Two years ago, at the seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Vice-President of the Republic of Bolivia and Chairman of our delegation described [384th meeting] the Bolivian people’s victorious fight to enforce the principle of the nationalization of the sources of production and thereby to achieve economic independence and consolidate the country’s political sovereignty. The exhaustive analysis he made at that time constitutes a document of the utmost significance that will always serve for the guidance of the leaders of under-developed countries who are fighting to restore to their peoples the benefit of their sources of wealth, wrongfully withheld by those who represent backward and oppressive feudal systems.
13. At that time, the Uruguayan delegation played a part that earned it a place of honour and the gratitude of the Latin-American countries. The resolution recognizing the right of peoples freely to exploit their natural wealth and resources [resolution 626 (VII)] was adopted by the General Assembly, and its adoption won for the United Nations the gratitude of many peoples throughout the world.
14. The decisive support given to Bolivia by Uruguay is fully explained by a study of the glorious origins of the latter country, which achieved independence through the efforts of a man representing the rural element, the peasant element, in the setting of the wars of independence, in contrast with the oligarchical and urban element that moulded our political emancipation in other parts of America.
15. In justice it must be recognized that Jose Artigas was the forerunner of the popular struggles of our time. The Uruguayan hero gave expression to the longings of the masses, who perceived intuitively that political independence was not enough, because at that time it meant chiefly that the economic wealth of America would be transferred from the ousted colonizers to the victorious indigenous oligarchies.
16. During the first fifty years of its existence as a republic, Bolivia lived in a Middle Age that, while it had no philosophers or Gothic cathedrals, possessed feudal lords wielding power over life and property. That society, proud of its European origin, occasionally produced brilliant men who tried to improve their country’s lot, but who encountered an obstacle to their desires in an economy based entirely on agricultural production, which exhibited serious deficiencies owing to the use of primitive farm implements.
17. In that half-century the Bolivians learned a terrible lesson: that if a people has large territories but is weak, it must inevitably face war. As Balzac aptly said: “Qui terre a, guerre a” (He who has land has war).
18. The jurists to whom the Assembly has assigned the difficult task of defining aggression will always find it profitable to read the history of Bolivia. As in the Biblical episode, aggression occurs when the strong man slyly observes the circumstances of the weak and, having armed himself, attacks him who lacked the foresight to arm himself. Bolivia, an economically weak country with a badly-designed social structure in which the majority was subjected to forced labour in the fields and the mines, could rely for the defence of its territorial integrity only on a characteristic doctrine of American public international law: the uti possidetis of 1810, which proved to be but a poor weapon of pen and ink against the effectiveness of rifle and cannon.
19. For these reasons the Bolivian delegation listened with interest and satisfaction to the words spoken in this forum by the representatives of the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics concerning mankind’s longing to halt the armaments race and to bring about the control and prohibition of weapons of mass destruction. The atomic bomb in the hands of unscrupulous people is in reality the scientific expression of the will for aggression that manifested itself thousands of years ago when a man armed himself with a stone or a stick against another who, through improvidence or idealism, remained unarmed.
20. Some of the representatives who spoke before me referred to the spread in world public opinion of scepticism concerning the efforts of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. The mass psychosis created by the fear of nuclear weapons and the conviction that the atomic war is inevitable is the most menacing danger that this international Organization has yet faced. Yet it must be said that, apart from the urgent need for agreement on the prohibition and control of atomic weapons which I have mentioned, it is essential that the United Nations should launch a veritable psychological crusade, through all its organs and by securing the co-operation of all men of good will throughout the world, to banish from the minds of the peoples the terrifying assumption that atomic war is inevitable.
21. I believe that, in the minds of the peoples distressed by the description of the Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bikini and other more recent explosions, that manufactured sun, the hydrogen bomb, has become a kind of legendary monster whose whims, wickedness, cunning and growing intelligence are feared. It is essential that the public should have a more logical conception of the reality and should be convinced that the bomb is not dangerous; for — as the French writer Denis de Rougemont says in his book Lettres sur la bombe atomique (Letters on the Atomic Bomb) — the bomb is not dangerous in itself, because it is an object; it is man that is terribly dangerous. He has made the bomb and is preparing to use it. Control of the bomb is a good thing, but what is needed is control of man.
22. This “control of man” must be the immediate aim of us all. We must correct the error in human thinking that has made the atomic bomb the most effective instrument of mass psychological imbalance. It is the duty of the United Nations to launch a worldwide campaign and to charge the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization with its implementation. The attainment of a sounder basis of judgment with regard to all that concerns nuclear energy would soon become the most effective factor in the system of international control which the President of the United States has proposed with such humanity and wisdom.
