114. Mr. President, in the absence of Miss Brooks, I should like
to pay my tribute to her; her election was an inspiring and
most auspicious event. Her long, intelligent and active
participation in the work of the United Nations, her loyalty
to it, her personal distinction and, above all, the fact that
she is a woman, will lend a family tone to this Assembly,
most appropriate for the celebration of the United Nations’
twenty-fifth anniversary. We applauded her speech, especially
her profound and much-needed comments on youth.
We feel sure that she will direct our proceedings most
efficiently, following her request that we should concern
ourselves with life and not with death and that the
challenge is to do as much as possible for the future of life
in the universe.
115. We again express our sorrow at the premature death
of President Emilio Arenales, a valued friend and outstanding
American statesman. We extend our condolences to the
delegation of Guatemala.
116. I have to thank you for the honour you have done to
my country by electing me as Vice-President of the General
Assembly. This is a high responsibility which we shall
discharge with the loyalty and devotion we have given
unreservedly to the United Nations for twenty-five years. I
should like to pay our respects to the Secretary-General,
U Thant, who has served the Organization with truly
exemplary devotion.
117. The Charter signed at San Francisco will be a quarter
of a century old next year. During those twenty-five years
there have been radical changes in the structure of
international relations. We have been awed spectators of the
most extraordinary scientific conquests of mankind and
also of some of the bloodiest wars. We have seen many
peoples formerly living in subjection under colonial systems
raised in strength and dignity to the full legitimate exercise
of their sovereignty. We have seen the developed countries
teach the pinnacle of economic well-being and productive
capacity, while the vast majority of mankind are struggling
with the frustrations of poverty. New forms of internal
organization have appeared and others have vanished.
Quarrels between some nations have brought the world to
the edge of the nuclear precipice.
118. However, the United Nations has prevented many
calamities and holds out great hopes. Many are the fields in
which its patient efforts have produced an awareness of
problems which were formerly at most the concern of
academic bodies. It has also, with greater or lesser success,
promoted solutions for some of the agonizing situations
with which the world has been faced during the last
twenty-five years. Nevertheless, there is a wide gulf between
the potential for action incorporated by the nations in the
Charter of San Francisco and the actual achievements,
119. Although the present generation has not undergone
the universal experience of man engaged in the large-scale
deliberate slaughter of his fellows, this has not meant peace.
We have had innumerable localized wars and violence is
spreading everywhere, in practically all countries.
120. That there is a close connexion between local wars
and the violence unleashed in so many parts of the world is
undeniable. But of all the conflicts, the war in Viet-Nam is
undoubtedly the one which through its senseless continuation
is producing the greatest moral erosion and the most
profound and widespread damage to an entire system of
principles and values.
121. Today the world is threatened by the emergence of
irrational forms of violence. It is no longer a question of
violence stemming from the clash of interests between
social groups or between States, or rebellion against
imperialism, but of the glorification of violence, its intellectual
justification, the advocacy of its moral legitimacy and
its large-scale dissemination by modern mass media. The
techniques of cruelty are part of the pattern of life today
which is poisoning the youth of the whole world, even of
the rich and prosperous nations. In nearly all parts of the
world and in varying degrees, a Viet-Nam type of war, in
the heroic image of a struggle between man and technology,
between the power of a natural ideal and that of modern
force, seems to be repeating itself. This image has led many
groups to magnify the potentialities of armed, violent
rebellion and to imitate methods that cannot be transferred
from one country to another, just as if violent action
against a free, democratic régime were the same thing as
guerrilla warfare against an aggressor or dictator.
122. It is true that the phenomenon of violence has very
deep cultural roots, marking a crisis in our civilization, and
that in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America and
the United States every act of violence has its roots and its
objectives; but it is likewise true that its existence is
conditioned by the overall situation of mankind.
123. Peace is indivisible; bellicose violence in one part of
the world leads to insurgence or violence in another. In a
world of rapid communications, frustrations, growing
inequalities and rationalization of obsessions, there is a
desire to participate in violence just as there is a desire to
participate in well-being, culture and fashion.
124. Warfare in Viet-Nam and the Middle East is intolerable
not only because of the death and suffering it causes
bit also because of the moral and psychological degradation
of mankind which it produces. This is a responsibility
devolving on all the Governments in this Assembly, but
especially on the great Powers, and, I might say, the
super-Powers which, by seeking security through power are
forgetting their responsibilities. They are thus creating
zones of influence in foreign countries which need to
develop the autonomy vital to human dignity.
