On behalf of the delegation of Paraguay I should like to congratulate
Mr. Hollai on his election to conduct the proceedings of the General
Assembly, an honor that has been conferred upon him because of his
personal integrity and his well recognized diplomatic experience.
We extend to the Secretary General our best wishes for success in the
important work before him. We do so not only because of the esteem in
which we hold him but also because as South Americans we feel
gratified at his election. We are pleased to see that every day he
gives clear proof of his skills and his unquestionable dedication to
his work, as evidenced by his report on the work of the Organization,
a report that concisely sets forth many creative suggestions at a
time when, though there has been hesitant progress, efforts are being
made to achieve survival in peace and dignity.
My delegation fully shares the deep anxiety of the Secretary General,
who has urgently appealed to us for common sense and effective
action. We note his hopes and offer him Paraguay's cooperation in his
noble efforts to implement the Organization's mandate under the
Charter to avoid the untold sorrow that results from war, to reaffirm
faith in fundamental human rights and to establish conditions
conducive to the general progress of all our peoples in a universal
atmosphere of coexistence based on mutual respect, justice and
freedom.
Perhaps more than any other year in the life of the Organization, the
past year has been characterized by continued violence in different
parts of the world. As the Secretary General has pointed out, we are
apt to forget with suicidal single mindedness the six years of global
agony and destruction that preceded the San Francisco Conference, and
it is true that thus far we have not learned to operate sensibly the
system of collective security that is the only instrument available
to us to preserve our generation and succeeding generations from
total disaster. We are haunted by far justified and healthy fear that
alerts us and prompts us to understand the dangers that stalk us.
With all the defects inherent in human endeavor, the Charter remains
the only valid instrument Car the finding of solutions which, though
provisional, can defuse the critical situation that confronts us. The
different conferences on disarmament that have taken place since the
days of the frustrated League of Nations have not thus far offered
the Rope of a promising course of action. The so called major Powers
and those that try to be major Powers bear the tremendous
responsibility of giving the world an example of wisdom and of real
and effective respect for life, the most important human right.
Statements on the principle of the sovereign equality of States are
meaningless if the destiny of mankind is linked to the interests of
those who wield atomic power, with all its horrors. Equally
meaningless are the intentions of promoting the overall well being of
peoples if vast sums are earmarked to annihilate them, in a vicious
circle of dissuasion which can last only so long. Moreover, the
terrorism which is exercised in the internal sphere and exported
equally criminally beyond their own borders by some Governments is an
eloquent expression of a state of madness which can be compared only
to the threat of an atomic holocaust. In spite of the inexplicable
difficulties involved in the consideration of this topic in the Sixth
Committee, my delegation would ask that the study of draft
international instruments aimed at removing the apocalyptic scourge
of terrorism, such as, for example, the draft Code of Offences
Against the Peace and Security of Mankind and a draft international
convention against the recruitment, use, financing and training of
mercenaries be accelerated. Those and other legal instruments with
binding force at the international level should, together with The
Hague, Montreal and Tokyo Conventions, which my country has already
signed, provide a body of provisions which can counteract that type
of crime.
A/37/PV.23
Paraguay has heroic experience of wars. My country has itself
suffered not only the incalculable loss of life of its sons and
daughters in devastating numbers but also the hardships of foreign
military occupation and the mutilation of its territorial heritage.
Thus we repudiate and forcefully condemn the Soviet Union's
subjugation of the sovereignty of Afghanistan, a country which is
steadfastly struggling to defend its independence; we repudiate with
equal force Viet Nam's intervention in Kampuchea; and we cannot fail
to condemn the brutal genocide carried out against defenseless
communities in Lebanon. All these and similar events of transitory
notoriety seem to have the incredible purpose of lulling our
consciences and anaesthetizing our sensitivities. Faced with this
negative picture, which causes pessimism, my country welcomes the
certain positive signs of understanding which have emerged in the
international political sphere. We express the fervent hope for
success in the efforts made by the Republic of Korea to bring about
the unification of the peninsula through direct negotiations with the
People's Democratic Republic of Korea, and we trust that, under the
competent guidance of the Secretary General, the efforts which began
in 1979 will continue. Paraguay has for more than a quarter of a
century now enjoyed a climate of political, social and economic
stability based on a system of sound democracy, administered with
constant dedication to the higher interests of the Republic. In spite
of the serious general deterioration which has dangerously affected
the economic and financial situation of the world, my country
maintains the conditions which make it possible for us to benefit
from one of the highest growth rates on the continent, a very sound
external public indebtedness record, a balanced administrative budget
and a very low level of unemployment which is not in any way a social
problem. None the less we are fully aware of the need and the
obligation of the developing counties to remedy, through common
action, the unacceptable shortcomings of an economic structure which
affects the prices of our commodities, stimulates disorder in the
monetary system and stultifies international trade. We have faith in
the creative capacity of our nation. As far as we Paraguayans are
concerned President Stroessner stated, at the beginning of his
outstanding work of leadership that the people is the source of the
spirit that has made Paraguay's Homeric record possible in the
history of the nations of the world. The people is the substance that