23. The Bolivian people, which always associates itself with the champions of peace, justice and law precisely because it has had first-hand experience of the impact of aggression, has still another ground for anxiety concerning the atomic problem. A mixed committee of engineers and scientists from Bolivia and the United States recently explored part of Bolivia's territory and verified the existence of immense deposits of radioactive minerals. Consequently, Bolivians are now wondering with alarm whether, after having mined tin for half a century with no result other than fifty years of living in poverty, illness, illiteracy and oppression, the Bolivian miners, who are among the continent’s most politically-minded, are to be condemned to wrest from the bosom of the Andes the raw material which will enable man to manufacture an imitation sun to destroy, to annihilate, the tireless creative work of that star.
24. On the threshold of the hydrogen age, Bolivia has ceased to be a mining camp. With the great tin mines nationalized and the legitimacy of that all important measure sanctioned by resolution 626 (VII) of the United Nations General Assembly, dated 21 December 1952, my country found itself faced with the dramatic problem arising from raw-material prices. I quote the words of the Minister for External Relations of Bolivia on a matter that is of interest to all raw- material producing countries: “We are a mineral-producing country, our chief product being tin. During the Second World War we contributed to the defence of democracy with approximately 200,000 tons of tin, sold at controlled prices not in the best interest of the Bolivian economy. At that time, as at other times, we were urged to increase our production whatever the effort or sacrifice, a process which is always costly and difficult. It has happened again and again that, while we have been producing at full capacity, world market prices, which are beyond our control, have fallen sharply, with disastrous effects. Not even in times of high prices were we able to secure what we felt was due us, because at such times some method was always found of imposing a maximum price for tin, while nobody took care to prevent a fall in prices. It may be said, therefore, that there has never been, and there is not now, a free market for tin.”
25. At the present time, although we have maintained and even increased the export volume as a result of the policy of nationalization, Bolivia has received less money owing to the fall in prices. The prices fixed in all contracts of sale for tin are determined by world mineral market quotations, and are therefore unremunerative.
26. It is the duty of the United Nations to co-operate in solving this acute problem, which affects all raw material producing countries alike; and it is the moral duty of those who govern highly industrialized countries to respect the impartial judgment of those who hold that the prices of manufactured goods must be brought into harmony with the prices of raw materials.
27. It is unreasonable that while some countries enjoy a high standard of living, in others, such as Bolivia and India, the per capita income is so small as to be ridiculous, or that the tin miner should be working in such wretched conditions that his average life expectancy is barely 27 years, a fact which warrants our accusing of genocide the oligarchy that ruled my country during the last fifty years.
28. In order to remedy the tragic condition of the Bolivian working classes, President Paz Estenssoro and his comrades-in-arms have, despite the limitations imposed by the current price of minerals, given effect to the relevant points in the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement’s programme. Family allowances, housing subsidies, a minimum subsistence wage and collective contracts of employment have been introduced and the unpaid services which were common in the feudal system of agriculture have been abolished. In that connexion, I again quote the Minister for External Relations of Bolivia: “But in addition to those concrete benefits, which merely supply long-felt needs, the workers have been given the status and respect to which they are entitled, because it is their contribution that counts most in the country’s development. For example, there exists in my country a trade unions statute which protects labour leaders from the persecution which, in general, is the response to their demands. Workers are included on the managing boards of the two largest State undertakings which administer the nationalized mines and oil wells, and the efficiency of those organizations has been improved through a system of workers’ control. Lastly, the Government itself includes four responsible and alert ministers who are workers. I do not mention these facts for purposes of mere propaganda, but because they are intimately related to the efforts of international organizations to safeguard workers’ interests.”
29. I should mention in addition to the foregoing my Government’s ratification of six international instruments in the social field originating from meetings of the International Labour Organisation and the decree prohibiting the possession by any property owner of more than one hectare of vacant land in an urban area and providing for the expropriation at a fair valuation of land in excess of 10,000 square metres except where it is the property of an industrial enterprise which needs a larger area of land. This decree, which marks the institution of urban reform in Bolivia, was enacted to protect the middle and working classes by providing them with the accommodation to which every human being is entitled and defeating the selfishness of those who used to acquire vast areas of urban land and keep them for purposes of speculation.
