. This struggle to obtain better prices for raw materials, which are almost invariably subject to conditions imposed by consumer countries without any real participation by the producers, and the establishment of reasonable terms for international loans are part of the struggle for justice and an integral part of the struggle for peace. The external-debt problem of the developing countries is still far from being solved.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“We further believe that transfer of technology must be wide ranging and genuine, for if it is not the gap between us and the developed countries, which increases every year, will ultimately become impossible to bridge and will lead to a sharp and bitter rift between two sectors of mankind, with unforeseeable but undoubtedly disastrous consequences. Access to capital is a requirement that is becoming ever more acute as technological advances make productive processes more capital- and less labour-intensive. At the same time, there must be fair payment for the raw materials that represent the principal contribution of the underdeveloped countries to international trade but that are constantly losing their relevance in end products.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“For example, when considering the need to strengthen trade relations throughout the world we must call for guaranteed access to the markets of the developed countries, where mechanisms are sometimes in place that are skillfully used to exclude our competition. We agree with the need for environmental protection for the benefit of the world’s inhabitants, and we are certainly ready to contribute to that goal. However, we must make the point that on more than one occasion the ecological struggle for a healthy environment has been hypocritically used as a way to prevent developing countries from gaining access to the markets of wealthy nations.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“We realize that we must seek within ourselves the essential elements that will enable us to win the struggle for development to which we are so seriously committed. We have put forward an economic stabilization and recovery programme that has been in large part accepted. It lays out a feasible and clearly defined course that will ultimately lead to a solution of the crisis. However, we feel that we are in duty bound to explain to international forums, and most particularly to this world forum, the need for favourable prospects to open up that can help us to avoid exerting our efforts in vain and ensure instead that they will be successful and will contribute to a better future for mankind.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“As I have pledged to my compatriots, I must find ways of restoring the confidence that is indispensable if coming generations are to be able, with training and hard work, to avail themselves of the opportunities the country has to offer. Serious institutional problems - such as the legal proceedings 8 against two former Presidents of the Republic, one of whom was suspended from office while still President - have been handled within the legal system with strict adherence to the Constitution. The people’s conduct has been truly exemplary. The natural resources with which providence has endowed us and the favourable prospects guaranteed by our human resource, our people, who have always demonstrated intelligence, creative audacity and courage in times of danger, inspire us with optimism.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“He proposed the establishment of "a new and more productive citizen in the economy, a citizen who participates to a greater degree in politics and who is more supportive in the social sphere." (Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-ninth Session, Plenary Meetings, 5th meeting, [p. 27]) In recent years my country, Venezuela, has faced a difficult economic situation and disquieting social circumstances. Undeniably, the blame lies largely with us. Grievous mistakes in running the country and the poisonous plague of corruption are the principal causes of the acute crisis we are experiencing, but external factors have also played a part. I am not here to pronounce judgement on the past.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“It is true that economic-liberalization measures in less-developed countries have produced positive macroeconomic results, but in some countries that point with satisfaction to the tremendous economic progress they have achieved one can note, at the same time, a growing concern about that portion of the population that is living in poverty and, even more distressing, in critical and even extreme poverty. I share the aspiration voiced by the President of Colombia to a new model of development for our countries, for an "alternative model," as he put it when addressing the Assembly.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“It must be recognized that the United Nations and its important subsidiary bodies have made great efforts to alleviate the sufferings and shortages of those sectors of humanity where the standard of living is below what is deemed humanely indispensable. It is encouraging to note that institutions directly related to the United Nations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund recognize that the fight against poverty must be a top priority. It is not, however, enough to give humanitarian assistance to the neediest. It is essential to afford nations the conditions they require to enable all their inhabitants to compete efficiently, to ensure their healthy survival and to encourage their progress.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The bilateral and multilateral agreements reached on all continents are signs of progress and stimulate the creation and exchange of wealth. It is nevertheless essential to introduce into relations between States instruments that will prevent commercial interchange from becoming an economic war to the death. It is inappropriate to transfer to social relations the concept of the struggle for existence in the sense that nature itself, through this struggle, will automatically ensure the survival of the fittest - in other words, the absolute predominance of the strongest and the disappearance of the weakest. The acceptance of such an idea would be a crime against humanity.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“That was understood by the negotiators at Versailles at the end of the First World War when they included in their Peace Treaty a lengthy clause devoted to the International Labour Organization and inspired by the notion of social justice. Undoubtedly, however, the need for justice goes far beyond international conventions and recommendations with regard to labour, and meeting that need is becoming a matter of increasing urgency. The rapid process of globalization we are witnessing is unstoppable and unavoidable. The steps being taken in this direction are dictated by the state of today’s world and the demands of the immediate and mid-term future. The conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the creation of the World Trade Organization represent undeniable progress for mankind.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Events recall the Biblical commentary of the Peruvian Victor Andrés Belaunde, an illustrious Latin American, greatly appreciated in the United Nations, who said that human beings bear the weight of a curse implicitly imposed by God when He cast them out of the Garden of Eden: Since they refused to be governed by God, they would have to govern themselves. The United Nations faces a constant challenge: the quest for peace. It is clear that peace will not be achieved simply through political discussion or diplomatic negotiation, still less through the mere use of force. It has often been said by knowledgeable speakers that peace is the fruit of justice: that is, without some degree of justice, peace is unattainable.