72. Bolivia is particularly gratified that the office of President of the General Assembly at its twenty-third regular session has been entrusted to a distinguished Latin American statesman, diplomat and jurist, justly renowned for his ability; the fact that he is here to direct the proceedings of this world assembly is a source of satisfaction and an honour for all the peoples of our continent. I should like, on behalf of my Government, to offer him my warmest congratulations on his election and to wish him every success in his duties.
73. At the same time, I should like to convey to Mr. Corneliu Manescu, President of the General Assembly at its last session, my congratulations on the skill and patience with which he guided the work of the twenty-second session. I also wish to express to our intelligent and dynamic Secretary-General the appreciation and confidence of the Bolivian delegation for his untiring efforts in the cause of world peace and the advancement of the developing nations.
74. The agenda for this session includes a number of items which are not of equal importance to all countries. This is why my delegation will dwell on some of them at greater length. This does not imply a lack of interest in the other problems which are to be discussed here. It simply means that I wish to submit for the consideration of the Assembly the views of Bolivia on the questions which are of most interest to the nation that I have the honour to represent.
75. The first United Nations Development Decade is drawing to a close in an atmosphere of frustration. The goal of eradicating poverty, hunger and ignorance and closing the gap separating the peoples of the world has remained merely an expression of good intentions, unaccompanied by the necessary determination to take prompt and effective action to bring about a radical transformation of the present inequitable economic and commercial structures.
76. Bolivia attended the second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, held at New Delhi from 1 February to 29 March 1968, with the same eagerness as the other countries belonging to the Group of 77. There is no doubt that all the smaller countries, quite rightly, had high hopes of such an important meeting. Our representatives returned from India gravely disappointed. The most important issues discussed at the Conference remained unresolved. It was hoped that definite agreements would emerge for the establishment of a new policy for international commodity trade, the elaboration of a generalized system of non-discriminatory, non-reciprocal tariff preferences for exports of manufactures and semi-manufactures from developing countries and the achievement of a substantial increase in the volume of international financial assistance that would reflect the growth rate of the industrialized countries. However, apart from a modest programme of action for certain commodities, mere recognition of the need for a generalized system of tariff preferences and some improvement in the policy of external financing, it cannot be said that much headway was made at New Delhi.
77. The situation of the relatively less developed countries received very perfunctory consideration. The little that was achieved in this regard at the second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will be of scant benefit to these countries, whose situation should be a matter of greater concern not only to the highly developed countries but also to those at an intermediate stage of development. In this connexion, it must regretfully be admitted that there are disagreements and conflicts of interest between the developing countries which prevent them from defending their viewpoints collectively and from resolving the problems which affect them.
78. The Conference on Trade and Development adopted resolution 11(II), which deals with some of the problems peculiar to land-locked countries, and recommended special measures to be taken in favour of those countries. Although the content of this recommendation is not entirely satisfactory, it does at least highlight the special difficulties which the lack of a sea coast creates for nations in this predicament.
79. I wish to emphasize this because, for reasons which are well known, my country has a special interest in the matter. Bolivia believes that it is essential to establish a special system for co-operation in this field which would combine the efforts of the industrialized Powers, international organizations and transit countries. Under the guidance of the UNCTAD secretariat, the international agencies should undertake studies to pinpoint with greater accuracy and clarity the various special problems of the land-locked countries and possible solutions. One example will suffice to support this view. Little-known factors resulting from its land-locked position have a considerable influence on Bolivia’s economy; for instance, the unilateral fixing of port charges, which are outside its control and are changed without its knowledge or consent. Such a situation creates a
dependent relationship which, in addition to being an affront to the concept of sovereignty, is extremely harmful to the country which finds itself in this situation.
