1. Mr. President, the Argentine delegation has the honour to congratulate you on your brilliant election to the presidency of this Assembly. We regard it as a recognition of your forceful personality and of your experience in the United Nations as representative of Ghana. We also regard it as an expression of full confidence in the moral authority and serenity with which you will preside over the Assembly in circumstances attended by so many issues of general concern. But your election should also be seen as a tribute to your country and your continent, whose support of the purposes and principles of the United Nations is daily more thoroughgoing.
2. At the same time, we should like to pay a tribute to Ambassador Sosa Rodriguez. His tact and devotion as President enhanced the prestige of Latin America, which at a particularly significant stage in the Organization's history we had called upon him to represent.
3. We extend our best wishes for the early recovery of the Secretary-General, U Thant, so that he may resume as soon as possible his diligent and dedicated meditation in the task of preserving harmony among the nations.
4. We welcome with pleasure and great expectations the entry into the United Nations of three new States —Malawi, Malta and Zambia. Their admission emphasizes the growing universality of the Organization and brings new national contributions to its experience and its councils.
5. The event which we have welcomed reminds us, however, of the omissions which still have to be remedied if the United Nations is to be truly representative of all national communities and if it is to arrive at a permanent solution of the questions, left over from the war, which are still pending.
6. Peaceful reconciliation, and the decision to preserve it; good repute universally earned through devotion to law, democracy, justice and well-being — such is the basis on which the past can profitably be erased. In 1964, Argentina repeats what it said in 1920: namely, that an organization called upon to ensure future peace between the nations cannot afford to differentiate between belligerents and neutrals, so far as its members are concerned, and that it must admit to membership, on an equal footing, all sovereign States recognized as such by the international community.
7. We therefore say that the right of the German people to decide freely in regard to its country's reunification, and of the Federal Republic of Germany to be admitted to the Organization with its international entity undiminished, should be recognized.
8. Argentina brings no problems to the United Nations, except for one to which I shall refer later. Nor has it any international problems as such. Convinced of the Organization's vital importance to mankind, Argentina stands ready at all times to help by fulfilling the obligations prescribed by the United Nations, carrying out its purposes, complying with its recommendations, deferring to the will of its majority, accepting fully the consequences of the Charter, respecting each and every Member and supporting the collective effort to build a world free from war, dedicated to freedom and drawing upon all goods and services to preserve men from poverty, insecurity and exploitation.
9. Argentina fulfils that task, on the national level by its decisions and on the international level by its conduct. With the help of all its citizens, who enjoy equal rights to universal and compulsory suffrage and the secret ballot, as well as the right to think, write, trade, work and associate in trade unions, it is steadily building social democracy. We feel more secure with a system which permits peaceful access to power by any sector of the population, and the periodic correction of mistakes, with a system relying on the infallibility of government or of ruling classes. Our democracy is not wedded to any economic dogma. It is pledged to justice, efficiency and development. It sets the basic targets of the economy, but leaves it to private initiative, in principle, to attain them.
10. Internationally, our country has remained faithful to the principles evolved when it became a nation early in the nineteenth century. It believes in the equality of States. As President Illia has said, it believes, not that there are big nations to which it owes obedience or small nations which it can rule, but that all peoples and nations merit its equal respect.
11. We have consistently adhered to the principle of non-intervention in the affairs of other States, and we have jealously guarded our own nation from outside intervention. In all our international relations, we have always dealt with Governments, never with peoples — precisely in order that we should not, even inadvertently, be guilty of intervention. But all our dealings with Governments are in the interest of the peoples. As Argentines, proud of Calvo and Drago who formulated the principle of non-intervention at the beginning of this century, we could never depart from their hallowed doctrine.
12. We want to keep our old friends and make all the new friends we can, with no qualification except mutual respect. We have a deep rational and human interest in establishing closer relations with the new countries of Asia and Africa, with which we have so far had little opportunity for contact. We are sure that we shall find basic areas of agreement and shall be able to join forces with them in achieving solutions satisfactory to our peoples. Argentina has no enemies among the countries of the world, for the simple reason that it does not regard itself as the enemy of any one of them.
13. Resuming the mandate handed down by its national heroes, Argentina, like all its sister nations in America, is committed to the unity of the continent. Many elements in that unity have always existed — geographical continuity, language, emancipation, ideals and common beliefs, not to speak of age-old sympathies. The other elements are being forged by the need for collective security, economic integration and preservation of a common culture.
14. Much has already been achieved in that direction — an organization of American States founded on the principles of the United Nations Charter, a Latin American common market, a Central American common market, the Charter of Alta Gracia. At the same time, each country is continuing to contribute to that unity. Argentina, for example, has opened its rivers to two Hand-locked countries and made its ports available to those countries for the purpose or their access to the sea.
