I
congratulate you, Madam President, and wish you the
greatest success in this session.
Four years ago I attended this global forum for
the first time to announce that Colombia was beginning
an era of democratic security. I explained why security
in our time is a democratic value without which
freedoms cannot prosper; it is also a centre of
resources, in whose absence investment does not flow
and the possibility of eliminating poverty and building
equality remains elusive.
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Four years ago I explained to the Assembly why
our concept of security is democratic and thus deserves
the support and confidence of all peoples and of the
United Nations.
I am aware that I could not address the Assembly
today to propose a theory of democratic security;
having been President of my country for four years, I
feel compelled to present the results of this policy.
Colombia has held four general elections and countless
local elections over this period. The referendum and
the election of mayors and governors in 2003 were
events that tested our democratic meaning of security.
This year the presidential and congressional elections,
held on two separate dates under a high threat of
terrorism, were nonetheless among the most peaceful
in many decades. All political groupings enjoyed
effective guarantees, regardless of their level of
support for or opposition to the Government.
Under democratic security, Colombia has elected
mayors, governors and members of Congress of all
political colours. Security has contained terrorism in
order to give democracy free expression.
There is still much to be done in the area of
security, and a definitive peace is not yet within sight,
but progress is undeniable. The effective protection of
Colombians translates into the reduction in the number
of homicides, kidnappings, acts of terrorism, crimes
and threats against journalists and trade union leaders.
All governors and mayors exercise their powers in
their own jurisdictions, overcoming the nightmare of
exile that many were subjected to as a result of terrorist
actions that were not countered by the State.
To guarantee the sustainability of security over
time, our citizens must give it credibility. Our task is to
build credibility based on effectiveness and
transparency. Consequently, human rights are an
imperative of security. In recent years we have
increased our security forces by 30 per cent, military
operations have tripled, and at the same time
complaints against the security forces have fallen by 38
per cent. This is all the more important because we are
a country with full internal democracy, completely
open to supervision and international criticism, as
borne out by the presence of an office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In spite of the work still to be done, the most
important achievement is our citizens’ positive
assessment of security and the collective determination
to consolidate it.
We regard organized violence for fictitious
political motives as terrorism, and security as the path
to peace. When a country has a pluralist, vigorous and
guarantee-granting democracy, armed actions against it
are pure terrorism. To deny this would erase the
difference between armed combat against dictatorships,
which merited the recognition of insurgent groups in
other countries, and the violent aggression suffered by
our democracy, which is terrorism.
The demobilization of more than 40,000 members
of violent groups, as a result of democratic security,
and the efforts proposed by the country to reintegrate
them into constitutional life, prove that for us security
is the path to peace and reconciliation.
Talking about 40,000 demobilized is easy;
tallying them up is very difficult; demobilizing them is
even more difficult; and reintegrating them is a
monumental task. Amidst understandable controversy,
we have made progress in dismantling irregular forces.
Today the vast majority of illegal self-defence
groups — which, together with the guerrillas, until two
years ago seemed like powers greater than the State —
are demobilized, and a large percentage of their leaders
are being held by our justice system. These results are
more eloquent than rhetoric ever could be. I must add
that the number of demobilized guerrillas is higher
than the number killed by official forces.
I have come to the United Nations today to ask
for resolute support for our security policy and our
reintegration programme. The violence in Colombia
has received much international media coverage,
constant criticism of the Government and little support
to overcome it. It is time for the international
community to urgently call on violent groups to make
peace without any further delay. The Government is as
firm in implementing security as it is rigorous in
respecting democratic rules, and is open and generous
in looking for peace. A sincere willingness for peace
will not face governmental obstacles to a definitive
reconciliation.
The international community must support our
security policy more decisively. This will bring quicker
results from our overcoming violence and seeking
peace.
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The financing of violent groups by illicit drugs is
one of the fundamental aspects that differentiate those
groups from former guerrillas in other Latin American
countries. This criminal, bottomless and autonomous
financing is the main obstacle to peace.
It grieves me to say that progress in the fight
against illicit drugs has been small compared with the
sacrifice made by the people of Colombia and the
Government’s willingness to eradicate those drugs. The
number of extradited citizens, the confiscation of illicit
wealth and the areas sprayed represent enormous
efforts, but the results are not proportional. For the
second straight year, we have a programme for massive
manual eradication, which will mean 70,000 hectares
of coca destroyed.
Production and consumption require a global
commitment transcending formal declarations, so as to
increasingly apply programmes that reflect actions of
shared responsibility.
There are successful alternative development
projects. A few weeks ago, the United Nations
positively assessed the forest keeper families
programme, which covers 43,000 rural families that
have replaced drug cultivation with protection of the
forest and the growing of alternative crops. Some, such
as those in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, offer
ecotourism services. According to the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, drugs have been
eliminated in 80 per cent of the area of the forest
keeper families, covering 2 million hectares. More than
136,000 hectares of tropical forest have been
reclaimed. Thanks to payments by the Government,
these families have already acquired more than 30,000
hectares of productive land. Nevertheless, to protect a
high percentage of the Colombian Amazon jungle and
tropical forest, we need to reach 120,000 families. That
is a great budgetary challenge, requiring more general
and decisive international support.
The programme halts the cutting down of tropical
forest and the Amazon jungle, which have suffered the
destruction of nearly 2 million hectares because of
drugs. I ask the world: why is there not less rhetoric
and a greater and more effective commitment, so that
Colombia, which is absolutely willing to achieve it,
may finally and definitively overcome the scourge of
illegal drugs?
We Colombians do not want to be left with efforts
and sacrifices; we require results. We are willing to
revise our strategy and improve it, but we need the
entire world to get involved with us. I ask the United
Nations for additional efforts to help us find ways to be
effective.
We reiterate our enthusiastic commitment to meet
the Millennium Development Goals. Social cohesion,
overcoming poverty and building equity are essential
aspirations of our democracy. In 2002 poverty reached
almost 60 per cent of the population; in 2005 it was
down to 49 per cent. We will do everything possible to
ensure that it does not exceed 35 per cent by 2010 and
to reach the goal of 15 per cent by 2019, the second
centenary of our independence. Fortunately, the Gini
coefficient is beginning to show a trend towards
correction in income distribution.
Our goals for the upcoming four-year period are
ambitious: achieving full coverage in health and basic
education and significant progress in basic sanitation
and providing microcredit for 5 million poor families.
We want a modern democracy with security,
freedom, social cohesion, transparency and
independent institutions. This is our dream; this is what
we are fighting for. We want a nation without
exclusions and without class hatred, with harmony,
rectitude and prosperity; a nation in permanent
democratic dialogue, with fraternity and without
insurmountable antagonisms; a nation integrated into
multilateralism, grateful for the efforts of the United
Nations, receptive to the international community’s
suggestions and willing to share its experiences and
improve its results.