A/44/PV.16 General Assembly
The Assembly will first hear an address by the President
of the Republic of Costa Rica.
Mr. <Scar Arias Sanchez, President of the Republic of Costa Ric::i, was escorted
into the General Assembly Hall.
The PRESIDEWi': On behalf of the Ceneral Assembly, I have the honour to
welcome to the United Nations the President of the Republic of Costa Rica, His
Eltcellency Mr. (Scar Arias Sanchez, and to invite him to address the Assenbly.
President ARIAS SANCHEZ (interpretation from Spanish): I salute you,
Sir, on behalf of the Costa Rican ~ople ~nd wish you all success as President of
the General Assembly. I salute also a tireless friend in the efforts for pea.ce in
Central America and the world, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar.
As President of Costa Rica I came here !:or the first time in 1986. I said
then that Central America was on the brink of war. I have returned today for the
last time during my term of office to tell the Assembly that we are on the verge of
peace. Yesterday I came to ask for your help and today I come to thank you. Then,
we had to stop a waq now we must build peace. How quickly the world has dlanged
in these few years. Brother has stopped killing brother in many places on this
Earth. I ask myself: Where are the wi.nners of those wars? Where are the
vanquished? Let us not be afraid to say it: the only winners were those who had
the courage to a pea.ce accord; the only winners were those who had the courage to
chdnfle history. Wherever violence oontinues, everyone is the loser.
The line between war and peace is a di fficul t and treacherous path. It also
bears witness to resentments that persist for many years. At times the decisions
of the few, immersed in ideological dogmatism of religious fanaticism, are enough
to tip the scale towards destruction and death. On other occasions, men in faraway
places encourage armed conflicts, disregarding the pain of those who are dying. It
takes very little to turn peace one day into violence the next. It is also true
that individuals and peoples can make a difference in favour of peace. The
strength of forgiveness and dialogue can silence the guns and put everyone to work
towards finding real solutions. Our destiny is not carved in stone and it is our
responsihility to fashion a different future.
There are many who are unsure whether to commit themselves to the path of
dialogue and reconciliation for fear of being called naive. It is easier to say
that wars will always exist and wash one's hands of it, as did the great traitors
in the history of humankind who could have prevented murder but chose to remain
silent, who could have stopped war but encouraged it, who could have fought po~erty
but chose to ignore it. I am not afraid to say that the war which threatened to
spread in so many directions has turned into an opportunity to huild peace. My
people are proud of having contributed to that change. We will not be prisoners of
our past, not even for the sake of caution, when perpetuating that past violates
the rights of men and women, limits their fLeedom, allows poverty and leads to
war. The solutions to the problems that have been hesetting us for so many years
reauire imagination and coarage. Let there be change. Let everything change ~o
that hope can bring peoples together on one unified path.
Even though hunger is increasing in the world and inequalities between rich
and poor countries are widening, the scale hetween war and peace has tipped towards
peace. The direction of history in the struggle between dictatorship and the
people has tipped in favour of freedom and democracy. Violence has not lessened
pain, hut severely increased it. It has not resolved problems, but has created
other, higger ones. The risks involved in forging a different future are less than
(President ~rias Sanchez)
the pain and evil that will result if we persist in following the PCiSt blindly. to
begin by ending war is the r ight way, but if we cannot build peace immedia tely we
will have lost everything before we wake up to reaU ty.
The Central American Peace Plan continues to move forward. The presidential
summit meetings in El Salvador and Honduras have strengthened our commitment to
fight to end the violence and improve democracy. The armed struggle in Nicaragua
has stopped and thousands upoo thousands of young people in that country owe their
lives to that courageous agreement. l\n electoral process has begun, and in
February 1990 the people of Nicaragua will elect a new president and parliament.
\H th the help of many and with international supervision, elections in our sister
country will be fair and equal guarantees will be given to all alike. We must
continue to foster the reconciliation of the people of Nicaragua~ the return of
those who are in exileJ the silencing of the guns that are still being fired J the
end to violence demanded by reason, mercy and the peace plan.