15. Despite distortions and institutional instability, America has shown itself to be extraordinarily consistent in its democratic ideals. No other concept has. succeeded in supplanting them in the hearts of Americans — neither poverty, nor tyranny, nor economic exploitation. Fortunately, democracy has never been incriminated in America. The faults, if faults there were, have always lain elsewhere. Universal humanism and the dual contribution of an indigenous and a Western culture have kept the Continent free from resentment. America is free of hatred, both externally and internally. Precisely for that reason, it is a magnificent terrain for reconciliation.
16. For a long time, America was forgotten — thrown back on its own efforts, and its own meagre resources. There can be no denying that it has served others more than others have served it. If a balance-sheet of international financial aid in recent years were drawn up, it would be found that America was the area of the world which had received the least. We believe that due correction of this situation has begun.
17. The unity of the American continent is not designed for separation from the rest of the world. Rather is it designed to constitute a contribution to the unity of the world, to the cause of peace, to the development effort, to the equality of peoples and to the security of the human person.
18. In the belief that the national territory constitutes the geographical area for the effective expression of the national will and the individual will of each Argentine citizen, the Argentine Government has taken special pains to preserve the country's territorial integrity. We would draw the attention of the United Nations to our views, because the Organization will have to approve our ideas which, in the last analysis, are based on the principles of international justice.
19. Territorial sovereignty cannot be made conditional upon capacity to defend it or to take full advantage of it; it can be conditional only on the right of sovereignty itself. That right cannot be made contingent upon force, for in that event only strong nations would enjoy it. Fortunately, the world has progressed so far in its recognition of justice and morality that the time has come to erase the vicious theory that "might makes right" from all documents and legislation.
20. Argentina has stated that the continental shelf and the sea above it constitute an integral part of its national territory. It has confirmed its sovereignty over the Antarctic territory encompassed by its national territory, and it considers it necessary, in virtue of its sovereignty over its air space and its rights in- outer space, to make the relevant reservations without prejudice to its endorsement of the idea that such space should be used for the good of Argentina and of all mankind.
21. It was in defence of its sovereignty that Argentina was moved to raise the problem which it has brought before the United Nations. In the Committee on decolonization, the so-called Special Committee of Twenty- Four, Argentina has claimed its inalienable and inviolable rights to the Malvinas Islands, occupied by the United Kingdom since 1833, when the latter seized it by violence in time of peace from a country which had just begun life as an independent nation.
22. At that time we, as Spain's successors, were in legitimate occupation of the Malvinas Archipelago. The first establishment had been founded in 1764 by France, which later ceded it to Spain. In 1766 Great Britain founded Port Egmont on Saunders Island. In 1770 the English were evicted by the Spanish Navy, but in 1771 they reoccupied Port Egmont in implementation of an offer of reparations from Spain — the latter expressly reserving its sovereignty, which was not challenged. The English voluntarily abandoned Fort Egmont in 1774, and until 1829 made no reservation or protest despite occupation first by Spain and later by Argentina. It was only in 1829, four years before taking them by force, that England showed a renewed interest in the Islands and protested against administrative acts by Argentina. In those days there was a revival of imperialist ambitions in every corner of the globe. We were unable to defend ourselves against violence. The existing population was dispersed, and on 3 January 1833 one more act of nineteenth-century imperialism was consummated. That act of force is the reason for Great Britain’s presence in the Malvinas Islands.
23. When historical research and the facts of law laid bare the precarious nature of the claims whereby the occupying Power had sought to justify its action, and when Olympian silence had to make room for self-justification, that Power invoked, in contradiction to its own case, the argument of self-determination. We returned a full and detailed reply. We would, however, recall a time-honoured principle to the effect that no one can improve his title to anything. Anyone taking possession of something unlawfully retains possession of it unlawfully — cannot, in other words, exonerate himself by means of repentance, apologies or time. Nor can he improve title by transferring it to another quarter: the recipient receives it with its original defect, since no one can transfer rights better than those which he holds.
24. If we regard self-determination as the exercise of already existing sovereignty, it cannot be recognised in the present case, because what is at issue is not a sovereign State but a colony. Nor can the settlors’ right of self-determination be recognized, because they are themselves an integral part of the colonial machinery. Self-determination can be applied to existing sovereignty or nascent independence, but not to the continuation of colonialism. It can be applied, moreover, only when the territory involved is not in dispute.
25. We shall be more specific in regard to this subject when it comes up for discussion in the appropriate Committee and in the Assembly. For the present I will only add that, while Argentina has the right to claim its Malvinas because they are an integral and intrinsic part of its national' territory, the United Nations has a duty to terminate colonialism even when it seeks to pose as self-determination, which is reserved for peoples that wish to retain or achieve real independence, Argentina does not and never will forget its right. It is prepared to negotiate with Great Britain the return of the Malvinas Islands, with due regard to the interests of the handful of settlers inhabiting the Archipelago. The conclusions of the Special Committee of Twenty-Four contain a recommendation that such bilateral talks be held and recognize as legitimate the application to the to the islands of the name Malvinas, the historic and Argentine appellation given to the Territory.