30. On 2 August 1953 the Legislative Decree on Land Reform was enacted to amend the semi-feudal conditions under which land was worked, and it was immediately put into effect: plots of land which peasants under the old system had been allowed to cultivate in exchange for various unpaid services became the property of those who cultivated them. The same decree further provided that wages must be paid to the peasants for the work they did on the land which remained in the possession of the former owner. Once the peasants had become the owners of the land, their efforts exceeded all expectations: the last harvest, the first since the land reform, greatly exceeded previous ones. Thus the facts have given the lie to the pessimistic predictions of certain reactionary circles in the continent as to the results of Bolivia’s land reform, and have even contradicted the experience of other countries.
31. For over a hundred years the peasants were subjected to an inhuman servitude characterized not only by unpaid work for their masters, but also, and what is more important, by contempt for their status as human beings. The point was reached where they were even denied access to the centre of a town. The land reform has put an end to their oppression and humiliation and has helped to awaken in them a profound awareness that makes them feel that they are an integral part of the national life as free citizens of a free country.
32. Allow me to digress for a moment to review, in the perspective afforded by this time and place, what has been accomplished in a little over two years. In this General Assembly I can raise my voice in the name of my country to affirm with justifiable pride that Bolivia is fulfilling the solemn obligation which it assumed in signing the Charter of the United Nations, in which the peoples express their determination “to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom” and “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person”.
33. Since the destruction of the Inca empire, Bolivian territory has been the scene of a continuing process of biological democratization. Nowhere in the continent is there any country more Indian or mestizo than Bolivia. Even those whose skins are white are genuine Bolivians, because they have assimilated the characteristics of the mestizo through their five senses. That is why Bolivia is always in the forefront of the fight against racial discrimination. My country’s delegations to the seventh and eighth sessions of the General Assembly were co-sponsors of draft resolutions on the problems of racial discrimination and the status of the Indian minorities in the Union of South Africa. In this connexion and in connexion with the anticolonial tradition of Bolivia’s international policy our position is unchanged, and will remain so.
34. In order to bring the indigenous peoples once and for all into the stream of Western culture and civilization, the revolutionary regime has introduced universal suffrage. To that end the obstacles previously imposed by the exploiting minorities in the form of legal impediments — as by prescribing that the voter must be able to read and write, that he must have a certain minimum income, and so forth — in order to prevent the working masses from participating in the nation’s political life, were eliminated.
35. During, the last ten years the Presidents of the Republic were elected by less than 50,000 votes in a population of approximately four million, which clearly shows that democracy existed only in theory. Now that suffrage without discrimination as to sex, income or education has been introduced, we hope that at the next parliamentary elections the total vote will come close to one million.
36. The nationalization of the mines and the land reform have created the necessary conditions for attaining the third great objective in President Paz Estenssoro’s programme of government: the expansion and diversification of the national economy. Despite the low prices of minerals on the world market, and _although the land reform is only at the first stage of its implementation, the progress achieved in this part of the revolutionary programme has been considerable.
37. The President of the Republic and leader of the national revolution made the following statement: “In order to attempt the expansion and diversification of the national economy with any prospect of success it was essential not only that we should have available the proceeds of our exports, but also that the State should be free to plan exclusively in the national interest. It was necessary to liberate the productive forces which had previously been held in check by the feudal system of agriculture, and to expand the domestic consumer market, as is being done. “The backwardness of the Bolivian economy is apparent not only in the reduced volume, but also in the nature, of the national production. An extensive agriculture like ours, that is restricted to a few crops, and an exportable production that consists almost exclusively of mining products, make us heavily dependent on the outside world and therefore extremely vulnerable in the event of a decline in the world mineral market. That is why it is vitally important that we should develop and diversify the national economy.”
38. Under this plan the Government has given priority to increasing petroleum production, both because of the importance of oil as a source of power and because it can be made into a profitable branch of our export trade. Today, Bolivia does not need to import a single drop of petrol or kerosene, and we are constructing an oil pipeline which will link Cochabamba, where there is a large refinery, to the port of Arica, to supply the countries of the South Pacific with Bolivian petroleum. Bolivia has immense petroleum reserves and we are seeking the co-operation of foreign private capital to exploit them, as the country lacks the necessary resources to carry out such an ambitious plan. Furthermore, under agreements concluded with Brazil and Argentina, we are preparing the full exploitation of vast oilfields, which in time will transform Bolivia into a supplier of fuel for the principal South American States on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts.