The next presidential summi t will be held in December in Nicaragua. 'fhatwill
be an opportunity for us all to verify the progress made towards the free and
denocratic elections that the entire world hopes to see. ibthing at that meeting
could contribute to peace more greatly than an agreement to reduce the Sandinista
arrred forces SUbstantially. This demilitarization is an indispensable prerequisite
if we want to achieve peace in our region. Because I have these hopes and will
work for them, I was not afraid to come her~ in the past and say that Sandino had
been murdered anew, for his struggle for freedom had been betrayed. I say today
that I believe there is hope for the people of Nicaragua to become reconciled in
democracy and freedom so that Sandino will rise again for all of them and so that
together they can con tinue to pursue the revolution for freedom in freedom.
This month in Costa Rica, representatives of the Cbvernment of El Salvador
will meet wi th leaders of the guerrilla forces of the Farabunoo Marti Na tional
Libera tion Front. The purpose of the meeting is to negotia te an end to the
hostilities. With God's help they will be able to reach an agreement similar to
that obtained by the people of Nicaragua in sapes for the sake of pooce. All the
brutality in El Salvador has not led to any solution. Let anyone in this room rise
and say wi thout hesi ta tion, in the presence of the na tions of the world, wha t
problems were solved by encouraging and supporting violence in our tortured Central
America. I ask all those who can help to contribute to putting an end to the
senseless killing and destruction in El Salvador. We demand an end to a decade of
pain that has yielded no gains and provided no future.
Once more, as we come closer to the cease-fire negotiations, the conflicts and
acts of war which torment that sister country have increased. Those who think that
by demonstrating greater destructive power they will gain an advantage in the
dialogue are badly mistaken. An increase in v iolence reveals despera tion and
confirms weakness. There is no longer any sympathy in the world for heroic acts
that turn into cowardice, for honour where blood is spilled.
Honduras rightly asks that the Nicaraguan Contras established in its territory
im~diately put doW'l their weapons and return holl'e. In Guatemala a few lunatics
have escalated their acts of violence. They too will find no sympathy in a world
that will not again confuse courage with terrorism nor fanatacism with the struggle
for freedom. The doors of democracy have been opened for: Guatemala, and we can all
contribute to widening them. To abmdm this path is to miss the call of history
for democracy in that beloved sister nation.
(President Arias Sanchez)
In the past few years the balance in Central America has tipped in favour of
freedom, democracy and peace. Much remains to be done. We are very far from
achieving the political coexistence we seek for every cO'Jrltry and for the region,
but we are mov ing in the r igh t direction.
Everyone from His Holiness Pope John Paul 11 to the United Nations agrees that
development and peace are inseparable. In the lands surrounding my country they
are proceeding on dangerously seplrate paths. All the countries of the region,
apart from Costa Rica, have become poorer. It is urgent to reverse that trend.
We are not unaware that many wish to help us. lIbr can we fa il to mention that
only very sl0wly and in very few instances have good intentions materialized into
facts. We shall maintain confidence in the United Nations special plan of economic
assistance for Central America adopted by the Assembly, in the San Jose accords,
which reflect the co-operation of the European Economic ComThunity, in the Sanford
Commission, which prorootes development programmes that rise above political
differences, and in the Caribbean Basin initiative, whim ;ives preferential
treatment to our exports. We shall never give up hope, because wi thout development
our peace will not last. In a few years we have to reverse more than 100 years of
injustice and oppression.
The anguish of war, the hopes we share for a true peace and our dr:eams of
susta inable development do not remove us from the dlallenges facing all mank ind.
we have not distanced ourselves from the political, technological and economic
changes of our times. We are not unaware of the fact that imminent ecological
disasters have become as serious a threat as war and are a harbinger of death,
suffering and hunger. We are neither an economic nor a military Power. Nor are we
merely part of a problem. We are part of a solution) we are defenders of ideas) we
aspire to be a mor al force.