26. Like the rest of mankind, Argentina believes in peace and in its creative opportunities. It also believes that peace is attainable. While the world has so contracted as to seem small and dangers once remote have consequently come nearer, friendship, integration, solidarity, mutual assistance and collective defence have also been brought within closer range. Nevertheless, we know that many dangers lurk and are exploited for selfish purposes. Not by opposing such a state of affairs, but only by seeking its complete abolition, can we attain our objective.
27. For defence, we provide our solidarity with like- minded friends; for peace, we supply our determination to live with all other peoples in peace and mutual respect. We repeat: we are not indifferent; we too have a militant spirit; we believe in a system of ethics, a way of life, a humanitarian and democratic ideal. But we do not try to impose our views on others, nor would we allow them to impose theirs on us. Coexistence is not abdication, submission to contagion, or self-complication. It simply means accepting a reality which facts have permanently or temporarily imposed upon us, but which none of us is entitled to change by violent methods.
28. The peoples of the world, more sensible than their ideologists, will find, in friendly discussion of their ideas and problems, Opportunities to improve the truth. The problem lies not in ideologies as such. Reality has drained the colour from fanaticism, failure has toppled infallibility, and performance has muted the boastful tone of promises. The problem resides in what lies behind ideologies. The distribution of military, economic and moral power makes it impossible for any particular nationalism to impose itself on the world through any one of those sectors of power. On the other hand, an ideology opens doors, windows and cracks through which to infiltrate into other countries. In assessing the dangers to peace, a great mistake has been to regard as ideological conflicts what are really conflicts provoked by expansionist nationalism in ideological disguise.
29. Our peoples believe in nationalism that exalts love of country, stimulates the overcoming of problems and mobilizes the effort, capacity and zeal required for the achievement of national unity. Our peoples, moreover, have learnt how to combine this unity with effort on the regional and on the world plane. That is why they detest any exclusive or expansionist nationalism, whatever its guise, colour or slogan.
30. With this concern for peace, Argentina draws attention to the compelling and urgent need for machinery which, improving on that established by Chapter V of the Charter, will make it possible to find a peaceful solution for all latent or actual disputes between nations. Until such machinery is perfected and applied to all disputes, war will continue to present itself as a solution, especially to those who are in the wrong. At the very least, the cold war will continue to waste energies, resources and opportunities for the peace and well-being of mankind.
31. Time and again in the name of sovereignty the compulsory settlement of disputes by reference to the appropriate machinery has been postponed, at great risk. Though jealous of its sovereignty, Argentina has always favoured the settlement of problems by peaceful means* It has taken this stand, with its sister nations of America* ever since the last century. In the League of Nations Assembly on 17 November 192O Mr. Pueyrreddon, the Argentine Foreign Minister, on instructions from President Yrigoyen said: «we are in favour of the principle of compulsory arbitration in all disputes except in questions affecting the political construction of States, and we declare ourselves partisans of a Court of Justice equipped with judicial powers."
32. Argentina has only two outstanding territorial problems; and acting in concert with the sister Republic of Chile, it submitted one to an arbitrator appointed early in the present century, and the other to the International Court of Justice.
33. Sovereignty runs no risk when confronted with right, because it is itself the basic right and the essence of all other rights. On the other hand, it runs a risk when faced by naked force and intemperate foreign demands. If sovereignty had to rely on its own strength, it would become a privilege of the strong and would cease to be the most sacred right of all nations. Furthermore, no one has a right to war. War is nowadays, morally and materially, a world-embracing phenomenon. Only mankind as a whole can consent to it.
34. There is another circumstance which I would mention. The annihilating power of nuclear weapons has, of course, bred fear m all men and sharpened an instinctive desire for peace and self-preservation; but it has created a tendency to tolerate, or disregard, conventional war. The position has become so confused that conventional war might easily come to be regarded as blameless war, given its relatively minor power of destruction. We do not want merely to dilute war; we wish to abolish it. We cannot agree to nuclear pacifism becoming active toleration of conventional war. We do not want the dove of peace to be equipped with conventional arms and ammunition. We cannot leave responsibility for peace solely in the hands of those countries which possess atomic weapons; responsibility for world peace must be assumed by all nations. Moreover, experts have given us ample warning that no war today can be completely free from the haunting possibility of the use of nuclear weapons, or be confined to limited nuclear hostilities, if only because the inexperience of armies and the incalculable range of any war's effects leave the way open for fatal mistakes.
