On behalf of the people and Government of Nicaragua,
Comrade President Daniel Ortega Saavedra and
Comrade Rosario Murillo, I want to begin by paying
tribute to the Commander of the revolution of our
America and the Caribbean, leader of the free men and
women of the world, Hugo Chávez Frías, who has left
us a legacy of strength, hope and certainty of victory
in defending the inalienable rights of humankind, such
as sovereignty, justice, freedom, democracy, solidarity
and peace.
On behalf of the people and the Government of
reconciliation and national unity of Nicaragua, led
by Comrade Daniel Ortega Saavedra, I congratulate
you, Sir, on your election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. We are pleased
that a representative of a brother country and member of
the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America,
Petrocaribe and the Community of Latin America and
the Caribbean States will guide us in the activities of
this important organ so that our efforts may contribute
to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the
United Nations, which must be implemented by the
Organization.
The United Nations continues to require profound
reform that cannot be delayed any longer. The position
of some permanent members of the Security Council on
the issue can no longer be an insurmountable obstacle.
We continue to support the proposed reinvention of the
United Nations proposed by our colleague Father Miguel
d’Escoto Brockmann. The power of the Organization
must rest completely with the General Assembly.
The economic and financial situation imposed by
global capitalism continues to rapidly dismantle the
welfare State in developed countries and seriously
affects developing countries. Now more than ever, it
becomes essential to establish a new global economic
model that is sustainable, based on justice, solidarity,
complementarity and committed to the defence of the
Earth and the environment.
International democracy cannot exist without
respect for international law. Nicaragua continues
to demonstrate with reliable facts its adherence to
international law and its respect for the principle of
resolving our differences through dialogue, negotiation
and recourse to international bodies such as the
International Court of Justice to settle territorial and
other types of disputes.
We welcome the central theme selected by you,
Mr. President, for the Assembly’s sixty-eighth session,
namely, “The post-2015 development agenda: setting
the stage”. It is important, therefore, that we agree to
launch an intergovernmental process for that new phase.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, we are
deepening our political, economic, social and cultural
integration process, all the while respecting our
diversity and building unity. Our Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States has been achieving a
shared vision of social development, education, health,
the environment, energy and financing, among other
sectors. It is now preparing to work collectively on
cooperation, nuclear disarmament, fighting corruption,
agriculture, science and technology.
In the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our
America and in Petrocaribe, Nicaragua has found a
model of integration to overcome poverty, hunger and
inequality, while strengthening the Central American
Integration System , the Mesoamerican Integration and
Development Project and its economic and commercial
relations with the international community and its
organizations.
In this difficult context, Nicaragua continues
to make progress. We have opted for a development
model that produces results. Despite the difficulties
and limitations, the Millennium Development Goals in
Nicaragua are being realized in a tangible manner that
demonstrates our Government’s respect and promotion
of the human rights of its citizens and its deep ethical
commitment to the common good.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations has recognized our country’s remarkable
progress to ensure the food security of our citizens and
to reduce the prevalence of undernourishment.
Our Government guarantees the right to universal
primary education. Major programmes are under
way — the “battle for ninth grade”, the intercultural
bilingual education programme, the inclusive education
programme and the comprehensive school nutrition
programme.
UN Women ranks Nicaragua among the leading
countries in the world with the highest percentage
of women in the executive, legislative and judicial
branches. Today 42 per cent of the deputies in the
National Assembly are women. Women hold 54 per cent
of positions in the executive branch, 60 per cent in the
judicial branch and 50 per cent in municipal councils.
We established a Ministry of Women to promote gender
equality and to empower women, while our laws ensure
that women enjoy human rights.
Nicaragua received the Americas Award
of the International Training Centre for Local
Actors/Authorities (CIFAL) Atlanta and the United
Nations Institute for Training and Research for
achieving its goals in reducing maternal mortality and
in recognition of the national strategy called Maternal
Homes. In 2006 the national maternal mortality rate
was 92.8 per 100,000 live births. In 2012 the rate was
nearly half that, reduced to 50.9, and we continue
fighting to reduce it further.
We continue our efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.
Preventive measures are being disseminated and
supportive care is provided to patients. In 2012 Nicaragua
received recognition from the Pan American Health
Organization for its contribution to the community
vigilance programme against malaria. Campaigns are
being developed to curb dengue fever, leptospirosis
and influenza. We have successfully carried out the
campaign “Live clean, live healthy, live a good life, live
well”, which aims to clean and beautify communities,
provide preventive health measures against epidemics
and pandemics as well as to maintain a harmonious and
respectful relationship with one another and with the
environment.
