In the splendid setting of this great building from which every horizon can be viewed — a meeting- place for forces of diverse historical and ethnic origins which here ally themselves in the cause of the final liberation of modern man — it gives me pleasure to convey heartfelt greetings to the General Assembly, both on my own behalf and on that of my Government.
160. The Haitian people — still imbued with that revolutionary spirit which, after inspiring the heroes of our glorious epic, provided the spark for the emancipation of the peoples of America — salutes the noble aspirations and the great mission of the United Nations for which we have a special sympathy because of our traditions as the first free negro nation of the present age,
161. Situated at the heart of the new continent, how could Haiti fail to be heartened by our fraternal association here, enriched as our country is by the ideals of the Revolution of 1789 and the civilization of the old world, and linked by ethnic ties to the mother continent of Africa?
162. It is precisely because of the deep confidence that dwells in the hearts of men that, at a time when world problems can be solved by respect for the law rather than by recourse to arms, the Government and people of Haiti praise the efforts of the United Nations and reaffirm their ardent wish to co-operate. They regard the presence of such eminent delegations as the most telling evidence of the peoples' anxiety and of their desire to surmount the crisis through which mankind is passing at this moment of history.
163. With the Second World War, the foundations began to crumble of the edifice built up in the nineteenth century by the great colonial Powers in the belief in the universal validity of the juridico-political theory of their own supremacy. It was then that the division between the Eastern and the Western protagonists of an international order began to widen.
164. The map of the world was transformed; the progress achieved in the physical and biochemical sciences gave new value to natural resources: the amazing scope of the human spirit was further extended and science, defying the mechanics of the universe, embarked upon the conquest of outer space.
165. In the far corners of the continents national aspirations too long subdued were aroused and a growing self-awareness developed among the peoples of Asia and Africa. This process of emancipation, while peopling the world with new independent States, also established a new trend as a result of the position taken by the less favoured nations.
166. The non-aligned world was thus born, a world which repudiates unilateral positions and refuses at any price to become involved in the controversies between the two blocs. What progress it has made between the Bandung Conference, where it proclaimed its right to exist, and the Belgrade Conference, where it endorsed the idea of active and peaceful coexistence — the only possible alternative to the threat of war, which would mean general catastrophe!
167. International life is nevertheless still marked by the antagonism between East and West, which is sharper than ever and which, as a result of the armaments race, is deepening the division of the world into two conflicting blocs. This antagonism is paralysing all efforts because it results in a hardening of positions and in a strategy of delays and postponements which impede the solution of problems that become more complicated with the passing of time and the exacerbation of passions. It is degenerating into a form of interference, based on an artificial classification of Powers into small and great, the interests of the latter being regarded as having precedence over those of the peoples and of all mankind. Thus, this East-West antagonism has serious repercussions on the present problems of Berlin and Cuba as well as on the anti-colonialist struggle, the normalization of relations between the newly independent nations and the former metropolitan countries, and the chronic evil of under-development. All this imperils the future of peace.
168. But this conflict must at least bow to the need for social change in a period of transition to a new order of co-operation among nations; in this complete regrouping of communities, it must at least bow to the predestined evolution of human society which, despite inevitable divergencies, means the victory by each people over historical injustices and a positive effort to promote development. As the President of the Republic of Haiti said in his message on the sixteenth anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations: "There can be no question of defeat for the cause of peace or of irreparable consequences, so long as the nations of the world community, drawing inspiration from their freely undertaken pledge to guarantee peace, progress and the exercise of human rights as an essential aim, adopt a realistic attitude to the contradictions and problems which divide them."
169. With respect to the foolhardy activities which threaten the world with total conflagration, the question of disarmament, bastard child of its antinomy, the arms race, suffers from inherent defects which, since they result from a common heredity, cannot be eradicated. In both areas, the road being followed is the blind road of ambition for domination, without regard for the desire for peace of the peoples who are dissatisfied with this precarious balance of terror — the possible prelude to an atomic war which would mean the end of our modern civilization.
