2. It is a great honour for me speak from this rostrum of the world Organization in order to make known my Government's views and feelings on the many important problems that are to be discussed at the seventeenth session of the General Assembly.
3. I should like to extend my sincere congratulations to Mr. Muhammad Zafrulla Khan for his well-deserved election to preside over our deliberations. His great learning, his long experience in the service of the loftiest of international causes, his wisdom and judgement are, as we have seen here, the attributes that go to make a good President.
4. On behalf of the people and Government of the Dominican Republic, I extend a hearty welcome to the new States which are joining this family of nations. Our welcome and our best wishes go to Rwanda, Burundi, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, as also to Algeria, which has just been admitted to the United Nations.
5. At home, the Dominican Republic has begun to make amends for the cruelties, tortures, persecutions, assassinations, deprivations and abuses inflicted on the Dominican; nation by the tyrant Trujillo, who was fortunately brought to justice on 30 May 1961, by a group of national heroes whose two sole surviving members, Mr. Antonio Imbert Barrera and Mr. Luis Amiama, are serving on the Council of State.
6. The present Government has undertaken to attend to the immediate needs created by the chaotic situation and, with the resolute co-operation of the people and the help of the Alliance for Progress programme, it has provided new opportunities for employment in emergency public works projects. The wealth amassed under the dictatorship has been invested in a development corporation which is using, for the benefit of the Dominican people and on behalf of that people, the riches of which they had previously been divested. A housing programme has been initiated; an agrarian reform is being carried out, with the result that hundreds of families have been settled, on land previously occupied by the relations and henchmen of the tyrant. The international credit of the Republic has been restored and the banking system has undergone a scientific reconstruction which will enable the nation's wealth to be better utilized.
7. The Council of State also has the honour, as care- taker Government, of establishing a democratic system, based on the will of the people, which will be expressed in the course of free elections to be held on 20 December, in which the attributes of the individual citizen — those which lend dignity to man — will finally acquire their full moaning. This task will be carried out with the valuable assistance of the Technical Electoral Commission which the Dominican Government asked the Organization of American States to provide.
8. At the international level, the Dominican Republic is preparing to fulfil all its obligations and to cooperate to the best of its ability in ensuring that the international community and the juridical instruments at its disposal shall acquire the maximum efficacy.
9. With that end in view, my country will abide by all the decisions taken by the United Nations, in keeping with the Charter on which it is founded and in particular with the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice whereby the expenses incurred in operations ordered by the Assembly shall be borne, together with the regular expenses, by all Members of the Organization. The Dominican Republic regards compliance with these decisions as an unavoidable duty and an absolute necessity, not only because it is an obligation under the Charter but because it implies support of one of the most important organs of the United Nations — the organ whose basic function is to give meaning and scope to the standards of international law. To disregard the rulings of the International Court of Justice would be to undermine the new international order which the United Nations is seeking to establish. It would, in fact, be a backward step that would deal a severe blow to law and order and would establish force as the determining factor in relations between States.
10. With regard to disarmament and all that this problem entails, the Dominican Republic considers that the over-armed Powers are called upon to end the state of mistrust and fear in which mankind is living, by deciding to put an end to the armaments race. The world demands this because disarmament is not a problem which affects the armed Powers alone but is a general problem which concerns all of us, since modern wars are not mere episodes confined to tire belligerents, but tragedies which involve the whole of mankind.
11. One of the many problems which the Dominican Republic views with concern is the plight of the underdeveloped countries. Until these nations enjoy the benefits of social justice and economic prosperity, they will always be a prey to anxiety and frustration —sentiments which sow the seeds of unrest and are the prelude to agitation and subversive ideas incompatible with the atmosphere of peace in which peoples wish to live. There can be no democracy or freedom in a world in which poverty and social injustice prevail.
12. The twin concepts of freedom and democracy will reach true fulfilment when the efforts that are now being devoted to the armaments race are used to eradicate the causes of poverty and injustice. The Dominican Republic accordingly commends and supports the measures that have been proposed in order to remedy this situation and especially the plan which is now in operation to promote social advancement and raise the level of living in accordance with a broader concept of freedom, as provided in the Charter. It also fully endorses the remarks made in a recent report by U Thant, the Secretary-General: "If this Organization is to make the principles enshrined in the Preamble of the Charter a living reality, there must be no pause in the determined, sincere and continuing campaign: to reduce world tensions and hostility. The people of the world who continue to live in such a tense and surcharged atmosphere, replete with the ever present threat of total destruction, are entitled to look forward to the dawn of a' new era in which every man, woman and child in every country can be expected to live above want and in dignity, at peace with themselves and with the rest of mankind." [A/520i/Add.l, page3.]