This y~ar we shall celebrate lOO years of denocracy in Costa Rica, and we have
already celebrated more than 40 years as a people without weapons. We see a world
weary .0:: violence, tired of poverty. We see a world desperately seeking change.
In the division between those who take refuge in the past and those who assume the
risks of constructing a different future, my people is on the rood of the future.
In this scenario, in which ideological walls are tumbling down. and what was
the iron curtain is opening up, and in which the wire fences that imprisoned
nations are being cut, we can look without fear at the promise of freedom.
Confron ta tion has not helped us solve our most basic ell fferences. en the contrary,
it contributed to spreading selfishness, to permitting dogmatic and fanatical men
to govern in respectability. We mistook arrogance for courage. Wa made heroes of
those who merely spoke against the powerfUl and promised to see justice done with
arms. We forgot to work towards solutions, to make a commitment with respect to
the sUffering of our peoples, to accept the primary responsibility for taking up
the challenges fac ing us. No one can be unaware tha t we have an oppor tuni ty to
ma~e a different world, to surmount through co-operation an agenda common to all,
na Hons rich and poor, na tions old and young.
The struggle for human rights must now and forever be without boundaries -
without boundaries, the task of prorrnting peace in order to banish violence in the
solution of our problems~ without boundaries, the condemnation of terrorist acts)
without boundaries, the determination to strengthen and buttress denocracies, for
never in history have democratic (bvernments made war upon ooe another; without
boundaries, the obligaticn to take account of environmental coracerns in our
development plans) without boundaries, the commitment to free our children from the
drugs that are killing and destroying them) without boundaries, our efforts to
ensure that no nuclQ1r weapon will ever be launched again, so that gradually, by
replacing fear wi th understanding, we can des troy those weapons) wi thout
(!res ident Arias Sanchez)
boundaries, the commitment to control and reduce conventiooal weapons, and the
disarmament that:. has beoo[lle possible in this new era must guarantee resources foe
development and not ooly for the corquest of space) without boundaries, our hope
for markets free from protectionism, for fair prices for commodities C\nd for
equitable opportuni ties for the growth of all peoples. Let us make th is dos ing
decade of the twentieth century one of peace and bread for all the world.
fIIltch remains to be done before we finish tearing do\lt'l the walls that reflect:
the dogmatism and hatred of the past. Much rema ins to be done before we can conrni t
ourselves to a common agenda. Beyond those two concerns, the gl"eatest risk is that
we will raise even higher walls separating the rich nations from the poor,
separ.ating the North from the Sout.'1. 'lbday, when a farmer who works in the lands
and villages south of the Rio Grand~ crosses the border or the sea to enter a
developed country, he gains l~O years of development for. himself and 200 years for.
his children. In the past, millions came from &1rope to the lWericas in search of'
an opportunity to win the race against hunger, to open up horizons of freedom.
'lbday we must ensure opportunities for balanced development for all nations and see
to it that the walls that are torn down do not consolidate new alliances based on
..:!oonomic selfishness. If that happens, not only will the world's poor be the
losers, but the rich too will find the ozone layer full of holes CWld their souls
full of drugs. We must view the oommon agenda as a joint responsiblity and share
burciens and bene fi ts wi thout fear.
Certain countries and many people in various parts of the world refuse to
oo~perate in strengthening a new world. Matters remain that have not been
settled, which cause5 an uncertainty that turns even the brave into cowards. It is
of vital importance for u.c; in Central America that the strict separation between
East and West grow less rigid. If war is to end, it is crucial to abandon spheres
(President Arias Sanchez)
of hegemony and make a commitment to work for freedom and delTDcracy. For those "mo
used to think that the only road to justice was the r03.d of weaponry, the time has
come to come down from the mountain and join the delTDcratic proc.ess.
