11. I have great pleasure in congratulating the President on his election to preside over this twenty-second regular session of the General Assembly. I feel it is a step in the right direction that these debates should be conducted by a member of a socialist country; it highlights the fact that the Organization embraces all ideologies and political systems and is serving peace and international co-operation in the widest sense.
12. It is also a pleasant duty for me to express the Chilean delegation’s appreciation of Mr. Pazhwak of Afghanistan who worked so indefatigably and so patiently in the cause of peace as President of the last regular session and of the two special sessions held this year.
13. This new regular session of the General Assembly opens in a difficult atmosphere. Two special sessions have been held this year to deal with matters of vital importance for international peace. In none of the three items discussed during those sessions was any progress made; delegations which made valiant efforts to achieve practical results were left with a mere vague feeling of confusion and disappointment.
14. The question of South West Africa was discussed at the fifth special session, on the basis of a report from the Ad Hoc Committee for South West Africa recommending direct administration of the Territory by the United Nations. The recommendation was approved but it is obvious that it will be ineffective because, for different reasons, all the permanent members of the Security Council abstained. Thus at a time when by an overwhelming majority the International community had withdrawn its confidence from the former mandatory Power, South Africa, this occurred to strengthen the position of the latter and encourage it to continue for many years its mockery of the United Nations.
15. At the same special session the General Assembly examined a report of the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations, a vitally important topic if the Organization is to be provided with the means of intervening effectively in conflicts calculated to endanger international peace and security. Despite all attempts to reach at any rate a minimum agreement, nothing concrete was achieved. The report was approved and the Committee was requested to continue its examination of the problem, bearing in mind the proposals submitted by Ireland and Canada, which Chile co-sponsored. Let us be honest: those proposals were thus politely buried.
16. In consequence of all this, the great Powers have regained their former absolute control over questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security, and the General Assembly has been denied its erstwhile ability to act in this matter. This same General Assembly whose authority in matters of peace has been undermined was convened in special emergency session to deal with the Middle East question, now aggravated by the recent conflict.
17. Latin America made a serious attempt to secure peace. In line with the principles involved, which we fully support, Chile considers that there is room for a further approach which could bring about an effective formula for a stable and definitive solution to the Middle East problem.
18. There are at present very few problems as serious as the Viet-Nam conflict. There is no denying that its presence hover over these debates, and in the last few years we have all expressed our opinions on the matter. Today we once more express our distress at finding the struggle still going on with no end in sight. One wonders whether a process of moral corruption is not taking place when mankind grows accustomed to the daily sight, year in, year out, in the press and on television, of battles, bombings and death as if they were scenes from history having no connexion with morality, law, or life as we know it.
19. It is indeed a cruel paradox that, faced with the most serious problem threatening world peace, the United Nations has been unable to play any significant role. The question is not even on the General Assembly’s agenda, A political, not a military solution is what is needed in this war, and it must necessarily take account of the principles in whose name this political Assembly is meeting; I refer mainly to the principles of non-intervention and self-determination.
20. We have followed the Secretary-General’s personal intervention with sympathetic Interest; but its results have highlighted the utter inability of the Organization, as such, to assume responsibility for this problem. There is no doubt that one of the causes of this situation lies in the fact that the United Nations still falls short of universality and that many important actors in the drama are absent, vacillating between a Messianic role and chaos, isolated and menacing.
21. As a last confirmation of this picture, I would draw attention to the stagnation at Geneva in the task of interpreting the principles of the Charter, It is paradoxical that twenty years ago the world experienced a feeling of relief at seeing general agreement reached on fundamental rules and principles, and yet today there is no real agreement on the meaning of those rules and principles.
22. It would not be fair, however, to blame the United Nations for the failures and frustrations to which we have drawn attention. They are due not so much to what goes on within the Organization as to the policy of power that is developing outside it. Side by side with the United Nations a system of blocs has been built up which divides the world into two centres, each of which has strengthened its defences with political, ideological and military instruments. The vertical separation of the two was prejudicial to a large number of small States, while the introduction of political, ideological or economic alternatives, such as those expressed by the so-called non-aligned countries or third world, did not substantially change this polarization on a world scale. This has seriously affected the work of the United Nations. The Organization has, however, helped to prevent these two blocs attacking each other.
