A/38/PV.53 General Assembly

First ofall, I should like, on behalfofthe officers of the Gen- eral Committee and of th~ '?resident, to apologize to all the members of the AsseT.i rfor the ..~ther unusual delay which undoubtedly has- ed difficulties for many rep- resentatives. It was nee:"" ary, however, to give delega- tions concerned tIle time to consult among themselves and at times with their own Governments. Considering that this meeting had been scheduled for this morning-and, as members are aware, the Secretariat takes the necessary steps to organize and co-ordinate the work of the plenary with that of the other committees-we thought it better to wait for a result. I believe the delay has served its purpose. 2. On agenda item 142, entitled "The situation in Cen- tral America: threats to international peace and security and peace initiatives", the Assembly has before it a draft resolution in document A/38/L.13 and two amendments to that draft resolution in document A/38/L.14. 3. May I remind representatives that the debate on this item was concluded yest~rday-morning and that draft resolution A/38/L.13 was introduced yesterday at the S2nd meeting. 4. I now call upon the representative of Panama who will submit some proposals on behalf of the countries of the region concerned. S. Mr. KAM (panama) (interpretation/rom Spanish): I have the honour to report to the Assembly on behalf of the delegations composing the Cohtadora Group- that is to say, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela. After an intense process of cOnsultatiOIlll and negotiations in which a very sincere spirit of compromise reigned, we were able to reach agreement on a new text that has been accepted by all the Central American countries. The revised version [A/38/L.13/Rev.I] will contain the following amendments to the draft resolution in 10cu- ment A/38/L.13. 6. Paragraph 3, as amended, would read as follows: "3. Condemns the acts of aggression against the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the States of the region, which have caused losses in human life and irreparable damage to their economies, thereby preventing them from meeting the economic and SQ,;:ial development needs of their peoples; espe- cially serious in this context are: (a} The attacks launched from outside Nicaragua against that country's strategic installations, such as NEW YORK airports and seaports, energy storage facilities and other targets whose destruction seriously affects the country's economic life and endangers densely popu- lated areas; (b) The continued loss of human life in El Salvador and Honduras, the destruction of important public works and loss in production; (c) The increase in the number of refugees in sev- eral countries of the region;". 7. Paragraph 4 has also been amended, and the new text reads as follows: "4. Urges the States ofthe region and other States to desist from or to refrain from initiating military operations intended to exert political pressure, which aggravate the situation in the region and hamper t!te efforts of the Contadora Group to promote negotIa- tions with the agreement of the Governments of Cen- tral America;". For greater clarity, we included the word "operations" in place of the words "actions or manoeuvres". The rest of the paragraph reads as previously drafted. 8. To meet the concerns expressed by other delegations, in particular that of Costa Rica, which had put forward two amendments in document A/38/L.14, a new para- graph has been introduced, which will appear as para- graph 5 in the new text, since it will be inserted between the present paragraphs 4 and S. The new paragraph 5 reads as follows: "5. Takes note with satisfaction of the fact that the countries of the region have agreed to take measures leading to the establishment and, where appropriate, the improvement of democratic, representative and pluralistic systems which will guarantee effective pop- ular participation in decision-making and ensure the free access ofvarious currents ofopinion to honest and periodic electoral processes based on the full observ- anceof civil rights, emphasizing that the strengthening of democratic institutions is closely linked to evolution and advances made in the sphere of economic devel- opment and social justice;". 9. The delegations of the members of the Contadora Group consider that the draft resolution that has been put to the Assembly and which will be adopted is con- structive and categorically supports a peaceful and nego- tiated solution to the conflicts in the region. We are frrmly convinced that the General Assembly, in consonance with the purposes and principles of the Charter, will unequiv- ocally support this draft resolution, which is based upon our genuine desire to bring peace to the Central American region. 10. In conclusion, I nropose that the draft resolution be adopted by consensus. 11. The PRESIDENT (interpretation from French): The representatives thus have before them a draft reso- lution which has been revised in accordance with the amendments just read out by the representative of Pan- ama. As he explained, the amendments proposed by Costa Rica were withdrawn and have been included in the new draft. As the members of the Assembly also ,"~I