125. It is in those countries that an attempt is being made
to impose a hard and fast distinction between good and
evil, even in economic affairs, whereas in many cases, a
closer approximation to the truth is to be found in the
wisdom of the East, which holds that there are always two
sides to every question, that light always goes hand in hand
with darkness and that morning follows night.
126. During the nineteenth century, Latin America was
visited by distinguished scholars like Humboldt and Darwin,
whose detailed and conscientious geographical, geological
and anthropological studies made a decisive contribution to
the formation of our own natural sciences. The dissemination
of political ideas was left to the governing elites of our
countries. This earlier disinterested scientific research has
now disappeared. A century later, various philosophers and
social scientists, some — I might say many — of them Europeans,
knowing nothing about our actual conditions conclude,
after reflecting on the ethical aspects of the war in
Viet-Nam, world imperialism or the penetration of foreign
capital in their own countries, that their military service
should consist in preaching guerrilla warfare in Latin
America or, what is easier, helping to finance it.
127. Thus rebellion, whether warranted or not, against the
excesses of the industrial society is confused with the
growing pains afflicting developing societies and their
unquestionable need for constructive practical assistance.
Action on this problem is urgently needed, with each State
taking the appropriate political decisions because, even
though the United Nations is a forum for discussion
between States, we are committed to the protection of
human rights as the essential basis of the entire system.
Nothing is more harmful than to create, as was done in the
past with our folklore, images of nations providing fertile
ground for the adventurers: of the atomic age. The vast
majority of our population, with its social relationships, its
progress and poverty, cannot be the subject of experiments
by intellectuals who know little about our real situation. I
am certainly not upholding conservatism or the status quo
for my country, but I wish to draw attention to those
protagonists of violence who despise our progress and
essential transformation because of their own frustrations,
thus confusing revolutions of popular origin with the chaos
produced by arid theories. World public opinion and those
who always mould it — scientists, the clergy, writers and
politicians — must help in the present world-wide exchange
of views to present an accurate image of our countries, the
result of fruitful, progressive and unprejudiced collaboration.
128. It has not been possible to do anything to settle the
conflict in the Middle East, for which a realistic and
progressive solution should be found during this Assembly,
starting with an agreement to halt the piling up of
armaments which, by themselves, will destroy the economic
capacity of those countries.
129. In their search for assistance, representatives of the
region of Biafra came to Chile. My country is deeply moved
by this tragic problem, which vitally affects the implementation
of the most fundamental of human rights. Justice
requires that an end be put to that tragedy and that an
equitable solution be found here and now.
130. As far as mainland China is concerned, we regret that
no progress has been made in the efforts to bring that
country into the world Organization. We consider that
realism and the interests of peace require its presence here,
alongside all the other Members, provided it adheres to the
principles set forth in the Charter of the United-Nations.
131. Unfortunately, the constructive proposals made by a
group of countries, including Chile, in past years do not
seem to have gained any ground. Although this is a difficult
problem, we believe that the issue must be faced if the
achievement of universality, which is of the essence of the
United Nations and indeed conditions its very survival, is
not to be held back.
132. The United Nations is undoubtedly passing through
on “effectiveness crisis”. With very few exceptions, like the
United Nations Development Programme, the international
machinery is moving at a slow and barely productive pace.
This is mainly the fault of Governments. Many of the
problems, of war and peace have not been brought to this
forum and, even when they have, no political decisions have
been taken. There are Governments which have not heeded
the United Nations and, what is worse, there are resolutions
which are being ignored, when they are not trampled
underfoot, by the very Governments which supported them.
133. However, in these circumstances, the international
civil servants also bear some responsibility. We must hope
that they will show great intellectual agility in dealing with
world problems, both political and economic. Their duties
do not allow them to indulge in the intellectual luxury of
considering themselves “international bureaucrats”,
level-headed, circumspect, conservative, guardians of the status
quo. On the contrary, they must produce new ideas and
propose novel solutions going far beyond the traditional
orthodox approach. Governments need the co-operation of
independent men with imagination, audacity and creative ability.
134. This “effectiveness crisis” is clearly apparent in all
the fields in which the United Nations operates, but it is in
international co-operation for development that it is most
glaring. This Organization, through the tutelage exercised
by the Economic and Social Council in this area, has
allowed the differences — of all kinds — between rich and
poor countries to reach a degree of gravity never before
known by mankind. In recent years, and without finding a
solution, we have had evidence of the fact that development
and under-development are no more than different,
complementary and mutually determined manifestations of
one and the same process of economic and social development.
