It is an honour for me to address the General Assembly for the first time during the general debate of the Assembly’s seventy-sixth session.
I would like to thank the President of the General Assembly at its the seventy-fifth session, Mr. Volkan Bozkir, for having presided over this body in an exemplary manner under adverse circumstances caused by the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19). I also take this opportunity to congratulate the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session, Mr. Abdulla Shahid, and reiterate the commitment of the Secretary-General and the States members of the Assembly to finalizing the agenda for this session.
The year 2020 presented unimaginable challenges for the entire world. Today, almost two years into the pandemic, a global effort has resulted in the development and distribution of safe and effective vaccines. However, immunizing a critical mass of the world’s population faces a host of challenges, including dangerous strains of the virus, inequitable access to vaccines, and global competition for a limited supply of doses, to which the most powerful economies have gained access while forgetting that their hoarding of vaccines could become a risk to themselves if we, the smaller and poorer countries, do not reach the same level of immunity. Furthermore, we are witnessing the onslaught of climate change around the world, which has exacerbated weather phenomena whose disastrous effects have resulted in the loss of life and extensive damage to agriculture and infrastructure.
In the face of the foregoing, as an international community, we must transform ourselves and demonstrate that multilateralism and international cooperation are effective in efforts aimed at moving forward. Accordingly, I recognize the relevance of the theme that has been chosen as the focus of our deliberations: “Building resilience through hope - to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations”. Despite the adverse conditions that humankind is confronting, we have all shown resilience. The pandemic has demonstrated the enormous capacity of human beings to overcome hostile conditions and survive.
Just after my Administration took office, it was faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected and continues to affect thousands of Guatemalans, having a strong impact on the economy and modifying social and cultural dynamics, for which it was necessary to respond in accordance with our capacities and implement priority actions to address the most urgent needs.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those friendly countries and international organizations that, in recent months, have given us their unconditional assistance to strengthen the mass vaccination campaign for the Guatemalan population. This is in addition to the efforts we are making as a country, with special emphasis on people, their environment and the means for their integral development, highlighting their right to health and life.
My Government has established as a first priority the public policy that supports the protection of life from conception and the institutionalization of the family. This policy unifies State efforts to guarantee the respect for and fulfilment of fundamental rights as well as attention to immediate needs, from the very moment of conception until adulthood, through various social, health and education programmes aimed at meeting the country’s human development indices.
We are also concerned with environmental conservation. Guatemala is recognized as one of the countries worldwide with the highest risk of and vulnerability to climatic events. Despite this, we continue to recover from the damage caused by natural disasters, which has forced us to strive to rehabilitate public services and infrastructure and agricultural production. We have brought care to entire communities following Hurricanes Eta and Iota, which severely hit us last year in a span of 15 days, practically one after the other. It is important to develop recovery-oriented actions in addition to cooperating with and receiving assistance from friendly countries.
In terms of energy, despite the pandemic, Guatemala has been affected by the constant increase in fuel prices. For this reason, policies are being implemented to promote the use of renewable energy sources and such transitional fuels as natural gas for the development of productive activities in the country. This will allow the reduction of dependence on international prices, which tangibly supports Sustainable Development Goal 7, on affordable and non-polluting energy. This also contributes to mitigating climate change through the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions. It has also increased the proportion of the population with access
to electricity to 93.5 per cent, benefiting both urban and rural areas.
Another priority for us is the fight to eradicate hunger and achieve food and nutrition security. The pandemic has caused great human losses and compromised and affected food systems. We continue to make progress in our “Great National Crusade for Nutrition”, having implemented programmes in support of Guatemalan families such as the Fortified Complementary Food programme, through which more than 2,491 metric tons have been distributed throughout the country, especially to children between six months and five years of age. Just over 32,000 home and school gardens have been established, enabling families to grow their own food and market surpluses. Food support has been provided to 194,000 families through various food assistance programmes, and we encourage producer families to organize so that they can sustainably produce quality food. By the end of 2021, we expect to generate a commercial flow of 339 million quetzals — approximately $45 million — in sales from family farming to the school meals programme run by the Ministry of Education.