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“7 In spite of the dramatic repercussions of the events following the destruction of the Berlin Wall, peace has not yet been achieved. Just as we were ready to thrill with emotion at the arrival of universal peace, the Gulf War awakened us from that dream. Recent conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, two countries so fundamentally different one from the other, have stirred up vestiges of barbarism that had supposedly disappeared for ever. Religious conflicts and ethnic antagonisms, thought to have been overcome once and for all, have re-emerged with unbelievable bitterness.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The momentous International Conference on Population and Development, recently held in Cairo, seemed to be based on the assumption that it is impossible to guarantee development interpreted as participation by the whole human being and by all human beings in economic and social processes - if the population continues to increase. This is because many countries have not ensured, as is essential, that everyone who is born will have the means to enjoy a decent existence. In my country, at the beginning of the century, a time of manifest poverty and backwardness, there was a saying that every child was born with an arepa under the arm. "Arepa" is a bread made of maize and is a popular staple of the daily diet. This saying has now dropped out of popular usage.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“However, despite all the progress achieved, it is undeniable that we are still a very long way from having established a stable, universal peace or a harmonious coexistence amongst nations. Nor have we developed standards of living that permit all social strata in the various continents to enjoy a fitting human existence, with a satisfactory world-wide level of equity in social relations. The struggle for human rights has spread significantly, and international treaties have been signed to ensure that protection of such rights transcends all borders. But the basic human right to life itself, the right to work and the right to have enough to eat for healthy living are far from having been secured for a considerable part of mankind.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The United Nations has managed to avoid most of the obstacles that caused the failure of its immediate predecessor, the League of Nations. Next year it will celebrate its first 50 years of existence: a time in which, amidst contradictions and disappointments, it has provided a unique forum for constant dialogue, in every language and in the most contrasting tones. It has made uninterrupted progress and shown a willingness to accept the structural changes that changing times have imposed. For this reason we are awaiting further changes, such as the expansion of permanent representation on the Security Council to Latin America by granting Brazil permanent membership. Latin America has every right to this by virtue of its spiritual strength and its constant espousal of liberty and international friendship.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“At the same time, regional integration is expanding, with profound effect on the exercise of rights within every country. This process is rapidly leading to hemispheric and universal integration. For Latin Americans, the bicentennial of the birth of Antonio José de Sucre, the young man who consolidated our independence at the battle of Ayacucho, will provide an opportunity to reassert the unbreakable links of our solidarity. As we see it, the objective of the forthcoming meeting of Heads of State or Government, convened by the President of the United States, will be the encouragement of a genuinely democratic system in the American continent and throughout the world. It is our hope in this regard that there will be a commitment to fight without quarter against poverty and an effective agreement to stamp out corruption.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Amongst these values are the self- determination of nations and non-intervention, as laid down in the Preamble to our Constitution. Accordingly, Venezuela has been and remains permanently disposed to promoting the peaceful spread of democracy to every nation on Earth, and especially to those of our continent. We have consequently supported efforts aimed at reintroducing a fully democratic system in those Latin American countries where it is not at present established. Their situation is inevitably of deep concern to us by reason of history and natural affinities. For the same reason, though, Venezuela did not support military intervention in Haiti, despite the fact that the United Nations has lent it multilateral and institutional support.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“The twentieth century has been the era of radio broadcasting and television. Important events occurring in any part of the world are immediately known in the most distant regions. The fax has supplanted the mails and improved on the telegram and the telex. Communications are the principal reason why the inhabitants of this planet are gradually recognizing their role as members of a single, vast community of nations. Of necessity, institutions have endeavoured to keep in step with the rapid and unremitting march of events. Both internal and international juridical norms are subject to constant change. Fundamental concepts of nationality and sovereignty are being reconsidered, and formulas are being sought so that inalienable and traditional rights may exist in harmony with the requirements of the supranational community.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“Two world wars, which cost an enormous number of human lives and immense physical, economic and cultural losses, demonstrated the extent to which man is capable of destruction - above all, self-destruction. The world’s political map has been changed many times, with predictable consequences. Science and technology have made remarkable progress. The discovery of antibiotics has provided undreamt-of opportunities for surgery. Surgeons have 6 converted the human body into a fruitful field for operations capable of correcting natural defects and injuries arising from circumstances prevailing in an increasingly complex society. Life expectancy has risen steadily, and terrible endemic diseases that used to claim countless victims have vanished almost completely. Communications have been the greatest marvel of this century.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)
“On behalf of the Government and people of Venezuela, I wish to congratulate you, Sir, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Côte d’Ivoire, on your election as President of the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. I am confident that under your guidance the Assembly will at this important session contribute to progress in the carrying out of the important task with which the Organization is charged - the constant quest for peace. I also take pleasure in paying tribute to Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Secretary-General, whose intelligent and expert leadership have given the world fresh hope, as we are about to enter a new millennium, so that we may be optimistic about the future, even though there are still grounds for concern. The twentieth century, which is drawing to a close, has witnessed momentous events for mankind.”
1994-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 49 (1994)