135. World economic structures continue to be modelled
upon a system of imperialistic relations between the centre
and the periphery which does not necessarily have its origin
in a deliberate will to impose the political and economic
hegemony of one country over another, but is usually the
natural outcome of the existing rules governing economic
relations between nations — rules which the great centres of
power still consider sound and normal. As long as these
conditions prevail, the developing countries are inexorably
condemned to be mere spectators of the wealth of others,
completely excluded from the mainstream of history.
136. This situation leads us to the unavoidable conclusion
that the existence of a single international community, with
common ties and common aims of security and development,
is a myth which is discernible here and on many
platforms where speeches are made by distinguished
persons who promise in grandiloquent language things we
know they are not prepared to put into practice. This
gigantic hoax conceals the true political fact that the
interests and objectives of developed countries are not the
same as those of developing countries and, on the contrary,
tend to conflict with them more and more. The “international
community” as such does not exist; what do exist
are national interests with more or less strength, influence
and power. We have moved away from the arbitrary use of
power to a kind of joint stock company in which some
shareholders hold preference shares of such a kind that not
only do they control all the decisions but they also keep all
the profits. In this process, the relative importance of
developing countries within the world power structure has
been declining day by day, and at present it is markedly less
than it was twenty-five years ago.
137. The growing understanding between the chief protagonists
of the cold war, a factor which has unquestionably
promoted peace, has made it less and less necessary to rely
on the understanding, support and votes of the developing
countries. But improved relations between the northern
countries has led to the southern countries being excluded
from the discussions. Politically, it is undoubtedly true that
we are no longer necessary for the national security of the
great Powers.
138. Furthermore, technology has changed the conditions
of dependence on the southern world in which the northern
world found itself in some sectors. Economic and commercial
ties between the industrialized countries have
become ever closer and more complex, while the relative
share of the developing countries in the growth of world
economy has declined. Between 1953 and 1968 their share
in world trade fell from 27 per cent to approximately 18 per cent.
139. The failure of successive meetings to take economic
policy decisions is forcing the developing countries to
become self-reliant, to have less faith in the promises and
commitments of the developed countries and to seek in
their own strength and creative ability the foundations of a
more equitable and more efficient society.
140. For my part, I believe that there is a keen and clear
awareness of this phenomenon in Latin America today. A
profound, momentous and general attack on traditional
structures is taking place in our continent. The whole
ideological and institutional framework which sustained our
development for nearly 150 years, is being systematically
called in question, the speed with which this is being done
varying with the country concerned.
141. The way has been opened for investigation and
substitution. Nevertheless, one element emerges quite
clearly — a growing and justified continental nationalism,
which seeks to establish a Latin American personality with
its own criteria and values. We have temporized for too
long, trying to apply intellectual theories ill-suited to our
particular circumstances. We grew accustomed to being
influenced by doctrines developed in other continents and
we used our intelligence to answer questions which did not
concern us. In this way, we became victims of the most
serious form of dependence—psychological subordination
to foreign countries.
142. In a world which is becoming increasingly unified
through the development of technology, which brings
continents into contact with one another, puts goods into
circulation and links together man’s productive activities,
Latin America has remained divided.
143. Our continent has often been treated as a collection
of picturesque communities, each of them concentrating on
the easiest means of communication for exports, so that
their internal unity, their capacity to join together, were
destroyed and the centripetal force of their common origin
and culture lay dormant. But this situation has become
incompatible with the will of the peoples and the rational
process of national development. Hence, the advantages of
unity have been expressed in various ways. Areas of
economic interest are being identified; common political
concepts are being developed; progress is being made in the
integration of national groups and regions.
144. In this way the foundations of Latin American
nationalism are being laid, Material resources are being
recovered; a group of organizations representative of all
Latin America is actively engaged in carrying on joint
activities. By this means, an interrelated system is being
established, that is to say a Latin American system — a house
with many mansions, a nationalism comprising many nationalities.
145. Nevertheless, our efforts to find ways and means of
taking joint action with all the nations of the world, and
particularly with those with which we share the common
status of developing countries, are continuing. As a great
Latin American writer said:
“Our nationalism, if it is not a mental disease or
idolatry, should lead to a universal search. We must first
of all realize that our state of alienation is that of the
majority of countries. If we are to be true to ourselves,
we must advance not at the traditionally slow rate of
glaciers but at a pace consistent with the active mind of
man, So much the better if we have no prescriptions or
patent remedies for our ailments. We can at least think
and act soberly and with resolution.”