13. In keeping with these ideas, the liquidation of colonialism which must proceed at a faster rate should not be restricted merely to the granting of independence to peoples who have been subjugated but must take on a broader dimension. The political solution, in the form of liberation from all foreign domination, is of paramount importance but is not enough. It alone will not appease the urge for emancipation. Economic independence is just as important as political independence, for until it is fully achieved the bonds of colonialism will persist. As long as those peoples remain in the background, as mere suppliers of raw materials to the highly industrialized centres, they will not have achieved complete freedom nor Will they have attained the complete happiness to which they have a right. It is therefore imperative that the plan to which I referred just now should be extended to include them, in a positive way, since they are the ones-who’ need it most at the present time.
14. Fortunately, in the Western Hemisphere this serious problem is being solved by the determination of our peoples to put the programmes of the Alliance for Progress into effect without delay; those programmes are already sapping the foundations of a feudal era which is giving way to a "revolutionary evolution", as it has been termed by the President of the Dominican Republic and of the Council of State.
15. It is a pity that these programmes for social progress are being constantly held up by the last-ditch efforts of reactionaries who are endeavouring to retain their privileges and by the communists, who see in it the defeat of their tactics, which are based primarily on demagogy. Obstacles of the kind that are now being encountered by the Alliance for Progress were similarly experienced in Europe at the time of the Marshall Plan.
16. The impartial study of the ideological trends which divide the world, is a privilege of the free man. Those of us who bear the grave and solemn responsibility of speaking from this rostrum have an inescapable obligation to analyse the merits and demerits of the two contending positions. So long as the spectre of man's destruction haunts a century that has suffered the tragedy of two world wars and a series of other wars, confined to specific geographical areas, which have decimated the youth of five continents, the weight and significance of each word, of each phrase and of each idea spoken from this forum must of necessity be directed towards the promotion of a world-wide desire for peace and justice for all. Peace and justice cannot be achieved by vitriolic attacks or by slander and false accusations, by the use of demagogy or by hasty attempts to impose a particular system on a people without allowing it to listen to the debates — not the fallacies and pretexts but the substance of the ideas that seek to influence and guide the world. The United Nations cannot and must not deceive the nations of which it is composed, for if this were to happen, civilization would find itself in a vacuum.
17. The Cuban situation and its implications for the regional system has been referred to in this Assembly and we must therefore discuss it. The Cuban Government has cut itself off from the rest of the hemisphere by failing to meet the conditions which the charter of the Organization of American States prescribes for its members. We wonder what caused the withdrawal of the Cuban Government from the continental system. In order to answer that question we must make a brief excursion into history.
18. From the very beginning of the independence movement in America, the struggle, acquired a mystique which lent it greater impetus and led it from victory to victory, on to its final triumph. Basically, the struggle was not for the solo purpose of gaining freedom but was also waged with the aim of improving the system of government prevailing at that time, which was absolute monarchy in which the monarch was sovereign ruler and proclaimed his powers to be of divine origin.
19. After the United States achieved independence, the concept — not new in theory but new in practice — that the people alone are sovereign began to gain ground. This concept calls to mind Benjamin Franklin, of whom it was. said: "He snatched the lightening from the skies and the sceptre from the tyrants". The sceptre of tyrants was the symbol of sovereignty. Seized from its holder, it passed to a new sovereign — the people. Since then a new concept has grown up in America, that of self-determination. Each people decided its future as a free nation by force of arms, whereby it severed its ties with the mother country. But within the new boundaries of the State, the nation's destinies had to be decided by the people, established as the new sovereign, which, unlike the earlier physical entity of the monarch or aspirant to the monarchy, was a complex, many-sided being, made up of thousands of individuals whose opinions, as yet unknown, had to be expressed peacefully, in order to be able to respond to the truth, to the new principle that only the people are sovereign. Nil novi sub sole — nothing is new under the sun. An old principle was thus given a new application to meet the needs of the times, which were representative democracy and electoral processes and procedures.
20. Having grown wary as the result of previous experiences, the people began from the very outset to resist such expedients as acclamations at public meetings and armed coercion, and to understand that in order to ensure that the elections resulted in genuine representation of the new sovereign, it was essential to safeguard the process by guarantees of all the civil liberties which were embodied in the constitutions and their amendments.