80. We are called upon to face paradoxical situations. On the one hand, we Latin American countries are embarked on a process of integration through the Latin American Free Trade Association, which we feel is not always making satisfactory progress; we therefore want to organize the Andean sub-region, which would consist of six countries anxious to achieve practical results within the shortest possible time. We also intend to resolve important infrastructural problems affecting five nations, through agreements between the countries of the River Plate basin. This whole process of integration naturally presupposes broad co-operation among the countries concerned, on a completely equal footing. Otherwise, these projects would be doomed to certain failure. And yet we are confronted with a lack of understanding and difficulties which seem small when viewed from afar but which in fact, in addition to causing economic harm to sizeable segments of our population, are fostering a climate of suspicion and resistance to the cause of integration.
81. In this connexion, I must repeat that, so far as my country is concerned, in view of the particular circumstances of its land-locked situation, interest in a new system of international co-operation does not imply abandonment or shelving of its legitimate claims for its own sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean. As it has stated on many occasions, the Government of Bolivia considers this to be the only real solution to the problem — a solution which we hope to achieve in a manner which will take into account the mutual interests of the parties concerned. It may be felt that this Bolivian claim is a special question concerning my country alone and that it therefore does not seem appropriate to mention it in this great Assembly. This is not so. Bolivia’s land-locked situation is a Latin American problem. Its ramifications affect other nations in various ways which I shall not enlarge upon here. It is holding up the execution of extremely important infrastructural projects. It is impeding the harmonious and balanced development of a region with 250 million inhabitants and disturbing relations between several peoples. It is self-evident that all these factors must be overcome, particularly if this can be done without harm to anyone, and to the benefit of all.
82. In discussing the results of the second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, I feel bound to mention my country’s concern at the failure to solve such important problems as those relating to commodities, the financing of buffer stocks and the guidelines for policies for the disposal of strategic reserves. It is regrettable that in this connexion it was not possible to reach agreement on a system that would guarantee growing, stable export earnings for the developing countries. Approval of these principles is essential, if the constant deterioration in the terms of trade is to be halted. In addition, as regards the provisions in international commodity agreements for the financing of buffer stocks, we cannot continue to follow the traditional idea that the financial burden should be borne exclusively by the producing countries, which are precisely those with the least resources. We believe that this burden should be shared between producers and consumers, since the maintenance of suitable price levels is in the interests of both parties.
83. One further point must be made in this connexion. Paradoxically, some countries which are traditionally consumers of a particular commodity intervene in the market from time to time as sellers of that commodity, in competition with the natural production of the developing countries, whenever they wish to dispose of their strategic reserves. The least that can be expected in this respect is the establishment of consultative machinery on a case-by-case basis, so that the disposal of such strategic commodity reserves can follow mutually acceptable guidelines, since unilateral and arbitrary decisions are extremely harmful to producing countries, as Bolivia has learnt from painful experience in the international tin market.
84. General Assembly resolution 2340(XXII) of 18 December 1967 established an Ad Hoc Committee to Study the Peaceful Uses of the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor. This resolution was sponsored by the delegation of Bolivia, which sent an observer to the meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee at Rio de Janeiro. Consideration of this question may well be somewhat premature but, precisely because of Bolivia’s land-locked situation, we should like to
state our views on the matter as soon as possible.
85. If the riches contained in the sea-bed and the ocean floor and the sub-soil thereof belong to nobody in particular and if we are trying to find an intelligent and equitable way of ensuring their use by the international community, it would be unfair to deny such benefits to nations without a sea coast, when the obvious conclusion is precisely that these nations should receive proportionately greater benefits to compensate for their special situation.
86. The Government of Bolivia is aware that the road to securing world peace is beset by great obstacles, unforeseen contingencies and frustrations. But we believe that, before resorting to other means of achieving peaceful coexistence, countries must renew their faith and make a joint effort within the United Nations. We are convinced that the progressive improvement of its basic structures will enable the United Nations to serve the high aims that inspired its creation and to become a truly effective instrument for moderating the antagonisms dividing the world today.
87. We do not think that the nuclear balance, as a factor capable of eliminating the possibility of a third world conflict, is a sufficient basis for maintaining peaceful coexistence. On the contrary, the armed peace requires a disproportionate financial and human effort that runs counter to the urgent needs of the developing countries and inevitably restricts the assistance and co-operation essential to their progress. This preoccupation alone — not to mention all the others that concern the whole of mankind — explains and justifies the anxiety of a small country with regard to problems to whose solution it can contribute very little.
