The Bolivian delegation wishes to add its congratulations to those which the President has already received from the representatives here assembled; his appointment is no more than a recognition of his valuable and outstanding services to the international community.
2. The problems which demand the attention of the Assembly are many and difficult. At the same time, all of them are of the utmost importance since their consequences involve all mankind; they include such matters as peace and disarmament, human rights, the end of discrimination and the social well-being of mankind. However, without detracting from the worldwide importance of the fundamental items which will be considered at this session, there are some of special importance to many of the States represented here, the solution of which ought now to be emerging from the stage of theoretical discussion in order to be embodied in satisfactory decisions, in accordance with the spirit of the Charter, relating to the vast and vital needs of the under-developed countries. Under-development is the principal problem of the countries of Latin America, as well as Africa, Asia and Oceania. To conquer under-development and secure a civilized I standard of living is the aspiration of millions of human beings now engaged in political and economic movements which they hope will lead them to this much desired goal. Revolutionary processes of this kind, which disturb and change old systems, need to be interpreted to the international community, because of their tremendous human significance. These transformations cannot be ignored or checked. They are legitimate outbreaks against centuries-old injustices in the social order.
3. The Bolivian delegation firmly supports what the United Nations is striving to achieve under its technical assistance and economic aid programmes. However, at this stage in the life of our Organization, it is obliged to associate itself with the comments of several of the delegations here present regarding the limited resources available and the methods by which these resources are distributed, which occasionally makes it more difficult to reap their full benefit. Perhaps the time has come to undertake a review and readjustment of the policy of international co-operation, with a view to making it more co-ordinated and dynamic, in accordance with the requirements of the developing countries, whose rate of economic need is faster than the rate at which they are receiving assistance.
4. We believe that until there are new plans to expand and develop the resources of the under-developed countries, there will be a chronic state of economic and political malaise, with attendant anarchy fomenting subversion. Self-development is impossible without capital. Hence, both the plans of the United States Government and Operation Pan America proposed by President Kubitschek of Brazil are ambitious attempts to solve this particular problem.
5. We believe that it is time now to put into effect the recommendation adopted at the Seventh Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics in a resolution submitted by the Bolivian delegation proposing the establishment of a system to protect the economy of the Latin American countries against constant fluctuations in commodity prices on the international market and increases in the prices of manufactured goods consumed by the under-developed countries. We believe that until an objective solution is found to this problem which is fundamental to all our countries, there will be no positive progress in the search for solutions to remedy the unfairness of the present system.
6. In this connexion, it should be borne in mind that the level of development in Latin America is far from even. While some countries have made modest progress, others, hampered by structural defects in their geo-economy, have not even achieved the degree of under-development attained by other backward countries in other parts of the world. The Bogotá Conference therefore agreed to establish a scale of priority for countries which are in a truly critical situation and others — including Bolivia — which are land-locked and without access to the sea.
7. The development of the Latin American countries is a long-standing problem which has unfortunately not been faced in the last nineteen years. Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, suggested certain solutions which were postponed because of the Second World War. Of all of the under-developed areas in the world, this area is the closest to entering the stage of industrialization. The Economic Commission for Latin America has made a detailed study of the vulnerability of Latin American exports, and the shrinkage of Latin America’s markets at a time when the continent is undergoing the greatest population explosion in the world. The Bolivian delegation believes that we must seek out solutions within the system that are commensurate with the pressing problems of Latin American economic life. For all these reasons, and bearing in mind the spirit of the United Nations Charter, the Bolivian delegation trusts that the Organization of American States will take continuing and positive action in regard to the community's problems without waiting for temporary or passing crises to awaken its concern.
8. I should like to dwell here for a moment on Bolivia’s experience at the last United Nations Tin Conference, held in New York in May 1960. The delegation of Bolivia, which was virtually isolated by the nature of the topic under discussion, as the only country in Latin America producing tin on a large scale, was unable to get any support for its just demands for remunerative prices based on the imperative vital factors in the producing countries. While expressing our gratitude to the Mexican delegation at that Conference for its constant support for the Bolivian delegation's position, I should nevertheless like to draw attention to the need for joint action by the members of the Organization of American States and all the under-developed countries with similar problems in matters relating to the defence of commodity prices on the international export market even when they are not themselves producers and are not therefore directly concerned.