nourishes us, that gives us strength to react the summit without fail
and to raise our flag as a lofty, lasting symbol of our national
grandeur. My Government, together with those of other nations of the
Americas, signed a request for the inclusion in the agenda for debate
at the present session of the General Assembly of an item on the
question of the Malvinas Islands. In doing so, Paraguay was merely
endorsing the attitude it had already adopted at the two special
sessions of the Assembly of the Organization of American States in
May and June of this year in order to consider the armed conflict
which broke out in the South Atlantic. Aware of the extreme
seriousness of the military confrontation, which was then approaching
our continent, my country joined hi the united action of the nations
of the Americas to try to avoid the crisis, even though the situation
resulting from the events that had taken place and from the ongoing
negotiations aimed at reaching agreement, did not offer much hope of
a negotiated solution. Now, in the same spirit of friendship towards
the parties to the armed conflict over the Malvinas and with the same
sense of responsibility regarding our duties towards the
international community, the delegation of Paraguay is sponsoring,
together with other nations of the Americas, a draft resolution to be
submitted at this session of the General Assembly, with a view to
achieving a just and honorable solution to the conflict between
Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. It is our fervent hope that the disputes over territorial
delimitations between Argentina and Chile, Ecuador and Peru and
Guyana and Venezuela will be resolved in a dignified and intelligent
way. Throughout the difficult process of institutional consolidation,
the nations of the Americas without exception found it difficult to
delimit their respective territories. These difficulties stemmed
mainly from the confusing administrative legacy received from the
Spanish Crown in the political sphere in which the colonial Power
exercised its authority. This is the reason for the armed conflicts
that have taken place among nations in our continent to resolve their
disputes. Paraguay, for example, has throughout its history as a
colonial political entity seen the shrinking of a territory which
originally included what is now the vast region of the Rio de la
Plata in addition to a strip of land 200 leagues in extent on the
Pacific Ocean. Hence, in the sixteenth century my homeland was called
the Vast Province of the Indies and the ocean adjacent to the present
coast of Uruguay and Argentina was in the seventeenth century called
the Paraguayan Sea. I mention this merely to recall that the process
of delimiting our American republics has in every case been the
result of an accumulation of circumstances, fortunate or otherwise,
which, in the final analysis, have been accepted as the rule of
history, In the light of this, it is difficult for us to imagine that
a breakdown in diplomatic negotiations aimed at resolving territorial
conflicts between our countries should give way to the theory of
Clausewitz and that there should be recourse to armed force. My
delegation expresses the very fervent hope that the aforementioned
territorial disputes will be resolved in a strong Americanist spirit,
which would do honor to the sincere and irreversible desire to build
together an effective system guaranteeing the future and the well
being of our peoples. Since I have just recalled the process of
delimiting the borders of our American countries, it is relevant to
point out that Paraguay has been reduced to a landlocked country and
in this respect has every right to lay a claim to the legitimate
means provided by the international community to countries that are
deprived of a coastline. There are agreements between my country and
neighboring countries aimed at facilitating river and road
transportation for access to the sea. At the present time, the
Government of Paraguay is considering, on the basis of an already
developed project, the construction of the facilities needed to join
its national railway to that of Brazil, making available to us
another important channel of access to the ocean.
Precisely because it is a land locked country, Paraguay has expressed
its great interest in overcoming the limitations that stem from that
condition. Thus, my country participated actively in the various
conferences on the law of the sea held since 1958 and in the drafting
of the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea, which will be
open to signature countries in Jamaica next December. I should like
to affirm my country's interest in obtaining through that Convention
all the facilities for land locked countries provided for therein. In
addition, situated as it is by geography in the Plata basin, my
country is conducting a policy of genuine regional integration in
order to exploit Ally the natural resources that we share with
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay. I am pleased to announce to
the Assembly that, because of this, on 5 November 1982, at the border
of our countries, the President of Paraguay, General Alfredo
Stroessner and the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil,
General Joao Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, will meet for the
formal development of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, the largest
hydroelectric complex in the world, which will have an installed
capacity of 12,600 megawatts and will produce approximately 75
billion kilowatt hours a year. I wished to conclude my statement with
an affirmation of what peoples can do when they are inspired by genuine
cooperation and understanding. President Stroessner has said: Peace
is the basis of all that makes it possible for us to progress with a
calm vision of the future; this is reason enough to defend it from
those who make of war an instrument of domination and of democracy a
pretext for extinguishing freedom. For the sister nations of America
and all the nations of our world we hope for days of constructive
peace. We hope that the pain that has affected the fraternal
countries of our continent will come to an end. We hope that the
Americas will be a powerful and respected force in the international
sphere, with a sense of life that does honor to the ideal of
independence and freedom, a flame kindled by Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de
Francia and Francisco Solano Lopez, Bolivar, Marti, Juarez, Jose
Bonifacio, San Martin and so many other eminent individuals who gave
our nations a lasting example of human dignity.