21. Latin America has been engaged for more than a century — for reasons which I shall not go into here, owing to the shortage of time — in a continual struggle against the violation of these principles which were so dear to the founders of the various nations of the continent. Each dictatorship set out with the sincere or feigned intention of remedying the deficiencies of the preceding regime. It is equally true, however, that each dictatorship has always tried to justify itself by a show of respect — naturally spurious — for representative democracy, no matter what enormities it committed against the rights of the people.
22. Foremost among the rights of the people which were violated or suppressed was the right to life, which was abruptly ended. By thei firing squad of the political opponent or by the assassin's dagger or threatened by the dungeon. Then there was the deprivation of all liberties and of the right to a better economic existence based on social justice and without the sway of the traditional oligarchies, feudal practices and the near enslavement of the less privileged classes.
23. When the inter-American system was established, this century-old tradition was incorporated into it as a basic principle; thus, the exercise of representative democracy is an essential requirement for membership of the group. Renunciation of this principle implies automatic exclusion from the system and it was this principle that was rejected by the Cuban Government when it announced its adherence to Marxism-Leninism.
24. It should be made clear that the system has not set itself up as a stern accusor to browbeat Governments which, owing to temporary circumstances or to more or less prolonged lapses, hive departed from the basic tenets of the system. This is a mistake that democratic Governments must strive to correct.
25. It can readily be seen that the juridical and political standards of the inter-American system entails the following progressive series of conditions: (a) respect for human rights; (b) exercise of the inherent freedoms of the citizen, without which no opinion can be expressed; (c) free elections, with majority and minority representation of the people, as appropriate; (d) freedom not only to constitute a government by means of elections but also to replace it by the same means. These are the conditions for achieving representative democracy and through it — and only through it — self-determination.
26. Parallel with these concepts, there has also developed, as an intrinsic part of the system, the principle of non-intervention, which has been of inestimable value in promoting inter-American relations and has been the staunch defence of the weaker nations against the stronger. At times, this very principle has served certain regimes as a pretext for retaining power in outright violation of democratic precepts; at other times it has served as a pretext for evading action that should have been taken.
27. We are sure, however, that though the principle of non-intervention has not yet taken final shape it will eventually be defined in harmony with the new concept of the inter-dependence of States engaged in a common undertaking.
28. Against this background the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, at Punta del Este adopted resolution VI, which reads as follows: "Whereas: "The inter-American system is based on consistent adherence by its constituent States to certain objectives and principles of solidarity, set forth in the instruments that govern it; "Among these objectives and principles are those of respect for the freedom of man and preservation of his rights, the full exercise of representative democracy, non-intervention of one State in the internal or external affairs of another, and rejection of alliances and agreements that may lead to intervention in America by extra-continental Powers; "The Seventh Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held in San José, Costa Rica, condemned the intervention or the threat of intervention of extra-continental communist Powers in the hemisphere and reiterated the obligation of the American States to observe faithfully the principles of the regional organization; "The present Government of Cuba has identified itself with the principles of Marxist-Leninist ideology, has established apolitical, economic, and social system based on that doctrine, and accepts military assistance from extra-continental communist Powers, including even the threat of military intervention in America on the part of the Soviet Union; "The Report of the Inter-American Peace Committee to the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs establishes that: ‘The present connexions of the Government of Cuba with the Sino-Soviet bloc of countries are evidently incompatible with the principles and standards that govern the regional system, and particularly with the collective security established by the Charter of the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance’; "The above-mentioned Report of the Inter-American Peace Committee also states that: ‘It is evident that the ties of the Cuban Government with the Sino- Soviet bloc will prevent the said Government from fulfilling the obligations stipulated in the Charter of the Organization and the Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance’; "Such a situation in an American State violates, the obligations inherent in membership in the regional system and is incompatible with that system; "The attitude adopted by the present Government of Cuba and its acceptance of military assistance offered by extra-continental communist Powers breaks down the effective defence of the inter-American system; and "No member state of the inter-American system can claim the rights; and privileges pertaining thereto if it denies or fails to recognize the corresponding obligation, "Declares: "1. That, as a consequence of repeated acts, the present Government of Cuba has voluntarily placed itself outside the inter-American system. "2. That this situation demands unceasing vigilance on the part of the member States of the Organization of American States, which shall report to the Council any fact or situation that could endanger the peace and security of the hemisphere. "3. That the American States have a collective interest in strengthening the inter-American system and reuniting it on the basis of respect for human rights and the principles and objectives relative to the exercise of democracy set forth in the Charter of the Organization; and, therefore "Resolves: "1. That adherence by any member of the Organization of American States to Marxism-Leninism is incompatible with the inter-American system and the alignment of such a government with the communist bloc breaks the unity and solidarity of the hemisphere. "4. That the Council of the Organization of, American States and the other organs and organizations of the inter-American system adopt without delay measures necessary to comply with this resolution."