170. Although the problem of disarmament has mobilized the resources of the human spirit during recent years, the argument of force is visible under the restrictive, but crude trappings in which it is confined.
171. The problem is one of extreme urgency at the present time. Despite the presence of secondary Powers whose task it was to make the voice of reason heard, the Geneva Conference on disarmament has been inconclusive. It would have been more fruitful if it had taken advantage of experience and of preceding agreements and had avoided another deadlock, and if the failure of the talks had led to an elucidation of the difficulties and to a definition of objective goals for renewed efforts in the near future.
172. In view of the forecasts of an improvement in the international situation following the presidential elections in the United States and President Kennedy's submission to the United Nations on 25 September 1961 [1013th meeting] of a disarmament plan under a title holding out hope of freedom from war and in view of the fact that the Organization has been concerned with the matter since its foundation, it is sad to find that the efforts of the Geneva Conference have culminated in nothing more than agreement on how the discussions are to be resumed.
173. Thus fifteen years of negotiations have produced only the volumes of speeches delivered by the negotiators. This is not, indeed, a very encouraging result. Nuclear and thermo-nuclear war has not engulfed all humanity and the wealth of civilization because responsible leaders still regard the starting of such a conflagration as senseless; meanwhile, world public opinion, faced with the prospect of explosions that would light up the horizon, shake the frontiers and terrify all hearts, is unwearying in its criticism. May it prove to be a triumphant force — because it is a humane force — against this implacable atomic race, and may the General Assembly of this association of the world's nations usher in, through its untiring efforts, the reassuring prospect of an international agreement eliminating the dangers of nuclear testing and condemning the use of nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons.
174. The immediate effect of the situation I have just described can only be to disrupt the economic foundations of the units composing this international organization.
175. Latin America, torn asunder by sharp antagonisms, is passing through the most crucial period of its history. In a statement prepared at the request of the United Nations Office of Public Information, Mr. Raul Prebisch, the Executive Secretary of ECLA, recently described the troubles of Latin America in the following terms: "These are decisive times" — he said realistically — "for the economic, social and political future of Latin America and its relations with the rest of the world. "We have reached the most critical turning-point of our history. Latent social tensions are mounting dangerously and are a constant feature of this region's general economic development, which has slowed up considerably in recent years. The gap between the income of our peoples and that of the peoples of industrialized areas, which is already too wide, instead of narrowing, is actually becoming even wider. The people of Latin America lack hospitals, decent housing, schools and teachers; there is a scarcity of doctors and nurses, particularly in rural areas, and too few technicians and skilled workers. "In such conditions, the praiseworthy efforts which the Latin American countries make from time to time to solve these problems really amount to very little". Emphasizing the urgent need for measures commensurate with the magnitude of the problems, he added: "In the past, under-privileged groups resigned themselves to poverty, sickness and illiteracy but there has been a radical change in this attitude of passivity, even in the most remote areas. "A genuine awakening has taken place among millions of Latin Americans, who are becoming increasingly convinced that poverty and ignorance are not inevitable. They eagerly desire better living conditions."
176. This is enough to explain the social upheavals that occur from time to time in Latin America and to prevent any surprise at the irreversible process of revolutionary change in Latin America where the effects of population growth are exerting decisive pressure and where the impetus of nationalism, strengthened by the legitimate demands of the exasperated masses, has led to a greater awareness of living conditions, a determination to spare future generations a sense of frustration and to give new meaning to the ideas of liberty, dignity and solidarity in the light of the imperative changes occurring in international life.
177. In this connexion, I should like to pay a well-deserved tribute to the generous action of President John F. Kennedy who, moved by the aspirations of the peoples of Latin America for increased economic and social well-being and in order to free them from the recurrent disturbances caused by under-development, proposed the "Alliance for Progress" programme to the peoples of the hemisphere.
178. That initiative found concrete expression in the "Declaration to the Peoples of America", adopted about a year ago by the Punta del Este Economic Conference. The peoples of the Americas have undertaken, with the assistance of their powerful northern neighbour, to seek a comprehensive solution to the problems facing Latin America through a series of measures to be carried out over the next ten years. These measures include, in the economic field, an increase in personal income, agrarian reform and diversification of national infrastructures, and in the social field, a large-scale campaign against illiteracy, the reform of secondary and higher education and the building of decent housing.