23. In the last few years this cold war has decreased in intensity. Economic, technological and military development has brought about relationships of common interests and balance among the great Powers which have robbed the previous ideological differences of their meaning. The more rapid rate of development attained by the countries that do not belong to the blocs, as also their political self-government, have been a strong inducement in that process.
24. This has given rise to ways of thinking and to forces which, realizing the danger of division, build bridges in the matter of thought, ideologies, religion and economic development, creating such fruitful relations that today we are witnessing increasing co-operation among nations that ten years ago seemed to be hostile and aggressive. And thus it would seem, to our great joy, that peace among the great Powers has been preserved.
25. At this point I must mention the armaments problem. Up to a few decades ago armaments represented only a fraction of a country's activities and were simply the power it kept in reserve for any military emergency. Today the production of armaments absorbs such a large share of the resources available for scientific and technological research that it prejudices and distorts all the economic activity of the great nations and, by a strange paradox, it mobilizes the greatest effort in the use of natural resources and of intelligence that mankind has ever made throughout history. It is tragic to realize that while Pope Paul VI, the highest moral authority in the world, has said that "development is the new name for peace", the production of armaments has today become the greatest expression of development.
26. A few weeks ago, the two greatest Powers, showing a promising ability to co-ordinate their policies, submitted a joint draft treaty oil the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. The world cannot but welcome this effort to decrease the possibilities of nuclear destruction.
27. Nevertheless, I must refer here to a fact that is precisely in line with the phenomenon already described of the horizontal separation of the great Powers, above, and the rest of the world seeking development, below, that has replaced the vertical division brought about by the cold war. In fact, the Powers in question, by proposing by themselves alone the solution of a problem that is of such serious consequence to the small countries, have shown clearly the vast abyss existing between the power of decision and the influence of some as compared with the power and influence of others.
28. In the picture I have drawn, it is imperative that real progress should be made in the conversations of the great nuclear Powers on the practical means for their own disarmament, since the renunciation by the small States of any attempt to develop their own nuclear weapons will be of no avail unless it is accompanied by the nuclear disarmament of all States without exception. Yet we see no progress being made in that direction.
29. The rapid development of countries like my own, or indeed the majority of the international community, makes it necessary for all possible national and international resources to be available for that purpose. Consequently, our concern for non-proliferation cannot make us overlook the importance of the measures of conventional disarmament, which is closely connected with the releasing of resources for economic development.
30. At the Meeting of American Chiefs of State held at Punte del Este in April 1967, the subject of the limitation of expenditure on armaments was expressly considered in connexion with the discussion of ways and means of overcoming the present economic situation in Latin America. At that same Meeting the Chilean delegation put forward the idea of abandoning certain types of military devices, within that framework.
31. My delegation considers it essential that a study should be made of the security needs of the countries of Latin America as a whole, their legal and political obligations and their internal constitutional and institutional requirements. For this reason we urge that this point should be given consideration and that a specialized preparatory meeting, exclusively Latin American, should be convened, with general approval, to consider these problems one by one, keeping in view solely the interests of the Latin American region.
32. In this way Chile shows that its essentially pacifist policy, based on absolute non-intervention, does not in any way call for armaments that affect the security of other countries of the region, and far less for the acquisition of arms or military devices that impede the harmonious economic and integrated development of the region.
33. Unless a certain measure of peace prevails among the great countries, the perils of war increase in this human frontier zone, where the break occurs between well-being and poverty, between development and the lack of science and technology, a frontier which coincides with the periphery where the historically white man meets men of another colour. It is here, in this frontier, that tensions build up.
34. I am not trying to condemn some nations in order to extol others, but simply to show the existence of a concealed racism that operates in increasingly manifold and complex imperialist forms.
35. Among the developed countries that tend to unite their efforts in defence of their interests, ideologies and nationalism lose their virulence. It is the peoples that are farther beyond the frontier of well-being that are a prey to extremism, nationalism and even international political terrorism,
36. Wars — at present local wars — break out in this periphery. Terrorism is let loose among the peoples which have been colonized and which suffer social injustice. It is here that we find the great perils and problems that the United Nations will have to tackle if we wish to fulfil its purposes.
37. This violation of human rights on a world-wide scale is due to an underlying racism that is foreign to us Latin Americans. The historic importance of Latin America is that of constituting a human manifestation in which all races have had and still have equal opportunities of integration in our national communities. We do not, however, claim to be a symbol, but we do believe that we are a synthesis.