29. The consequences of this resolution are revealed in the following communique, which has the distinction of having been approved unanimously by all the Foreign Ministers of America, or their representatives, at the recent informal meeting held at Washington. The communique reads as follows: "In their informal meeting held in Washington, D.C., on October 2 and 3, 1962, the Foreign Ministers and Special Representatives of American Republics discussed in a spirit of strong friendship and co-operation the serious problems that face the Western Hemisphere. "Although the informal character of the meeting precluded formal decisions or resolutions, which are in the competence, of the appropriate bodies of the OAS, the meeting was marked by extraordinary solidarity on matters affecting the security and well-being of the hemispheric system. The Ministers reviewed the resolutions adopted at the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the progress made in response to them, and further steps which might be taken to give effect to those resolutions. "During the meeting it was manifest that at the present juncture the most urgent of these problems, is the Sino-Soviet intervention in Cuba as an attempt to convert the island into an armed base for communist penetration of the Americas and subversion of the democratic institutions of the Hemisphere. "The meeting reiterated its adherence to the principles of self-determination, non-intervention and democracy as guiding standards of relations among the American nations. "The meeting reflected the opinion that now more than ever it is necessary to strengthen the system of representative democracy and to redouble the efforts being made to bring harmonious progress the peoples, and the earliest and most effective improvement in their standard of living, within the framework of the Alliance for Progress, and with the most complete respect for human rights. Special consideration shall be given to expanding markets and increasing prices of Latin American primary products. "The meeting reasserted the firm intention of the Governments represented and of the peoples of the American Republics to conduct themselves in accordance with the principles of the regional system, staunchly sustaining and consolidating the principles of the Charter of the Organization of American States, and affirmed the will to strengthen the security of the Hemisphere against all aggression from within or outside the Hemisphere and against 'all developments or situations capable of threatening the peace and security of the Hemisphere through the application of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance of Rio de Janeiro, "It was the view of the Ministers that the existing organizations and bodies of the inter-American system should intensify the carrying out of their respective duties with special and urgent attention to the situation created by the Marxist-Leninist. regime in Cuba and that they should stand in readiness to consider the matter promptly if the situation requires measures beyond those already authorized. "In the ideological struggle against communism, destroyer of man's liberties, the meeting expressed the desire that the resources and methods inherent in the democratic system should be mobilized to bring the peoples to realize fully the difference between totalitarianism and democracy. "The meeting reaffirmed its repudiation of repressive measures which, under the pretext of isolating or combating communism, may facilitate the appearance or strengthening of doctrines and methods which attempt to repress ideas of social progress and to confuse truly progressive and democratic labour organizations and cultural and political movements with communist subversion. "The meeting observed that the inter-American regional system has had since its beginnings characteristics of its own that are expressed in specific provisions agreed upon by a community of nations for its collective security and, therefore, that a "2. That the present Government of Cuba, which has officially identified itself as a Marxist-Leninist Government, is incompatible with the principles and objectives of the inter-American system. "3. That this incompatibility excludes the present Government of Cuba from participation in the inter- American system. Military intervention of communist powers in Cuba cannot be justified as a situation analogous to the defensive measures adopted in other parts of the Free World in order to face Soviet imperialism. "The meeting expressed the need for undertaking the actions called for by Resolution VIII of the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, especially paragraph 2, also including the use of their ships in the Cuban trade, in the light of the new developments taking place in Cuba. It also called upon all other independent countries to review their policies in this regard. "The meeting agreed that it is necessary for the countries, in accordance with their laws and constitutional precepts, to intensify measures to prevent agents and groups of international communism from carrying on their activities of a subversive nature. "The meeting recalled that the Soviet Union's intervention in Cuba threatens the unity of the Americas and of its democratic institutions, and that this intervention has special characteristics which; pursuant to paragraph 3 of Resolution II of the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, call for the adoption of special measures, both individual and collective. "The meeting observed that it is desirable to intensify individual and collective surveillance of the delivery of arms and implements of war and all other items of strategic importance to the communist regime of Cuba, in order to prevent the secret accumulation in the island of arms that can be used foil; offensive purposes against the hemisphere. "The meeting concurred in the wish that studies be undertaken urgently, in accordance with Resolution II of the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, of the transfer of funds to the other American Republics for subversive purposes, the flow of subversive propaganda and the utilization of Cuba as" a base for training in subversive techniques. "The meeting voiced the traditional fraternal affection of all the American peoples for the people of Cuba and their deep sympathy for the victims of the present regime, and expressed the hope that the Cuban people may return as a full member of the democratic American family of nations, under a government compatible with the purposes and principles of the inter-American system."
