I must begin by expressing the emotion and anxiety I feel as I address this Assembly, which is opening another session in full4 awareness of the fact that it is struggling for its existence as the supreme international body vested with the task of building a constructive peace for all peoples. Because “power cannot be exercised with impunity”, to quote the Bolivian Minister, Franz Tamayo, it is disquieting to consider the tremendous power and correspondingly great responsibility of the great Powers which, constrained as they are to proceed in accordance with a rigid pattern in keeping with their domestic policies, have been unable to lay the foundation for a stable peace which would enable their peoples and the peoples everywhere to live in the hope of a better world.
65. Our emotion becomes anxiety when, as the representatives of small nations, we realize that we can contribute very little, indeed almost nothing, to the elimination of the conflicts among the great Powers, Yet, at the same time, we understand that it is our duty to co-operate constructively in the work of the United Nations, which seeks to build good-neighbourly relations at a time when profound changes are being made in economic, political and social structures and when no State, however small, can remain indifferent to the problems confronting a world which is moving towards unity. The United Nations is in itself the most satisfactory international institution history has known for studying and planning better economic and social conditions for the undeveloped countries. Its painstaking and methodical investigations, and its sustained interest in the solution of the vital problems of the undeveloped countries, represent a collective effort without precedent and the combined labour of outstanding abilities placed at the service of mankind. If to this is added the ever-growing conviction that the world will be a better place to live in if it is prepared to achieve unity, so that the economies of the different regions of the earth may be complemental to each other, all respect being given both to economic sovereignty and the principle of self-determination of peoples, it will be realized that the under-developed countries are the most vitally interested in the effective solution of the conflict among the great Powers, and, thus, in the real strengthening of the United Nations.
66. It is the study groups of the United Nations which, in their search for the soundest bases for a lasting peace, have pointed out the fundamental need to promote the development of the under-developed countries. This view has gained such acceptance in the United Nations that no discussion and no important resolution fails to take into account the danger inherent in the continued existence of economically exploited and politically, dependent peoples. Now, in Bolivia, the opportunity has arisen to give effect to the purposes and recommendations of the United Nations regarding the economic development of the under-developed countries, without risk of conflict. That opportunity and that development will be followed, with the greatest interest by other countries in a similar position.
67. In the frank and intelligent statement he made a few days ago [379th meeting], the retiring President of the Economic and Social Council, who is the head of the Chilean delegation, mentioned the alarming figures for mortality, health and nutrition in the under-developed countries and their trade deficits, and referred to the report submitted to the President of the United States by the Materials Policy Commission. He cited statistics on the reserves of tin, copper, manganese, aluminium, oil and zinc, and the probable consumption in the next twenty-five years, which show how “the world, and especially the industrial countries, will depend to a growing extent upon the raw materials emanating from the under-developed countries”. These ores and others, in addition to vegetable raw materials, exist in abundance in my country. Up to the present time, only tin has been intensively exploited, and Bolivia is the second largest producer of tin in the world.
68. The arrival of the conquistadores in the territory now occupied by Bolivia disrupted the agrarian economy of the Incas and transformed it into a mining economy, while the feudal system was imposed in the rural areas. That is how, during the colonial period, the legend of the wealth of Potosi spread far and wide in America and Europe. But, paradoxically, that very wealth contributed to the poverty of the producing nation. This apparent contradiction was due to the fact that the silver shamelessly extracted at the cost of the lives of millions of Indian serfs helped to finance imperial Spain's plans for domination.
69. In the twentieth century, tin being essential to the development of the industrialized countries, an economic empire based on tin mining was built up in Bolivia. After firmly establishing its political power in my country, the rulers of this empire went abroad and assumed foreign citizenship in order to strengthen their political domination through diplomatic influence. The tin magnates found minor allies in the large landowners and local politicians living on the labour of the Indian peasants; thus a feudal mining system was established and for half a century appointed puppets as presidents, members of parliament, judges and diplomats, all of them employed in the semi-colonial exploitation of the people of my country. Thus the bitter paradox of the colonial period of a country tremendously rich in natural resources and at the same time incredibly poor, continued to exist, although there was now the fiction of political independence,
70. The following statistics from official United Nations documents clearly illustrate the real situation in Bolivia. The birth rate is 45 per thousand; the general death rate is 35 per thousand; the death rate of infants is as high as 500 per thousand. As regards nutrition, the Bolivian’s consumption of calories is 1,612 daily. The annual per capita income is $73 (U.S.). As regards literacy, 80 per cent of the population is illiterate. Average daily wages are about 50 cents (U.S.).