All of those projects are made possible by the
enormous efforts our people, who have made a social,
economic and political model of dialogue, alliances and
consensus, recognized by all. Our people’s inexhaustible
capacity for hope and essential relationship with the
Christian, socialist and solidarity model that we have
built together, in which all sectors of the country
participate, has meant that our people continue to move
ahead while promoting peace, serenity and the full
exercise of their rights.
Our defence of peace and international security
remains unwavering. Similarly, we continue to fight
against drug trafficking and the various manifestations
of transnational organized crime. Our retaining-wall
strategy produces positive results. We are committed at
the regional level to implementing the Central American
Security Strategy. It is urgent that the international
community give more support through additional
financial resources to the efforts and investment the
Central American countries are making against those
scourges. Despite its limitations, Nicaragua invests
considerable resources from its budget to ensure an
optimal environment for public safety. Its successes
are internationally recognized, and Nicaragua is seen
as one of the safest countries in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
We are committed to the struggles of other peoples
for their full independence and sovereignty. Therefore,
we demand once again the immediate and unconditional
termination of the economic, trade and financial
embargo imposed against Cuba by the United States of
America and the immediate and unconditional release
of the Cuban patriots imprisoned in that country. The
United States must also stop its arbitrary and capricious
inclusion of that brother country in its unilateral list of
State sponsors of terrorism.
We reiterate our full support for the legitimate
rights of the Argentine Republic in the sovereignty
dispute relating to the question of the Malvinas Islands.
We recognize and welcome the progress in
the political process of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela and reject international campaigns aimed at
weakening it.
We condemn, once again, the arbitrary conduct
of the Government of the United States in preventing
the aircraft of our colleague, Nicolás Maduro Moros,
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, from
flying through Puerto Rico’s airspace. We condemn
that act, as well as the refusal of the United States to
grant visas to our Venezuelan brothers so that they
could attend this General Assembly plenary.
We reiterate our support for the brotherly people
of Puerto Rico in their struggle for self-determination,
independence and social justice. Puerto Rico is one of
the last colonial enclaves in our continent. Its brave
people deserve our full support and solidarity in order
to take their place within the United Nations and in our
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States,
thereby eliminating colonial situations from the region.
We express our solidarity with comrade Oscar López
Rivera and demand that he be freed immediately.
We express the hope that the peace process in
Colombia will come to fruition, bringing peace and
social progress to the people of that country.
We support the efforts being made to achieve lasting
solutions to the conflicts in the Middle East and North
Africa. Nicaragua continues to support a negotiated
solution to the bloody conflict in Syria. The proposal
of the Russian Federation to put an end to the war has
received broad international support, including from
countries that are members of the Security Council
with the right of veto.
We reiterate our commitment to the cause of
the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-
determination and their legitimate right to establish
their own State. We consider the resumption of talks
between Palestine and Israel to be a step in the right
direction. The talks must be accompanied by the
suspension of the construction of Israeli settlements in
the occupied Palestinian territories.
We reiterate our solidarity with the struggle of the
Polisario Front and the Sahrawi people, which this year
marks its fortieth anniversary.
We welcome the fiftieth anniversary of the African
Union under the banner of pan-Africanism and the
African renaissance.
Furthermore, Nicaragua continues to support the
just aspirations of the Republic of China on Taiwan
for greater participation in the various bodies and
specialized agencies of the United Nations.
Much has been said and heard in recent days about
the Grand Canal of Nicaragua. With that project,
our Government intends to take advantage of the
unprecedented transformation in global maritime trade
that has taken place in the first decade of the twenty-
first century. Maritime trade is expected to continue
to grow, particularly between Asia and the Americas,
and our project is designed to complement the Panama
Canal expansion. We are planning a canal for peace, for
the development of all peoples, constructed with a sense
of responsibility as a world heritage site — a canal open
to international investment in a reliable and transparent
fashion, a canal that is the fulfilment of the dreams of
the General of Free Men, Augusto C. Sandino, and of
the people of Nicaragua, for their greater progress.
Climate change continues to be a grave problem.
“Our environmental, economic, political, social, and
spiritual challenges are interconnected”, states the
Earth Charter. In that statement lies the essence of
our vision and our duty — to save Earth’s vitality and
ourselves as the human race.