9. Bolivia, like other countries of the continent, welcomed the United States Government’s decision announced at the Bogotá Conference, to inaugurate a new era in the assistance extended by that country to the other members of the regional organization. When the initial sum was divulged, the Latin American countries formed the impression that this was only a beginning in effective collaboration and that in future there would be new operations designed to resolve systematically the structural, problems of economic development,
10. Eight years ago, the Bolivian delegation came before the United Nations Assembly at a time when dramatic changes were being initiated in the economic, social and political structure of Bolivia as a result of the 1952 revolution. It fell to our delegation to explain for the first time the causes, background and future plans of this national revolution, at a time when the accomplishment of such reforms was looked upon with suspicion and incomprehension. The Bolivian revolution, which began and ended in response to national historic realities, was not at any time supported by outside elements. It was Bolivian in the fullest sense of the word, and thus remained free of any influence other than the supreme interest of the country and the welfare of its inhabitants. We can say now, before the Assembly, that all the purposes of our revolution have been achieved and its programmes are in full course of completion.
11, Eight years have gone by under the revolutionary régime; we have passed through three stages of constitutional government and today we can say with pride that our revolutionary nationalism is an evolutionary process which is approaching maturity; its basis is in the collective conscience, its aims are social health and labour solidarity, it respects different creeds and races as well as foreign enterprise and property wherever these are not in conflict with the national interest. It is a new conciliatory and Christian humanism. Here the individual end the State are not mutually destructive: they are integrated and able to live in harmony.
12, Revolutionary nationalism makes the constituent parts of the community complementary; it means agreement between the classes; equality of opportunity for all; an economy of participation in which all may progress in accordance with their capacities without prejudice to the rights of others. To us Bolivians, nationalism does not mean xenophobia or class hatred; it is based on the juridical and social order in harmony with economic and political factors. The nationalist revolution has created in Bolivia a new status in economic and social relations whose expression is the national State, the organ of the people and not the sectional instrument of any group or social class. As the President of Bolivia, Dr. Victor Paz Estenssoro, has said, ”… the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement is a happy combination of workers, peasants and members of the middle class, closely allied by their common interest, in opposition to the political and economic despotism of the mine-owners and feudal land-owners, which has changed the physiognomy and character of Bolivia and brought justice for all, whereby privilege has vanished and only ability is recognized. From slaves, it has made freemen, and it has set free gigantic productive energies over the face of the land.”
13. One of the most outstanding aspects of the Bolivian revolution is that it has given human dignity to all the Indigenous peasants of Bolivia, a status they did not enjoy formerly because of the pitiless exploitation to which they were exposed. Today the peasants are free and enjoy all the same rights and are subject to the same obligations as the rest of our citizens. Two million of them have become landowners through the application of the Land Reform Act. What is our purpose in this? We believe that besides having satisfied an ancient yearning for justice, by transforming the anachronistic feudal system of land tenure and forming a more equitable redistribution of the land among those who work on it, we have raised the Bolivian level of production.
14. The social importance of land reform i3 such today that it has been recognized even by the Assembly, which will discuss it this year as an item on its agenda [74]. My delegation is in a position to make an important contribution to the discussion of this very important item, because of our first-hand experience based on the application of principles which harmonize the interests of the State, the interests of those who work on the land and even the interests of those progressive landowners who have joined in, this process of transformation under the new regulations laid down by the Land Reform Act.
15. My Government is interested in promoting the industrialization of Bolivia and in making use of the tremendous economic potential which lies in its undeveloped natural resources. In order to achieve this purpose, we require international co-operation, but co-operation of a kind that will enable us to assist the basic industries which are destined under the Government’s plans to increase public wealth. In his speech, the President of Bolivia added the following; "The international co-operation afforded by the great Powers, to every part of the world, is of sound inspiration and consonant with the interdependence of contemporary life; it made possible the construction of the European countries after the Second World War and it is now assisting the underdeveloped countries of three continents to proceed stage by stage in their economic development. We would not be sincere if, while reiterating our gratitude and that of the whole Bolivian people for this valuable assistance, we did not at the same time stress our firm belief that international assistance would yield more immediate and beneficial results if it was increased and above all if it was directed into specific development projects.”
16. I do not wish to trespass longer upon the Assembly’s attention by drawing up a balance-sheet of the revolutionary accomplishments of the Bolivian Government, The delegations here present are fully informed regarding the process of revolution in Bolivia and its results. Many States have given us proof of their respect and understanding for the-social and political movement in which we are engaged. Some of them, indeed, such as the United States, have given us direct support through technical assistance and economic co-operation that has not in any way involved any political commitment or any influence on the internal or external life of Bolivia--something that our revolutionary Government and our people, both jealous of their sovereignty and independence, would never permit.