38.The International community, aware of the dangers and the injustice that the horizontal division of the world between satisfied peoples, on the one hand, and deprived peoples on the other, entailed, proclaimed the decade of the 1960s as the Development Decade. Four fifths of that period have already passed and none of the targets for economic growth set at that time have been reached; indeed, today, It is frankly admitted that this aspiration has been a failure. There is no appreciable improvement in the Indices of the levels of living of the developing nations and the transfer of technology and financial resources which was essential for the achievement of those targets has not come about. The terms on which international trade is developing are still conspiring against more rapid development and we are in the midst of a world food crisis which is due to the inability of the developing world to increase its agricultural production to keep pace with its population explosion. What, then, is strange in the fact that it is precisely in this periphery that wars, conflicts, violence and tension originate that imperil international peace? We cannot think about preserving peace and security if we are not able boldly to transform the problem of under-development in order to ensure a decent life for every human being.
39. National efforts are, and must be, the basis; they cannot be replaced, but only supplemented, by International co-operation. Thus development will be achieved with the national characteristics and genius of each nation and for its own benefit, without, however, any disregard of the general interests of mankind which are consistent with it.
40. In the interdependent world of today, international collaboration has become a necessity, because the sphere of action of each country is becoming more and more limited. The structure of world trade is, however, making the efforts of the developing countries fruitless. With all the means at our disposal, and particularly through UNCTAD, we are seeking a drastic change in that structure. Until that comes about, and as a means of arriving at a system of equitable world trade and reciprocal benefits, we think that the developing world should increase its economic and commercial relations within its own frontiers, whether within each region or among the various regions.
41. An example of how developing countries can co-operate with each other through political decisions Is provided by the agreement reached by four of the largest copper producers of the world, the Congo, Peru, Zambia and Chile, working out concerted action to increase their negotiating capacity in the trade and use of this basic metal and designed to make the interest of the producing countries coincide with those of the consumers.
42. In our opinion, however, the most complete demonstration of this policy of increase and of economic and trade complementarity among developing countries lies in economic integration of regions or sub-regions. In Latin America we have chosen this path of integration in order to make the utmost use of our countless natural resources and our great human potential, to produce massive quantities of capital goods and to introduce technologies and industries of high technology that can only survive with ample markets within a vast economic region.
43. The Meeting of American Chiefs of State, held at Punta del Este in April 1967, gave a political definition, at the highest level, to the need to create a common market grouping 240 million Latin Americans. This act is not only of great significance for the development of Latin America; it will very soon be of significance for the whole world, that cannot disregard the potentially richer continent, in which the population is increasing more rapidly. Within this context, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and recently Bolivia, have agreed to accelerate their integration in order to form a single economic region during the forthcoming decade.
44. These integration processes require financial and technical assistance from outside. That is what happened in the case of the European integration, which has been of great benefit to the people of that continent. We, for our part, are seeking integration as a way of establishing our own development on autonomous bases with regard to decisions and in order to obtain the benefits of progress. For this reason, external co-operation, which is necessary, can be neither exclusive nor excluding.
45. It can be asserted that the diagnosis of the economic and social situation of the developing world has been completed. It has also been possible to start laying down the broad lines of an International policy designed to change the present state of affairs. In the Trade and Development Board, which completed its session at Geneva a few days ago, there was a clear consensus on some of the central points of this policy, which might give rise to constructive and fruitful negotiation.
46. We feel that among those points none is so worthy of mention as that of the transfer of modern technology to the developing world. The technological revolution is leaving the developing world — which harbours two thirds of the human race — behind in the matter of scientific and technical progress, for the gap which is increasing daily between the economic power of the two sectors of the world is obviously the result of the technological imbalance. Let us therefore not hesitate to say that it is of the utmost urgency that the process of transferring that technology should be speeded up, by the granting of patents on favourable terms or by the granting of facilities for the local improvement of applied, and in some cases also basic, research.
47. Next in order of importance is the transfer of financial resources to the developing world, which has manifestly weakened. It is therefore clear that the second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which is to be held at New Delhi from 1 February to 25 March 1968, will have to take up that question in no uncertain fashion and establish the machinery and the methods for increasing the earnings in foreign currency of the developing countries, basically though their exports of primary commodities and manufactures and through financial assistance that will be able to help in the mobilization of domestic resources and in the better utilization of a labour force which at present is for the most part wasted.