Another priority is the protection of the migrant population. Guatemala is no stranger to the migration crisis, and we express our concern at the inappropriate and contradictory messages that are used by drug trafficking and human trafficking networks to encourage irregular migration, especially when such messages come from the highest levels of government. In this sense, the only way to stop the flow of irregular migration is to build walls of prosperity that allow human beings to improve their living conditions in their own countries. I therefore call on destination countries to increase foreign direct investment and improve access for our products to their markets.
Another priority is economic reactivation and growth. Despite the adverse effects of COVID-19 and the various natural phenomena that have affected us, we have managed to maintain a stable economy, which, according to estimates by the Bank of Guatemala, attained growth of more than 4 per cent of our gross domestic product this year. Thanks to these efforts, our country has become one of the best destinations for international investment, this year attracting $851 million in foreign direct investment for more than 55 projects and generating just over 14,000 formal jobs for our citizens. We have increased exports this year by $7,765 billion, which represents growth of nearly 21 per cent over the January to July 2020 period.
As a Government, we are working hard to create jobs, increase foreign investment and develop trade so that we can reduce poverty levels by strengthening micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises. Through the “white seal” programme to combat poverty, products from small Guatemalan producers are promoted and consumer awareness is raised by exporting products from rural areas directly to international markets without intermediaries, so that they generate higher incomes for producers. I take this opportunity to invite friendly countries to learn about this programme and contribute to the small producers participating in it. Opening new markets in this way has been an effective method of reducing and fighting poverty.
Another priority is security. The Central American region faces a constant struggle against transnational organized crime, particularly drug trafficking. We have undertaken various actions in coordination with the specialized bodies of the United Nations, as well as with friendly countries, whom I thank for their goodwill in jointly tackling this scourge. Nevertheless, our region continues to suffer from this enormous scourge, which has cost countless lives. Drug trafficking corrupts our societies and greatly affects our economy, forcing us to divert resources to fight against it. These resources could be used for other purposes to improve human development indices.
Drug trafficking is an evil we suffer from because of the demand for drugs, particularly from the United States of America. However, so far this year alone, we have seen how Venezuela, where 95 per cent of the aircraft entering our country or neighbouring countries originate and transporting drugs to this country, is doing. That is why we have taken on the great responsibility of fighting this evil. Proof of this is that, since the beginning of our Administration to date, 15 drug trafficking structures have been dismantled, and we have managed to destabilize 6 more. We have arrested 2,855 people in relation to this crime, 52 of whom are or have been subject to extradition proceedings for drug trafficking and 7 of whom are or have been subject to extradition proceedings for other crimes committed in different countries. Some 19,953 kilos of cocaine and 7,066 pounds of marijuana have been seized. Some 1,565,811 coca plants, 4,299,800 marijuana plants and 25,929,475 poppy plants have been destroyed. As of yesterday, we counted 114 days
in which no flights carrying illicit substances landed in our territory, which is the longest period without this happening, demonstrating our commitment to the fight against illicit drug trafficking.
With regard to the maritime transit of illicit substances, according to international agencies, there has been an ostensible reduction in the transit of these substances in our territorial waters of the Pacific Ocean, thanks to the ongoing presence of the Special Naval Forces. It is worth noting, however, that these successes seem not to be acknowledged or valued by consumer countries, which bear the greatest responsibility for the unhealthy drug-trafficking chain. It is for this reason, in this Hall, that I demand that these countries be more effective in combating money-laundering and that they do more to see the capital resulting from drug trafficking repatriated, because, in the end, as paradoxical as it may sound, the drug trafficking money is held in the bank accounts of those who distribute the drugs in the consumer countries.