17. These special characteristics of the Bolivian process have clearly determined our international position since 1952. We believe that the maintenance of a keen sense of justice against all forms of imperialism which enslave weaker nations economically or politically is compatible with the profound democratic and peace-loving convictions which inform our existence; therefore, now as before, my delegation regards with the deepest sympathy all processes of liberation and is on the side of all nations which are struggling to raise their peoples to higher levels of justice and social well-being.
18. The desire for peace is innate in man. We have seen how all countries, through their representatives, have expressed here their determination to bring it about. The representatives of the two Powers which lead the world today have also reiterated their determination to preserve peace through disarmament. There is therefore a basis, a general consensus, which must be given due recognition for it expresses hot only the thought and the position of representatives put also of the people whom they represent. The problems of disarmament do not arise out of its essential nature. They arise out of the process of putting it into effect, the procedures which one nation or another wishes to apply in order to achieve the aim.
19. Various proposals have been made. The problem is naturally complex, but in our view it requires above all a state of mind in the great Powers which will facilitate an understanding. Whether this is smaller large is not important, provided that in some way it opens up the possibility of agreement which will enable mankind to recover its faith in the security of its destiny.
20. Through the Trusteeship Council, the Trust Territories are fast emerging into independence. Bolivia was elected to the Council last year and has been contributing to its noble task by advocating a system of principles covering equitable land distribution, universal suffrage and the improvement of economic, educational and health conditions in those Territories. In the rapid process of liberating the Non-Self-Governing Territories, the Administering Powers have in some specific cases been unable to provide the new nations with viable economies.
21. This state of affairs, which is also met with in the colonies that are not under trusteeship, means that the colonial Powers’ unfulfilled obligations must become an international charge. The Bolivian delegation believes that these Powers still have residual obligations, and that the first source of international cooperation for the new States must consist of action initiated by the colonial Powers under the supervision of the United Nations.
22. The situation in the Congo (Leopoldville) is a constant source of concern to all those countries which, like Bolivia, have faced the exertions, sacrifices and paradoxes of emancipation in the relatively recent past. We refute those who allege that such a crisis is the product of premature liberty, lack of political maturity and other affronts to the dignity of this great African people, by affirming that the path towards complete sovereignty, towards order and constitutional government, is always complex and painful and marked by advances and retreats which seem to complicate and hamper its course. Nevertheless, what prevails in the end is the determination to be free.
23. Freedom too can flare up and leave us blind for a time. But what we must do — and this is one of the reasons why the United Nations was created — is to prevent this transition from being an object of political interference and manoeuvres contrary to the interests of the infant country. While the constant announcement of scientific advances raises optimism and confidence among countries which are constantly threatened by disease, shortage of arable land, and backwardness, and makes them think of prodigious conquests, when they hear of man’s ventures into the microcosm of bacteria and those projects which will lift him out of this planet into the unknown universe, and while the common man takes comfort from this knowledge, at the same time he cannot forget that this same science is working actively towards the discovery of new and yet more sinister instruments of destruction.
24. The first astonishment of the people at this incongruity, incompletely justified by political reasons — has yielded not only to uneasiness, but to rightful indignation, which arises act out of ideological positions or political alliances or even mere helplessness, but out of the sacredness of humanity.
25. The right to destroy cannot be argued about. If man has been given the mission to create, he must refuse himself the right to destroy. At this session of the Assembly we should try by every means in our power, to bring about a ban on nuclear tests and prevent the dissemination of nuclear weapons.
26. Before leaving the theme of peace and disarmament, my delegation wishes to express its lively hope that the conflicts which are today embittering and disturbing various neighbouring countries in different parts of the world, holding up their progress and wasting their energies, will be settled by the participants in a spirit of justice, not only because it is their duty to do so, but because it is the duty of the whole international order, now that the international community is growing so much larger.
27. I should like to say, in connexion with the part played by the Secretary-Genera]., that that part has always been governed by the wishes of the Assembly and the requirements of the Charter which are in practice a reflexion of the majority view of the Member States. That is the spirit in which we have judged the latest activities of the Secretary-General, without reservations of any kind.
28. Last year’s session of the United Nations General Assembly was described as the "Assembly of Peace”. Certain ominous signs would seem to indicate — and this impression has not yet been dispelled — that the current session of the Assembly, if it had a name, would bear that of insecurity, mistrust and the cold war. We would seem to have arrived at a very desperate point, with no solution in sight. However, there is in Spanish literature a very old proverb: "The darkest hour comes just before the dawn".
29. Perhaps out of this session of the Assembly, so full of confusion, will be born that tranquillity which the world so much desires. We hope so indeed. This is what mankind demands.