179. It would be difficult for us to pass judgement, after so short a period of time, on the results achieved by this vast undertaking or to share the opinion of those who, after only one year, brand it a failure.
180. The Republic of Haiti, pending receipt of assistance which it is still awaiting, has decided to follow a policy of "self-help". Such a policy will enable it to solve its problems one by one, in a less spectacular and pretentious manner than the economically strong countries, through a wise and honest administration and within the limits of its meagre resources.
181. The Haitian people are proud of having staunchly defended the right of peoples to self-determination and of having enriched the content of representative democracy with the concepts of sovereignty and national dignity. These are, in fact, the basic features of Haitian democracy which His Excellency President Duvalier, eminent sociologist and modern statesman, defined in his message of 22 May 1962 in the following terms: "From one point of view, democracy seems to reflect an abusive or aggressive attitude on the part of those who wield the economic power; from another point of view, it is a faithful expression of the traditional spiritual values which together must govern man's conduct at the poles as at the Equator. "But in these paradoxical times of a world in tumult, freedom will be denied to you in the name of a democracy which must either be imposed or exported in order to be adopted. "Our Haitian democracy — for it does exist — is the dynamic expression of the 1804 revolution for liberty and independence, a revolution which was killed at Port Rouge with Dessalines, revived with Soulouque and Salomon Jeune, betrayed and then started anew by the humble peasant of Verrettes, Dumarsais Estimé, and extinguished on 10 May 1950 by the venal 'caudillism' supported In our American countries by the advocates of a democracy which must be imposed or exported in order to be adopted; but since you so will and so decide, this revolution is continuing in the dynamic evolution of our democracy; it will triumph because you stand guard, men and women of the militia, the army of the people, because you stand guard with all the vigilance imbued in you by the lessons of history."
182. Respect for the principles of non-intervention and self-determination of peoples, the shield of the political Independence of weak nations, remains the firm basis of my country's foreign policy. These principles, solemnly proclaimed in article 15 of the Bogota Charter and in Articles 72 and 73 of the United Nations Charter, have been endorsed on several occasions by eminent men representing their respective countries. Did not Benito Juárez proclaim that "respect for the rights of others, practised by nations as well as by individuals, constitutes peace"? And did not President Kennedy say on the occasion of his last visit to Mexico that now we know where we are going and are on our way, and that there was no desire to change or direct the political or economic system of any nation.
183. It was, I believe, the late Dag Hammarskjold who, in speaking of the Congolese problem, said somewhat colloquially that, like a spider which enmeshes in its web the fly that it has caught, we worked on problems until they had been completely isolated from the outside world and that he was satisfied only when he had sealed them off completely. He was thus defining one of the most important tasks of the United Nations: to keep problems likely to degenerate into generalized conflicts confined to the local level.
184. For this and many other reasons, I cannot but express my country's unshakable faith in the future of our Organization and in the purposes and principles of the Charter; I must also express gratification at the virtually faultless functioning of the international agencies linked to the Organization and appreciation of the services which they are rendering to Governments.
185. A task of vast proportions confronts the United Nations: assistance to the under-developed countries, the disinterested and effective assistance which will free them from the bondage of hunger, ignorance and disease.
186. Of course, no one entertains any illusions concerning the weaknesses of the Organization, weaknesses which are the result of a number of internal contradictions. It is for us, the Member States, to secure their elimination, to work for the continuous strengthening of the foundations of the Organization; for, to paraphrase Jules Romains, we, the peoples of the world, are in the position of dwellers in a besieged fortress. We shall either be saved together or we shall all perish together. Individual stratagems and cunning will be of no avail.
187. In conclusion, I should like to extend a most cordial welcome and best wishes to the nations which have become Members of the United Nations during the current session and which are linked to us by so many ethnic and cultural affinities. I should also like to express my best wishes for success to the delegations gathered here, in their work in the General Assembly and in the Committees.