I wrote the following the the leader of: the Soviet Union:
"l urge you once again, Mr. Gorbachev, to lay down arms in Central
America. The young ~ssians who are dying today in Afghanistan have been
punishment enough for a mistaken policy. They troops will return to the
Soviet Union along the honourable path of courageously correcting one's
mistakes. Correct also your policy tatllards Central America. let us also hold
talks on eliminating conventional weapons, which today are killing our
children and the children of the third world. 11
The answer, although slQi in coming compared with the speed with which our
young people were dyin9 daily in Central America, was posi tive. The Soviet
Q)vernment agreed to work for peaceful understanding and to suspend all military
aid.
It saddens me to report that shipnents of weapons to the region continue. In
Cuba, the leaders seem to have decided to remain in the Sierra Maestra and turn
their back on the new world that is being born. I reiterate here my impassioned
plea to all nations of the world to halt military assistance to t!\e Central
Pmerican region. As Cuba withdrew its soldiers from Angola, it must withdraw its
support for armed opposi Hen in the lands of Central America.
The problems that hinder our struggle for pEece have been canpounded by the
threats and evil deeds of drug traffickers and by fears arising from the setbacks
suffered by dem:>cracy in Panama. In Costa Rica, we approved, wi th the unanimous
vote of our legislative assent>ly one of the str ictest laws ever enacted to fight
drug trafficking and all commerce related to it. We are fighting and we will fight
on, without faltering, for that objective, because our homeland will never provide
refuge or respite for these criminals. It must be part of our commit.ment to peace
and to a common world agenda, that Central America become drug-free. Our countries
must not be tainted by drug production and trafficking.
We have given our total support to President Virgilio Barco Vargas of
Colorrb ia, to whan, in a letter wri tten on behal f of the people of Cos ta Rica ! have
said~
"When one is faced with such a di fficul t and crucial challenge, one cannot
canpromise. There can be no agreement with those who threaten everyooe Cl'\d
everything with savage violence and disrespect our most sacred values.
In terna tienal solidari ty is a categorical impera tive. We cannot become
accomplioes t with a minute of silence or a minute of fear. You must triumph -
for the greatness of your people and the dignity of the Americas."
I repeat here that in the noble struggle of President Barco Vargas, each and every
ene of us is a foot soldier.
I z;'all never tire of repeating that the alliance for freedom and democracy in
the Americas, for which I called en the day I took office as President of Costa
Rica, is our only hope for a lasting peace and strengthening of the foundations of
economic development. There are still authoritarian Governments in ratin America,
however, and that threatens our coexistence.
In Palama, our neighbor and sister nation, the path of oppression has also
become the road of impover ishment~ The sooner the Panaman ians theneelves can solve
(President Arias Sanchez)
their problems through free elections, the lesser will be the tragedy that people
endures. In Panama, principles of the supranational courses of the new world
agenda have been v iola od - principles that protect human ri ghts and support
democracy, that combat corruption and circumscr ibe freedoms.
The mandate of my people is to support the moral force of which the people of
Costa Rica are proud in international ,affair s also. We therefore denounce violence
and "lork for peace. we denounce dictatorship and work for denocracy. We denounce
corruption and work for honesty. At the beginning of my presidency, I broke
diplomatic relations with the Government of South Africa because we cannot sustain
a dialogue with those who are capalble of segregating their brothers because of the
colour of their sk in. We have wi thdrawn our Ambasoador to Panama for as long as
the path of liberty and democracy for all Panamanians is not respected.
International poli tics must not fall prey to cynicism. 'Ib sta te publicly ti.~e
intention to pursue a certain course of action and then privately to push in th~
opposi te direction is often the destructive practice of strong and respected
Governmerlts as well as of small nations. This behaviour undermines the trust we
wish to build and we must fight it, forcing international political forums to he
accoun table to the people.
The will of the majority is beginning to prevail. Dialogue has regained its
strength as a way to find solutions to the most. difficult conflicts that conft'ont
us. The best pcoof of this is the united Nations, which in recent years has again
begl.l'l to shine as a centre of international diplomacy and whose voice increasingly
has the authority ef the majority who break the chains which bound it to the
extremes of power. Poll tics cannot consist of manipula ting our fears, nor of the
art of exaggerating our differences\ we can respect it only when its purpose is to
achieve hmrmony.