39. Owing to its advantageous geographical position in the continent, my country is the pivot of South America’s political balance. Exposed to forces from all directions, our territory helps to eliminate antagonisms by reconciling interests which, if they clashed, would certainly disturb the peace of the hemisphere. Our wealth is at the service of all the sister republics which are our neigbours and with which we live on terms of friendly co-operation. That is why it may be of interest to the representatives in this Assembly to know of the efforts that are being made to diversify our economy and to achieve high production levels in oil and rubber and in the iron of the fabulous mountain of Muffin; these efforts will benefit not only my own country, but also Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Peru in particular.
40. The delegation which I have the honour to lead temporarily will express in the Second Committee its interest in the establishment of the special fund for the economic development of under-developed countries. My Government considers, in this connexion, that there is no justification for relating the outcome of the problems of disarmament to the problems involved in the establishment of the fund. The great Powers hold that only the savings resulting from disarmament could provide the basis for carrying out this project. This is simply unacceptable, because the need to establish the special United Nations fund is urgent and the solution of the problems of disarmament is unfortunately slow in coming. It is therefore the duty of highly industrialized countries with vast accumulations of savings to grant their co-operation to the backward nations under the terms of the United Nations Charter.
41. With the co-operation of the United States we are engaged in carrying out the great work to which I have just referred. On 1 October an event occurred in Bolivia that is of the utmost importance to my country and to the continent: the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz Highway, 500 kilometres in length, was opened, in completion of the railway system connecting the Pacific Ocean with the Rio de la Plata, making the oil, agricultural and livestock wealth of the sub-tropical region and the Bolivian valleys accessible to the countries belonging to these geographical systems.
42. The completion of this project was made possible by the credits totalling approximately $34 million granted by the United States Export-Import Bank. All the expenditures in Bolivian currency — local purchases, supplies, wages, salaries paid in the country — were defrayed by the Bolivian Government, in addition to a considerable part of the cost of studies and of other dollar expenditures. Taking into account the credits granted by the Export-Import Bank and the Bolivian Government’s contributions, the total cost of the highway exceeds $45 million. Now that this magnificent undertaking, the outcome of Bolivian and United States co-operation, has been completed, we trust that United States aid will be increased until it reaches the scale necessitated by the magnitude of the plan for the diversification of the national production, for the execution of which the Co-ordination and Planning Board, under the chairmanship of the Vice-President of the Republic of Bolivia, is responsible.
43. We are interested in private capital, but it would be wilful self-deception on our part to hope that all our needs can be met by private investors. It is important to analyse the influence which the investment of purely private capital would have on the economies of the under-developed countries. There can be no doubt that more capital has been exported from Latin America in the form of profits than has been brought in. Hence it is obvious that, in view of the urgent need for capital that is common to the Latin-American countries, we cannot expect it all from private investment. This does not mean that we do not want this kind of contribution. On the contrary, such contributions are welcome in my country and are protected by the Act of 17 October 1945, drawn up by Victor Paz Estenssoro, at that time Minister of Finance under the Villarroel regime, which affords to foreign private investors the necessary securities and guarantees for the return of the capital through annual amortization payments.
44. It is, however, necessary to set forth the problem of economic co-operation in realistic terms. Undoubtedly the best method consists in the grant of development loans on favourable terms by agencies whose main objective is not to reap unlimited profit. When the loans had been paid off, the capital goods acquired with their aid, the developing agricultural and livestock industries and the hydroelectric plants and roads which would be built, would remain in the country and would have the additional advantage of providing better conditions for possible private investment.
45. In conclusion, it affords me the utmost pleasure to refer to the technical assistance which my country is receiving from the United Nations specialized agencies.
46. The Revolutionary Government of Bolivia, on finding some defects in the Agreement concerning Technical Assistance signed by the military junta formerly in power, negotiated with the United Nations the Revised Agreement concerning Technical Assistance which lays down the manner in which this assistance is to contribute to the solution of Bolivian problems in accordance with the unshakable principle of national sovereignty. Under this important agreement a group of advisers and experts is at present at work in my country; their activities have at all times earned the support of the Government and the approval of public opinion in the country. It is fitting that I should mention here the consummate skill and great wisdom with which the Secretary-General of the United Nations selected the members of this group and has always guided them.
47. We consider that the work which the Technical Assistance Mission is performing in Bolivia is an experiment of great importance to the under-developed countries. I therefore take the liberty of proposing that scholarships should be instituted for students of nations whose economic and social conditions are similar to those of Bolivia, to afford them the opportunity of profiting by the experience which the Mission is acquiring. I can assure you that this brilliant group of men from various countries of the world has won the respect and gratitude of the Bolivian people and has strengthened their faith in the future of this international organization which, notwithstanding scepticism and ill-will, continues to be mankind’s greatest hope.