30. With the deliberate intention of distorting the facts, an attempt has been made to represent the case of Cuba as a conflict involving that country and the United States alone, to the total exclusion of the Latin American Republics. This concept, of course, does not correspond to the facts, as is amply demonstrated by the Punta del Este documents and those, of the Meeting of Foreign Ministers at Washington to which I have referred. From the very moment that the Government of Cuba turned its back on democracy and its contractual obligations under the inter-American system and began to violate — often very seriously — the spirit and letter of treaties and conventions of vital importance to the continent, an extremely serious crisis arose between the Cuban Government the Cuban people and between the Cuban Government and the Government and peoples of rest of America.
31. The Communist propaganda line, which is designed to convey the impression that a conflict exists solely between Cuba and the United States, is damaging to Latin America because it seeks to make Latin America, appear as if it were a group of republics which are not conscious of their own responsibilities and are incapable of discerning the imminent danger to which they are exposed. This danger is caused by the existence of a Government which, on American territory, has turned the land of José Martí, the great apostle of freedom, into a Sino-Soviet centre for military and political operations and for the ideological subversion of the democratic institutions of all the American nations, of their Christian ethics and of their peaceful coexistence
32. Owing to its exceptional political, military and economic relations with Russia and Communist China, the Communist Government of Cuba constitutes a threat — unparalleled in the history of the hemisphere — to the peace, security and sovereignty of the American States.
33. The problem is not a quarrel or conflict between Washington and Havana. In an inter-American context it is a conflict between Cuba and the republics of our continent, just as within a world context it is part of the struggle between East and West, between "democracy and non-democracy.
34. Convinced as we are of the greatness of the nations that are Members of the United Nations, we find ourselves asking the following question, which we have no hesitation in putting to this august Assembly: are there any peoples whose views are not legitimately represented here?
35. Of necessity, and in order to do justice the profundity of the idea behind this question, we must begin by saying that the Government of the Dominican Republic was not born of popular elections but of popular acceptance, won by conduct based on undeniable freedoms, on clear-cut guarantees for the honest citizen, on the equitable administration of justice and above all on the firm determination of the President of the Republic and the members of the Council of State to hold elections in full view of any international observers who may wish to witness them. For, not only is it not afraid, but it is anxious for the world to see the triumph of the will of a people which, for more than three decades, has been pining for its freedom behind the prison bars of Trujillo's unprecedented tyranny.
36. Thus, on 20 December, the Dominican Republic will select a Government through the proper and free exercise of the right to vote. In the certainty that this will come to pass, I appear before you with the proud humility of one who knows that he is not one of the elect but simply a servant of western civilization with every right to ask: are there any peoples whose views are not legitimately represented here?
37. The people seek peace — but not the peace of the firing squad or of the prisons packed with political opponents whose only crime was to disagree with the regime in power. The people seek peace — but not peace born of the sufferings of exile or peace born of the daily flight of those who risk their lives to escape. The people seek peace — but not peace which does away with the freedom of the Press, which stifles the thoughts of men after robbing them, of their right to speak and turns them into terrorized beings who tremble in the presence of the accuser, who may send them to the scaffold on a trumped-up charge. The people seek peace — but not peace which prevents the worker from exercising his right to strike or robs the universities of their independence or compels the peasant to carry a gun to defend ideas which he does not understand.
38. The people seek peace — but not peace which robs families of their loving children in order to send them away for indoctrination, whence they return so devoid of all filial affection that they inform on their parents. The people seek peace — but not peace that prohibits the holding of meetings in the fear that genuine elections will show the world how unpopular the leaders of the day really are. The people seek peace — but no peace which exports subversion, unrest and conspiracy to neighbouring countries, which are thus condemned to live in a state of constant anxiety, defending their democratic institutions. The people seek peace, but it is a different kind of peace. It is the peace which helps to eradicate all those evils, to remove the threat of war, subversion, hatred, unrest and terrorism. The peace that promotes understanding, industry, culture and happiness.
39. Lastly, it is the peace which allows people to worship their own God and gives us the freedom to beg ours, from this high rostrum, to guide the United Nations in its search for a way to live together in dignity, in peace without fear and justice without humiliation.