88. By world peace, I mean not only a situation in which there is no direct armed conflict, but also a situation of genuine coexistence in which there are no factors making for antagonism and division. The armed peace and the cold war, which have not been eliminated, are keeping the world in a state of dramatic upheaval; and so it is the urgent duty of the United Nations, through a convergence of political will on the part of all its constituent States, to reduce the tensions by means of the normal instruments and machinery available to it.
89. This year a number of serious international problems have remained unresolved and there have been a number of outstandingly important events in the international sphere. It is to be regretted that so far no solutions mutually acceptable to the parties have been found for the conflicts in Viet-Nam and in the Middle East, and that the factors that exacerbate tensions and war still persist. So far as the Viet-Nam conflict is concerned, we hope that the official Paris talks, despite their meagre results to date, will help to restore harmony to South-East Asia. In the case of the Middle East, we must repeat that Bolivia upholds the right of freedom of navigation and does not recognize territorial conquests by the use of force. Bolivia respects, and in many cases admires, the progressive reforms that are being made by the peoples of the Middle East, and hopes that an understanding will emerge that will pave the way for realistic solutions ensuring the peaceful coexistence of the peoples of that region.
90. The international community has recently been much moved by the forcible occupation of a small country. We witnessed, to our sorrow, the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the violation of the principles of sovereignty, non-intervention and self-determination of peoples. It was a painful experience, especially for small nations like my own, whose hopes of maintaining its integrity depend on the maintenance of an international legal order that is binding on all States. Once more force has prevailed to the impotent consternation of the rest of mankind.
91. In speaking of intervention, I cannot refrain from mentioning the case of my country, which, as everyone knows, has also been the victim of an aggression master-minded from outside and aimed at suppressing fundamental freedoms, obstructing the achievements of the people during years of tireless struggle and preventing their consolidation. The Bolivian people unanimously rejected the foreign guerrillas and defended its way of life, which is geared to progress and social justice. We do not want to restore the old oligarchic order; nor do we want to destroy democratic institutions and replace them by dictatorships imposed in the name of an ideology which is foreign to us. The peasants, the workers and the middle class, which constitute the vast majority of my country’s population, defended the national sovereignty and way of life which we inherited from our forefathers. We are superseding the feudal structures which used to be characteristic of the land tenure system; we have restored the main sources of wealth to national control; we have given the opportunity of active participation in public life to the vast masses that were formerly excluded; we have begun to reform education, making it accessible to all sections of the population; through structural reforms we have eliminated economic and social stratification, we have opened up new prospects for everyone and we have embarked upon a development programme geared to a more equitable income distribution. We know what our road is and we do not need to import revolutions.
92. In connexion with what I have said, I must recall that this is the International Year for Human Rights. In our view, representative democracy has proved itself to be the best social and political system for preserving the freedom and dignity of man. Yet democracy and poverty are incompatible and this is true of nearly all the countries of the third world. We do not claim to have achieved perfection in this field; but it is obvious that we have overcome great difficulties and remained true to our institutions, thus safeguarding fundamental human rights and giving proof of our adherence and loyalty to the various international covenants.
93. With regard to Non-Self-Governing Territories or territories in the process of decolonization, the Bolivian delegation has maintained a consistent stand in favour of independence and self-determination for all the peoples of the world, and at this stage all I wish to do is to confirm that stand.
94. Racial. discrimination is a phenomenon unknown in my country, where the population is of diverse origin and is going through the process of adapting its characteristics to the environment. Our opposition to any form of discrimination is simply a reflection of that situation.
95. I wish to express my sincere hopes, Mr. President, that, under your guidance and through the constructive action of the delegations of Member States, this new meeting of the nations of the whole world will achieve the results which mankind is expecting. The United Nations will be strengthened if it is able to find solutions to present-day problems and if it is able, even to a small extent, to direct the action of the whole international community towards the maintenance of peace and the promotion of the spiritual and economic progress of all mankind.