71. At the other extreme, it is interesting to note that the personal fortune of the tin magnate, Simon I. Patiño, was estimated a few years ago to amount to over $500 million, and that in 1951 the Patiño family as a whole paid a total of 53,217.08 bolivianos, or approximately $250, in surtax (tax on presumed profits). Another “tin baron”, Mauricio Hochschild, paid no surtax at all. Lastly, Mr. Carlos Victor Aramayo, owner of the daily newspaper La Razón, which alone is worth roughly $250,000, paid 186,971 bolivianos, or about $900 in surtax in 1951.
72. Such an abnormal and inhuman system of economic privilege, based on the exploitation of three million human beings by an insignificant minority, was maintained for haft a century by the irrational exercise of political power and was one of the main obstacles to the normal development of Bolivia. Indeed, this anomalous situation could not have lasted as long as it did had it not been encouraged and supported by interests outside the country. As a reaction to that state of affairs, and in defence of freedom and progress in Bolivia, a movement of liberation, formed by the middle and working classes and the peasants, came into existence in Bolivia fifteen years ago. It came to power without the consent of the “tin barons”, by the vote of the people, ratified by arms. It was not merely another political party, ready to wait its turn to serve the feudal super-State of the mining industry, or to seize the opportunity of the traditional military coup to enrich its leaders with the crumbs from the tables of the owners of the means of production; it was a movement of national liberation which had come into being spontaneously and naturally as a result of the situation in Bolivia and Latin America. The agents of the feudal regime imposed by the mining industry immediately understood that the organized arrival of the people on the Bolivian political scene constituted a danger to their own existence and resorted to every possible means to thwart their access to power. Those means included non-recognition. That is why, particularly during the last six years, the rights of that people were pitilessly destroyed. Thousands of working-class, peasant and middle-class families were held down under the yoke of poverty as a result of labour black-lists. They suffered the violence of a police State and were the victims of mass murders. The most elementary human rights were denied and violated; at the same time, the people were subjected to a campaign of political slander. The will of the people, as expressed through elections despite chicanery and coercion, was frustrated.
73. But the march of the colonial and semi-colonial peoples towards progress and freedom cannot be halted, because to halt it would mean the perpetuation of war and poverty in the world. In Bolivia, the path of peaceful evolution was closed and the people, wresting the weapons from the hands of its enemies, overthrew the feudal mining regime after a bloody and heroic struggle. The triumph was marked by the greatest humanity; after the battle, and while it was still giving Christian burial to its thousands of dead, the stout-hearted and generous people of my country forgave its erstwhile opponents. Not a single person was shot; there were no reprisals or destruction of property. In Bolivia a revolution without hatred is in progress.
74. Under the technical assistance programme launched by the United Nations to promote the progress of the under-developed countries, the agreement of 1 October 1951 between the United Nations and Bolivia was an experiment with far-reaching implications. Thanks to this agreement, which went beyond the strict definition of technical assistance, my country was given administrative assistance designed to re-establish order in its public and fiscal administration, In view of the chaos to which the public administration had been reduced by the feudal mining system at that time, it was logical that the United Nations should desire to offer technical assistance in the sphere of administration, although it was certainly not realized that the disorder had been created as a method of concealing the frauds committed by the mining industry and the government officials in its service. In Bolivia, this step was looked upon with some suspicion. It was pointed out that it involved a tacit renunciation of the principle of sovereignty and independence. Outward appearances were, of course, maintained, and the administrative trusteeship over Bolivia was veiled by regulations drawn up to guide the advisers in their work. But the Bolivian people understood instinctively that this intervention, although materially of advantage to the country, was in conflict with its traditional principles. Today my Government, interpreting that collective feeling, is preparing its observations on the agreement and will propose amendments which it considers to be in keeping with its national dignity. These reservations will not in any way constitute a repudiation of the agreement reached with regard to technical assistance, for, today, more than ever, as it begins a new era in its history, Bolivia hopes to secure all the advantages which technology can offer to a country whose potential wealth must not be underestimated in plans for increased world production or in programmes for the settlement of large numbers of migrants who could find homes in its rich and extensive territory. Negative factors in the economic and social structure of Bolivia have weakened its strength and retarded its development — its geographical position, its small population and its isolation from the world’s great trade routes. But the underlying reasons for its internal disorder are closely related to the forms in which its wealth has been exploited, which have been typical of the semi-colonial nations, and these, in turn, can survive only under the control of international cartels.