146. The real challenge which now faces us is how to
create in Latin America an environment worthy of man so
as to ensure his freedom, culture and security. That is why
we, need to think for ourselves and to take our own
decisions. The most recent and important manifestation of
this new nationalism was the meeting of the Special
Commission on Latin American Co-ordination in May of
this year. There for the first time the hopes and expectations
of Latin America in the field of international
economic relations emerged clearly and with precision. A
document was drawn up and signed by the Ministers; it was
addressed to the President of the United States of America,
but, in fact, it has universal validity. In it we draw attention
to principles which must be respected and specific measures
which need to be taken in the sectors of trade, transport,
financing, investment and invisibles, technical co-operation,
and social, scientific and technological development. In that
document, called the Consensus of Viña del Mar, it was
agreed: first, that the emergence of a growing nationalism,
seeking to affirm the Latin American personality, with its
own concepts, values and organizational structures, must be
accepted as irreversible and legitimate.
147. Secondly, there must be a clear recognition of the
principles of equality of States; non-intervention in the
internal or external affairs of other States in any form
whatsoever which constitutes an attack on the personality
of the State and its political, economic and cultural
elements; respect for the validity of treaties; the sovereign
right of each country to dispose freely of its natural
resources; and of the fact that economic co-operation
cannot be subjected to political or military conditions.
Likewise, the principle that no State shall apply or promote
coercive measures of an economic or political nature to
weaken the sovereign will of another State in order to
obtain advantages of any kind from it but, on the contrary,
that every effort must be made to prevent the adoption of
policies, actions and measures which endanger the economic
and social development of another State. These
principles, which already form part of the Latin American
Consensus, undoubtedly have universal validity.
148. Thirdly, co-operation in Latin American development
cannot be made conditional upon our acceptance of a
given political, social or economic system.
149. Fourthly, private foreign investment must not be
considered as aid or computed as part of financial assistance
for development.
150. Fifthly, co-operation must meet the needs and
priorities specified by the countries concerned themselves.
151. These then, are the principles which, in our view,
should be followed in the next stage of international
co-operation for development and, in particular, in the
measures to be agreed upon as an integral part of the next
United Nations Development Decade.
152. Last year when I addressed this Assembly [1685th
meeting], I analyzed the factors which were responsible for
the failure of the First United Nations Development
Decade. As I said then, there was and there still is a strong
conceptual resistance to the principles and measures proposed,
an enormous lack of understanding on the part of
the prosperous countries, a serious lack of unity and vision
on the part of the developing countries and a progressive
decline in the efficiency of the international machinery. I
do not wish to analyze these different points now, except
to confirm that, in reality, nothing has changed. On the
contrary, the UNCTAD meetings which ended in Geneva a
few days ago were a complete disaster. These were the
least rewarding of all the meetings held and demonstrated
the total absence among the great Powers of the political
will to go forward.
153. The Government of Chile has made known its views,
in the appropriate forum, about what the Second Development
Decade should comprise, but I should now like to put
forward further considerations. In the first place, with
regard to the transfer of financial resources, the industrialized
countries have not kept their publicly repeated
promises to transfer 1 per cent of their gross national
product. If that were done, the next decade could be called
the Development Decade. This should be recognized forth -
with because the strategy of the developing countries can
no longer treat with respect the diplomatic excuses, which
are always circumstantial, put forward to justify the
non-fulfilment of promises: balance-of-payments problems,
the gold crisis, devaluations, warlike acts, even disputes
between government departments of individual States.
154. And the worst feature is that while these excuses are
being made, the flow of financial resources in question is
reversed, to the great advantage of the rich countries. Of
course, the nationals of those countries are still convinced
that they and their Governments are making great sacrifices
to help the poor countries. But nothing is further from the
truth. All this would change if Governments had the
political will, because the resources exist, as the military
activities in progress show. Moreover, as a factor of their
own development, the industrialized countries continue to
believe that the best form of aid is the encouragement of
foreign investment and that our role should be to provide
guarantees and create a climate of confidence for those
investments.
155. This solution, which is the very epitome of nine-teenth
century international capitalism, is not only deeply
rooted in the mentality of the Western Governments but is
also manifest — which is lamentable and, I would say,
unacceptable — in the thinking of the financial and economic
organs of the United Nations family, owing to the undue
influence on their decisions exerted by men trained
intellectually in an affluent world, who despise, or are
ignorant of, the political and social factors involved in the
actual phenomenon of development.
156. I feel it necessary to say quite frankly that the
solution to under-development based on the transfer of
huge amounts of private capital, under the conditions in
which that transfer has been taking place, is politically
intolerable and economically self-defeating, as Latin America’s
present experience shows, and only helps to widen
the gap. Of course, there is no question of prohibiting the
flow of financial resources or of denying the value of
foreign investments as a factor in promoting the advance of
technology and managerial skills, but it is time to reject
that highly esteemed symbol of capitalist mythology which
serves only to increase dependence and to perpetuate subtle
but enduring forms of imperialism.