35. Our agenda for peace must also include other forms of warfare, such as revolutionary war, permanent revolution and subversive aggression. Conventional war may possibly be an attack not directed against a country's sovereignty. But revolutionary war is primarily an attack insidiously directed against the sovereignty, the right to freedom from interference, and the right to self-determination, of peoples. Revolution cannot be exported. It is possible to do everything on a world basis, except replace the national will. An imported revolution is a command from abroad. The world would have gained very little if it passed from colonialism to "satellitism".
36. The Argentine people respects, and has faith in, all races. Our national entity, which is a compound of the most varied ethnic ingredients, is an instance of the unifying power of tolerance, mutual respect and humanism. Hardly had our revolution begun, in the last century, when the Argentine nation proclaimed that all men living on Argentine soil, whatever their Origin, were born free and equal. We are happy to have been born and to have grown up in that belief. We regard racism as destructive of national unity and as potentially aggressive. For that reason, Argentine penal law prescribes severe penalties for all forms of racial and religious discrimination.
37. Racism, however, has not disappeared from the world, since some believe in it and others use it. We feel bound to state that racism may take on a new lease of life, either because there are those who believe that the so-called dominant races must remain dominant, or because there are some who are interested in propagating the belief that the oppressed races must take revenge. Either way the result would be a cataclysm, and that must be avoided. Any struggle to destroy God's creation — and man is His noblest creature — would be savage; but, more than that, it would be futile. No race would predominate, because only man, with the help of truth and justice, can predominate. Human cruelty can destroy, lay waste and kill; but it cannot create a void. Man cannot destroy man altogether. God, in His merciful persistence, would rebuild. Nations and races would rise again, for they are not built of distinctions, differences and inequalities. They are varieties of a common, universal beauty.
38. Another of man's preoccupations, apart from peace, is development. All countries are anxious for development. It has assumed such political importance that some have made an ideology of it, while others regard it as an idea with its own motive force optimism is buttressed by statistics. This is because estimates are prepared for each economic unit with reference to the past. If, however, development were measured comparatively, by world standards, we should find that differences between countries and between peoples, far from being reduced, have in some cases been intensified. Development was chosen as a preferred short-cut to the reducing of differences and to the securing of approximate equality of enjoyment, security and well-being for all human beings. The concept of "one world" has eliminated the domestic yardstick and compelled the adoption of an international yardstick. Moreover, no one is attracted by the idea of a national distribution of poverty and need.
39. All the same, the developing countries listened to the recommendations addressed to them for national readjustments designed to enable them to make proper use of their means of production, with the encouragement of a measure of financial assistance. No great economic change resulted therefrom. Financial aid, despite the goodwill with which it was supplied to them, did not solve the problem but rather increased their external indebtedness. There seemed to be a reluctance to recognize that if structural readjustments had to be made in the developing countries, similar readjustments would be necessary in the developed countries, simply because the two categories were economically interdependent. Development, in its economic processes, is a problem of income and markets. If the already low income of developing countries is withheld or taken back by the industrialized countries, the formers' capital development becomes impossible. Income is withheld when a fair price is not paid for a primary product. Income is taken back when the price charged for
40. At the same time, development is economic expansion through market growth. For this, markets in industrialized countries are essential. The Charter of Alta Gracia, framed by the countries of Latin America and supported by seventy-seven countries at Geneva, pointed with exemplary objectivity to the problems and their solutions.
41. It was, of course, highly gratifying that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development-^/ examined for the first time in history the problems of primary materials, manufactures and financing linked to development, as well as the institutional machinery to deal with them in the future. But none of the problems was resolved. None of the economic systems accepted responsibility for a solution. At Geneva the world was not seen to be divided ideologically between countries with market economies and countries with centrally- planned economies. This time the division was between rich and poor countries, between satisfied and needy countries. We have, however, not lost faith. We have faith in the industrialized countries' sense of fair play. We have faith in the solidarity of the seventy-seven countries. The latter not only constitute the most powerful group — as regards numbers, universality and human content — ever to have been formed within the United Nations family; they have shown maturity and judgement in their attitude. This was seen in the discussion of a system of voting which was designed to reconcile all the interests at stake, without prejudice to the effectiveness of the new institutional machinery contemplated, or to the principle of "one State, one vote".
42. Argentina is prepared to continue its firm support for the principles of the Alta Gracia Charter and the Geneva decisions, its resulting solidarity with the group of seventy-seven countries, and its wholehearted efforts for the elimination of inequalities between nations and peoples through the process of development.
43. I have thus explained to you Argentina's anxious concern for the future of mankind. I would merely add that we are fully determined, even at the cost of national sacrifices, to discharge our responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations. We are sure that no country will evade its obligations. If obligations are not fulfilled within the Organization, they are unlikely to be fulfilled outside it and the United Nations will have lost, vis-a-vis the world, that power of persuasion which, when all is said and done, is the only effective guarantee of world peace.