(~esident Arias Sanchez)
Nothin,gcould be more advantageous for mankind than reading history t.ogether.
Let us attain justice by sharing the errors of the past and by working with
confi dence towards solutions wi th in the framework of a new agenda for peace and
developnent. The time has come to pay with interest for yesterday's errors and
failures so that the sincere co-operation we need nay arise, so that a common
agenda may become a reality. There is an ecological debt that the developed world
has toward future gEmerations. Perhaps we should offset it with the financial debt
of the third world. There is a social debt that is reflected in the poverty of
mill ions. Perhaps we should 0 ffset it by open ing and free ing the markets.
Once world peace has been secured, a greater effort must be made to attain
harmony in two respects ~ ecological balance and equi table developmel'i\t for na tions
and peoples. As with so many things in .life, it is easier to Share ideals than to
reach them. We have different ways of determining how ecological imbalances and
injustices have come about. Through dialoguef we can find agreement.
Acid rain damages rela tions among the industr ialized countries, but the lack
of dr inking water for millions of men, women and children is perhaps an even
greater challenge. We are justifiably concerned about the possible consequences of
the gradual global warming of the Farth. We know that one answer is massive
reforestation of the tropical countries. The destruction of the ozone layer
creates new risks for new forms of life on the planet. The technologies needed to
face these challenges are based on patents so expensive they are unaffordable in
our countries. We know that the extinction of different biological. species must be
stopped, and therefore certa in practices that exist in our countries must be
changed. We must also penal ize the improper use of certa in products by the
developed countries. It is necessary to stop the loss of the forests, but soil
erosion must not be neglected either.
(President Arias Sanchez)
Fach time we are dist'espectful of na ture, we are pointing a deadly wMpon at
our children. Ib one must il'Jlpose his solution on others, but to~ther we can finrl
a way that respects the goal that we pursue and is suited to what each of us can
do. The economic crisis and the environmental threat are now part and parcel of
the same problem. The economics of waste in the North and the economics of
survival in the South are mor models for developnent. It is new time to construct
a new harmony, to aim again at achieving well-being for every people and equitable
developnent with justice and appropriate CDt'lservation of nature.
\'ben 1 came here for the first time, which seems so 10n9 ago now because of
all the th lngs that have happened since, t enthus ias tically said that I proposed to
come back here wi thin four years, when my presidential term of office had ended, to
tell j'Ou that together we had brought peace to Central P.merica and that
shanty-towns had become a thing of the past. Today 1 an. here to tell you tha t
shanty-towns still exist in ~ country. We have built mor~ housing than ever
be fore t nudl more than I promised in my electoral campaign. We h,;we la.unched a
crusade that no Government will ever be able to reverse in the future. But the
shanty-towns still exist, as does the child abandoned in the street. We have
extended peace, but the threat of war persists, and brothers are still killing each
other in the corners of my little America.
(.!!~siden t Arias Sanch-!!)
There is no end to the struqgle for ju~tice and peace. It does not know a
single day of rest. Some short-sighted people b~lieve t~~t the efforts to
eliminate the $lums in my country could ~ave been more effective if we had not
fought for peace. I thank God and Costa Rica that we never fell into that selfish
way of thinking. My people can look hac~ at the history of the last few years with
their heads held high.
As I said to you at the beginning of my statement, I came to thank you because
the successes we have attained would not have been possible without your help. You
are giving a human face to a world that unt1l recently had no face and knew no
mercy. I leave with the joy of knowing that peace i~ closer at hand and with the
confidence of knowing that the slums which still dark~n the horizon in my country
will disappear. I will nl~ays continue to he a Costa Rica~ at the service of these
caUSes and your ally in these st~uggles the world over.
On behalf ef the General Assemhly, I wish to thank the
President of the Repuhlic of Costa Rica for the important statement he has just
made.
Mr. Oscar Arias Sanchez, President of the RepUblic of Costa Rica, was escorted
from t.he General Assemhly ~.