157. In expressing these views, the Government of Chile is
not motivated by an extremist ideology or a spirit of hatred
against anyone. They are the natural and logical outcome of
a process of political, social and technical maturing involving
the active and growing participation of the whole
community in decision-making and in the actual benefits of
development.
158. Inherent in this process is the exercise of national
sovereignty over the State’s economic resources, whether
they be raw materials or the product of the people’s labour.
The right of a State to nationalize what it regards as basic
or essential resources is a sovereign, legitimate and inalienable
right. It is this right which. Chile has exercised with
respect to our copper, which is the mainstay of our
economy, and we have done so with adequate compensation.
159. This is why new rules of the game for transfers of
funds must be sought, providing for human and, therefore,
political and technological progress, which is the very
essence of development. If technological advances necessitate
constant change in the developed industrialized countries,
the developing countries should not be asked to
ensure stability and a “climate of confidence” for foreign
investments, if their aim is to remain an enclave which
freezes development. The progress of a community necessarily
involves changes, the purpose of which is to increase
the extent of national ownership and to take independent
decisions.
160. There are new ideas which must be studied. Reference
has been made, inter alia, to nationalization which is
planned at the time of the initial investment and to the
provision of sufficient foreign exchange earnings to amortize
the capital invested.
161. But the question of the flow of private capital is
important, since it is now the main channel for the transfer
of science and technology. The decade ahead of us will be
marked by scientific and technological advances. The laws
of outer space have already been tamed. But the decade of
the 1970s cannot be used to enable some countries — a very
few and increasingly fewer — to tame the majority of
mankind through control of science and technology.
162. I have mentioned the search for methods permitting
the transfer of knowledge through foreign investment on
terms more favourable than the present ones. But no
method will be able to correct the imbalance between
nations in this respect and prevent the abuse of power
which it will engender unless there are changes in the
principles and in the actual systems that regulate these
factors. Basically, science and technology cannot continue
to be private property.
163. If the effects and even the very concept of private
property are being examined and reviewed and in many
respects even eliminated in the interests of collective
security, health or welfare, the Roman concept of property
cannot continue to be applied to the practice, use and
enjoyment of the benefits of contemporary science. If
Roman law was a law of privilege, so is the existing law in
so far as it reserves for a favoured few the product of the
knowledge accumulated throughout the history of mankind.
164. It is no longer tolerable that private power and gain
should be the prime movers of development and should
determine the rules, subjects and beneficiaries of the
immense progress which is taking place, especially in the
realm of production, living standards and communications.
That a moral problem of the highest order is involved is
undeniable. Since in the case of outer space it has been
agreed to abandon the concept of private and national
property, because already people are speaking in terms of
human rights, the same concept should apply to the
sea-bed. The sea-bed and the ocean floor and the subsoil
thereof beyond the limits of national jurisdiction are the
common heritage of mankind, Therefore, in this context,
we maintain that no one should be able to acquire or claim
any right over them, or exploit their resources without the
consent of the international community; and it should be
the latter which determines, through machinery or an
institution to be established, the conditions under which
that exploitation will be carried out and the share which
the international community will have in the benefits
derived therefrom.
165. We are not in the United Nations to promote the
extension and consolidation of the power of any nation, or
of two or more nations; precisely the opposite is true. If
this Organization, which is first and foremost a political
one, is to serve any real purpose, it must create legal and
financial instruments to control the abuse of power by the
large nations and to enable all its Members to participate in
progress. That is why we should begin to think about
establishing an international institution to control science
and technology and put them at the service of mankind.
166. When we remember that fifty years ago — not
more — financial resources were entirely in private hands
while today, in contrast, there are international agencies
which distribute them, it is not Utopian to believe that
scientific and technical resources may also become common
property. These questions cannot continue to be governed
by laws and regulations dating back to the nineteenth
century, when science has already put two men on the
moon. This should be the challenge for the 1970s and the
greatest contribution of the United Nations to peace and
development. Until the nineteenth century research was
marked by freedom of thought and objectivity. Today
research is governed by military budgets and industrial
interests.
167. With the advent of the twenty-first century, man’s
accumulated knowledge should cease to be a commodity
offered for sale or, what is worse, for hire and should
become the common heritage of mankind. If we have the
courage to put science and technology unreservedly at the
service of mankind, scientists will have a horizon free of
moral impediments, youth will recover its confidence and
will no longer encounter obstacles to its efforts on behalf of
justice and human progress, and the United Nations will
prow in stature to meet the needs of the international
community.