The delegation of El Salvador, which I have the honour to head, wishes first of all to reiterate its warm congratulations to the President on being chosen to guide the work of this Assembly at its seventeenth regular session. It is also pleased to extend its heartiest welcome to the new Members of the United Nations, the States of Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Rwanda and Burundi. On this happy occasion, the Salvadorian people and Government greet these States and their worthy representatives in this Assembly and trust that independence will enable them to strengthen their democratic institutions and to attain the development and prosperity which they deserve.
153. Since its inception, that is, in the last seventeen years, the membership of the United Nations has more than doubled. We think that it would be difficult to say whether or not the founders of this Organization foresaw the emergence of so many countries in so short a time. History has no record of so extraordinary an event; rather, it speaks of the decline or disappearance of empires and States. We therefore regard the appearance of so many new nations, whose influence is already being felt in this Assembly, as a unique feature of the world of today.
154. We do not doubt that the increasing number of countries associated in our Organization will strengthen it in its struggle to maintain peace, increase its power to ensure that nations, large and small, duly respect each other, and, above all, provide new hope that with the co-operation of the United Nations conflicts which give rise to anxiety and uncertainty because they threaten the future of mankind will be settled.
155. The main objectives which the authors of the Charter had in mind coincide with the goals set by the advocates of pacifism in the past and present centuries, and although it is true that men seem to us to have changed and the world to be different, there is no denying that the same concepts prevail and the ideal is the same: namely, peace and friendship among nations, international morality, and co-operation in every technical, economic and cultural field.
156. Notwithstanding the negative attitude of the pessimists, my delegation believes that, despite differences of opinion, if we men meet together to discuss them in good faith it will always be possible for us to settle our conflicts. Fortunately for the human race, solidarity among men and States does not mean uniformity; each has his own opinion on the questions that affect us all. We see this every day in the Assembly and it explains the long and difficult road which the United Nations has travelled. Grave conflicts which have jeopardized peace have been settled in the end. The most diverse views have been expressed from this rostrum; at times, sharp words and threatening phrases have been heard here and sometimes speakers have gone so far that their words have wounded their opponents. In the end, however, tempers have cooled and peaceful voices, urging understanding and brotherhood among States, have been heeded.
157. An entire chapter would be needed to do justice to the role and influence of this Organization in its struggle to improve the conditions of the less fortunate States from the economic, cultural and technical point of view. El Salvador and many other countries have benefited from co-operation of this kind extended by the United Nations, and my Government has proved itself worthy of this act of solidarity by transforming its economic and social structure and arranging its finances in accordance with the methods counselled by experts of the United Nations specialized agencies, at the same time not losing sight of our own particular characteristics and the extent of our resources.
158. My country, in keeping with its Government's standards of conduct and its goals of promoting human and social dignity, has not failed to face the factors which cause unrest and lead to agitation. As the President of El Salvador said recently, upon taking office, these goals will be sought "without any shirking, thoroughly and completely, on the basis of law and economic incentives, encouraging the social role of wealth in practical and equitable ways and developing programmes of governmental action designed to raise the level of living of the most needy classes",
159. "We are endeavouring", he said, "to carry out a thorough revision of our culture and our public ethics in order to determine in what direction we are going, to breach certain obscure ideas that have become enshrined as scientific truths and to discover whether the symbols which we respect as the sources of humanism are trustworthy guides for our civic conscience or merely sectarian strongholds of philosophies alien to our republican and democratic tradition."
160. The Salvadorian State is seeking "a formula of balance between savings and investments in the private sector and is convinced of the need to improve remuneration and services for the working and rural classes; this will have to be reflected in its fiscal policy, which will include a careful and complete revision of the tax structure to bring it into line with objectives and realities in keeping with a solution satisfactory to all social groups".
161. With these and other measures, we are resolutely facing the perils which menace our democratic institutions and confronting those who seek to replace them with others which are alien to our tradition. We are facing subversive propaganda and activities which threaten — and recently attempted — to disturb law and order in El Salvador. We are therefore on our guard against the communist movement, which is active in our country. We know that it receives, respects and carries out orders and instructions which apparently come from a brother country not far away from us, but we are convinced that the real source of communist disturbance and contamination lies outside our continent.
162. We wish to denounce here this inadmissible interference, which constitutes a grave threat not only to El Salvador but also to the other countries of America.
163. The Salvadorian nation has republican and democratic roots which draw their nourishment from deep within the spirit of our people. It holds the principles of self-determination and non-intervention to be the necessary basis for peaceful coexistence among States, but for that very reason it defends its democratic creed and resolutely opposes any kind of totalitarianism, whether of the right or of the left, which some may seek to impose upon it.
164. Consequently, it is natural that we should be determined to prevent Marxist-Leninist propaganda, which is expressly denounced in our Political Constitution, by every possible means. As our Chief of State has said, "we are not disturbed by the harassments of communism, nor does its so-called revolutionary justice strike into our hearts. We certainly condemn its methods and repudiate its policy, because we consider it a mockery and an offence to the dignity of the peoples of America. The anti-communist struggle which we envisage is sustained by new doctrinal elements; we shall struggle against communism with weapons of socio-economic reform, dignifying man as citizen and worker and the family as the foundation of nationhood. We do not preach extermination or hatred; the moral seed which we are sowing is that of faith and hope in the higher destiny of our country."
165. In the Central American region El Salvador is concerned with the economic, social, cultural and political reconstruction of the five States of the Isthmus, which emerged to independent life united in 1821 and whose unity was shattered in 1839 with the breaking of the federal agreement of the Republic of Central America.
166. Since then there have been many efforts to rebuild that unity, all to no avail, but we are persisting in that endeavour. In 1951 the Charter of San Salvador was signed, establishing the Organization of Central American States with headquarters at San Salvador, its task being to co-ordinate the efforts of the five Central American countries in that direction, The process of integration of Central America had already made considerable progress and we are on the eve of holding an important meeting of Central American Foreign Ministers at Panama City which, as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Guatemala so aptly said, will consider the restructure of the Organization of Central American States as another step towards reconstructing the political unity of the Isthmus.
167. In this connexion we are pleased to add that ever since its inception the Central American regional organization has viewed with interest and favour the possibility that the sister Republic of Panama, geographically an integral part of the Isthmus, may enter the Organization of our States.
168. El Salvador, like every country in the world, keeps a constant watch on the development of the serious problems which threaten international peace and security. The small nations, like the great Powers, view with concern the mounting tensions which threaten to lead to a catastrophe which could destroy everything that man's intelligence and energy have built in the course of thousands of years. We do not believe, however — for it is inconceivable — that another total war will come. We are nourished in this hope by the efforts of the statesmen responsible for the future of their peoples who are striving to resolve their differences without resorting to violent and irreparable decisions. For many months we have seen them discussing the difficult problem of general disarmament, the serious risks of the armaments race, the Berlin crisis, the problems of South-East Asia, the Cuban situation and many other problems which threaten peace. My delegation pays a tribute to those efforts and believes that history will record with gratitude and admiration the names of all the political leaders who are now devoting their efforts to avoiding war and preserving international order and security.
169. At all events, whatever fate the future may hold in store for us, we wish to state as members of the community of nations making up the free world that we shall remain faithful to our spiritual values and our democratic and Christian traditions and that we shall never renounce the liberties which we enjoy today.
170. In keeping with these ideas, the delegation of El Salvador is resolved to support all proposals and measures which may be thought necessary to promote the just and peaceful solution of the problems which disturb the world. It is confident that during this session of the General Assembly satisfactory results will be achieved in accordance with the principles advocated by the Charter of the United Nations.