75. I should like to comment on the basic criterion which, in contrast to the analysis I have given, the competent organs of the United Nations applied in dealing with the problem of technical assistance to Bolivia. The report on which the agreements between Bolivia and the United Nations were based could not include all the information which circumstances required, because the sources providing the information were interested in maintaining and consolidating the conditions in which the mining industry and the Bolivian workers were being exploited. As mining was not only the main but also the only positive activity of the national economy, radical remedies were necessary, and not mere palliative measures which would in the long run only intensify administrative disorder and governmental instability. There were two main gaps in the report: the absence of data on methods of establishing smelting-works for tin and other minerals in Bolivia and, secondly, the lack of any critical analysis of the conditions under which the mining industry operated. It was impossible to make an objective study of the Bolivian economy without considering these two matters. Unfortunately, they were not taken into account, and the result was a gap which is now becoming apparent in the United Nations plans for technical assistance to Bolivia. It would be unfair, however, to blame the technical mission for these gaps. It began its inquiries at a time when the political situation of the country was such that there was particular official interest in concealing the truth and in misleading the experts, who had in the end to follow the lines laid down by the great mine owners through a government that was completely subservient to them.
76. In view of what I have said, the Bolivian people wish, to enjoy the assistance of the United Nations. The United Nations and its specialized agencies can do much, not only for the direct benefit of my country, but also — and this is the most important aspect — for the benefit of mankind, which is impatiently seeking means of balancing population growth with expansion of the means of production to eliminate hunger and poverty.
77. From its liberators, Bolivia received as a heritage an extensive and rich territory which is at the service of mankind. I do not feel that I am exaggerating the scope of these problems, which are closely related to technical assistance, when I say that the problem of my country’s economic development is not a strictly national question but a matter which affects the community of nations. The Bolivian problem deserves special understanding for one reason in particular, that it is the result of a conflict initiated by external factors. Now that vigorous domestic forces are seeking to reorganize its economic structure, Bolivia requires, and requests through this great assembly of nations, the support which is needed to solve its basic problems, so that the sacrifices of its people, who are striving with unparalleled vigour to overcome the obstacles created by its unfavourable geographical position and against powerful international interests which seek to perpetuate its semi-colonial status, may not once more be vain.
78. Under the Constitution and mining laws of Bolivia, the State’s right to expropriate concessions, which have given rise to a power openly opposed to the national interests is indisputable. Under our law, the expropriation and withdrawal of such concessions are called for by two constitutional principles: the social function of property and the public interest. The principle of political independence is fully recognized in the constitutions of Member States. However, side by side with this legal and democratic provision, without which an international organization could not exist, there are economic forces which believe simply that might is right. The relations between small producers and large buyers are becoming increasingly difficult. Although there have been and still are producers’ associations, it is equally true that there are buyers’ monopolies. Faced by such forces, a country without reserves can easily be upset. Apart from these factors, countries whose economy depends on one or two basic commodities are subject to a policy of extortion, whose purpose I fail to understand. Under this policy, low prices are fixed for certain commodities when they are in short supply and there is a demand for them, and they are thrown on the free market when the supply increases. This policy has been followed in the case of certain essential commodities and is an undisguised threat to the security of the under-developed countries. This restrictive and extortionist policy destroys the reciprocity and solidarity which should mark the economic relations of the small, medium-sized and large countries. International disputes and national liberation movements emerge, like inexorable historical corrective phenomena, as a result of such unjust relations.
79. The Bolivian liberation movement has taken the irrevocable decision, to nationalize the large mines in accordance with the law as a first step towards bringing the national economy under the control of the State. Mining profits will be used to raise the present level of productivity, to carry out a land reform which Will enable the rural population to participate fully in the national life, to establish new industries which will make it possible to take advantage of other minerals, other sources of power and other natural resources, to improve living conditions and to make the benefits of culture and civilization available to the whole population. When political independence is thus coupled with economic sovereignty, there will be social peace and progress in Bolivia; this will contribute directly to the harmonious development of the other peoples of America and of the world, and will help to achieve one of the objectives of the United Nations with regard to countries in a similar position to mine. The degree of success of this vital process will be reflected in the United Nations and in the under-developed countries in their common struggle for progress and freedom. I therefore appeal to the understanding of the tin-purchasing countries; I am certain of the solidarity of the countries which have problems similar to ours. My delegation reserves the right to speak again in this general debate if an international situation arises which affects my country during the period of nationalization of the mines. And now, in conclusion, I must turn to a problem of general concern.
80. The system of collective security is undoubtedly the most remarkable historical experiment undertaken by the human race in its endeavour to ensure world peace. During the first half of the twentieth century, men have striven to perfect this system, which is the most effective means of warding off the scourge of war and eliminating aggression. The real obstacles to peaceful development are the disturbances affecting the relations among the great Powers whose destinies involve the fate of the entire world. The small and medium-sized nations have placed their hope in moral principles, the sine qua non of that spirit of peace which is necessary to create a situation in which peace among men is possible. My people earnestly desire the establishment of a lasting and enduring peace under the auspices of the United Nations and consider that moral and spiritual factors offer the best guarantee for the progress of man towards his goal.