48. I wish to point out how important it is that the New Delhi Conference should draw up a global development strategy in which internal, regional, sub-regional and international efforts will all have their place and will be brought into harmony. Some preliminary meetings are to be held shortly, one in Paris and another at Algiers. We hope that the industrial countries will emphasize the spirit of understanding that began to appear at Geneva. We are also confident that the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 at Algiers will reflect the same sense of realism and of positive construction that characterized the conduct of the Group on that occasion, and we are sure that the countries with a socialist economy will have fixed the broad lines of their position before the New Delhi Conference and are preparing to collaborate in the common task. We are under an obligation to change the structure of international trade and economy, because it is that structure that is today working most actively against peace.
49. We recognize the coexistence in the world of different types of ideologies and of political, economic and social systems as an incontrovertible fact. Such pluralism in the world, within the principles of the Charter, is not and cannot be an obstacle to peace; on the contrary, it is part of the process of man's maturing and, with the risks inherent in any creation, it enriches the process of construction of a varied human race which is forever improving. We see no reason why this plurality should not also prevail in Latin America, where there are different experiences and ideological forms that reflect various ways of conceiving coexistence within national communities. This must be recognized and respected.
50. Latin America was born under the sign of freedom for ideas and for races and of liberation from injustice. We should like the fundamental worth of the human person always to be protected in America, but we have not yet achieved that goal, mainly because the very conditions of its economic development have affected the realities of power and of law and have impeded free and healthy expression by the people. But although this is not yet possible despite the fact that the vigilant conscience of the people is working seriously in that direction, there is one principle that is essential: it is the principle of non-intervention.
51. Our concept of ideological, political and economic plurality, and at the same time the process of integration, obliges us to keep this principle of non-intervention, which is a historic basis of our country's international policy, in full operation.
52. In recent times this principle has been systematically violated in Latin America, seriously affecting Latin American nations again and again. These facts, which we have recently denounced at the meeting of our regional body, violate the explicit terms of resolution 2131 (XX), which was unanimously adopted at the twentieth session of the General Assembly, and operative paragraph 2 of which states that "No State shall organize, assist, foment, finance, incite or tolerate subversive, terrorist or armed activities directed towards the violent overthrow of the régime of another State, or interfere in civil strife in another State".
53. Any violation of this principle should be brought to the notice of the United Nations, because it corrupts international life, generates opposing attitudes that also tend to violate that same principle and creates dangers for the small nations which the International community should prevent. It also gives rise to tense situations into which the great Powers are dragged, thus endangering world peace.
54. My country was not acting out of expediency when it supported that statement condemning intervention, nor shall we agree to any weakening or alteration of its terms. Those principles serve to defend us from others, but they also serve to make us use control with regard to others.
55. Fortunately the contemporary world, on which science and technology are leaving their mark, has another characteristic, which is the understanding by the masses of their right to participate in the benefits of civilization. It is no longer possible, either at the world level or within each State or in smaller communities, for privileged groups to exist whose power and wealth are often based on the subjection and poverty of vast sectors of population. The demands of justice and solidarity should bring about the rapid and radical change that all social structures require. To bring about this change in freedom, with full respect for the entire human person, is the great common task before us all. Chile's domestic life is guided by those same principles of respect for human rights, plurality and economic and social development that it advocates for international coexistence.
56. The Chilean people have decided, by democratic processes, to carry out far-reaching social and economic reforms within the broadest political freedom. It is no easy task to eliminate the causes of internal dissension in each country, as we are doing in ours. There are the international factors that I have mentioned to contend with, as also the extremists with opposing views, who, when they feel that their interests are harmed or their intention to use violence is frustrated, try in vain, by all internal and external means, to weaken the will of the people.
57. In Chile we have already, in three years, obtained great results in the fields of education, health and housing: we have changed social and economic structures that were hampering and halting the increase in production; we are carrying out agrarian reform; and, above all, we have made our people participate in this gigantic effort, as the subject and the chief practitioner of the development policy.
58. We are confident that our domestic programme will be successful, for we are attaining the goals that we set ourselves; we are collaborating in a historical process of unity in Latin America, where, too, we see substantial progress and where violence must not be tolerated, But we also feel that everything that happens in the world concerns us, for, as I have said, the principles that Chile would like to see applied in international coexistence have their roots, as far as we are concerned, in the free and voluntary determination of our people.