Guatemala has been hit hard by the effects of climate change. Faced with this harsh reality, as President pro tempore of the Central American Integration System, I come to ask the members of the General Assembly to recognize Central America as a region highly vulnerable to the impact of loss and damage resulting from natural disasters, to acknowledge the need for agile, quality climate financing, and to grant access to parametric insurance that will help us to rebuild infrastructure that we are forced to reconstruct year after year. It is a call for understanding and solidarity from the industrialized countries, which are largely responsible for climate change, the consequences of which have a negative impact on the Central American region, even though it emits only 0.35 percent of world’s greenhouse gases. In contrast, our region contributes to the absorption of carbon emissions thanks to the capacity of our forests.
The disastrous effects of climate change can be mitigated if the collaboration and contributions of the developed countries could be counted upon. Such mitigation could take the form of a compensatory social mechanism that would undoubtedly lead to an improvement in our human development indices. Rest assured that we will make this vulnerability visible with concrete actions at the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The revitalization of the United Nations with a view to adapting to contemporary global realities is important. It is therefore imperative that the maintenance of international peace and security remain its primary purpose, with the Security Council fulfilling that responsibility without ideological bias. I call on its members to be more objective and more equitable.
Guatemala is honoured to have a long history as a troop-contributor to the Organization’s peacekeeping missions. Today, once again, we call on the Security Council to act in a manner consistent with its functions, including a responsible use of the veto and avoiding exacerbating international crises.
I firmly believe that the reform of the United Nations remains an unfinished piece of business. We therefore reiterate the need for continued support through United Nations funds and programmes for the neediest people and that the Organization invest specifically in concrete processes for their development. I also draw the Assembly’s attention to the fact that Taiwan could provide its experience, capacities and knowledge to the strengthening of multilateralism, taking into account the challenges we face today. We wish Secretary- General Antonio Guterres every success in his second term, and I urge him to prioritize reforming and modernizing the Organization.
I am pleased to note that during its first year of membership in the Economic and Social Council, Guatemala has pursued the sustainable development agenda and achieved the coordination of shared efforts to make the work of that body more effective under its motto: “Inclusive development for all”, considering the Council to be point of convergence for creating the conditions that will generate the development we all long for.
As a country with a vocation for peace, Guatemala reiterates before the Assembly the need for complete, irreversible and transparent disarmament. We condemn any nuclear test or threat of the use of force with this type of weapon, which puts at real risk and imperils the continuity of life on our planet.
We reiterate our conviction that the International Court of Justice plays an important role as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, and we reaffirm our commitment to permanently and definitively resolving before that Court the territorial, insular and maritime dispute we have with Belize, a country with which we
aspire to enjoy a privileged relationship with a view to finding peaceful solutions for shared problems.
Before concluding, despite the hard blow that the pandemic has been for all of us and despite some painful times, my country has been celebrating the bicentennial of our independence. It has been a difficult road, but the challenges have been met in the best possible way. We have had to see this event as a watershed in our history and take on the challenge of confronting the decades of backwardness that is reflected in high rates of poverty and malnutrition, in an obsolete health system and in the urgent need for an educational reform to reduce the digital divide and ensure excellence in public education.
Two hundred years after our independence, we are certain that the future requires greater integration, greater participation, greater growth and greater efforts by everyone, in the forms and areas set forth in the international agenda in the last decade with a view to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In this way, we can move forward, keeping in mind that that will only be possible if we understand the urgent need to build a world where equity is tangible and the human aspiration to improve their living standards is met as a result of the solidarity between the most developed countries and least-favoured countries, without conditionalities, pressure or attempts by the former to violate the sovereignty of the latter as the price of support, aid or cooperation.
We must understand that we cannot overcome the challenges that the inhabitants of this planet fate if we do not understand that assistance, cooperation and interaction among nations must be effective, dynamic and sustainable — and never subject to anything that puts endangers the principles of the self-determination of peoples, respect for democracy, and the non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries.
Many of the smaller nations, such as ours, need to understand that achieving a developed world is about allowing and sharing so that trade is fairer and the warm, friendly and fraternal hand of those who have the most is felt by those who have the least.