First
I very respectfully invite all those who have not done
so to read the book that I am holding, one of the most
recent by Noam Chomsky, who is among the most
prestigious American and world intellectuals. The
book, “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for
Global Dominance”, is an excellent work to help us
understand what happened in the world of the twentieth
century and what is happening now, which is the
greatest threat looming over our planet: the
hegemonistic claims of American imperialism, which
threaten the very survival of the human species. We
continue to warn about this danger and to appeal to the
people of the United States and the world to halt this
threat, which is like the sword of Damocles hanging
over our heads.
I had considered reading a chapter from the book,
but to save time I shall confine myself to a
recommendation. The book is very good, an easy read.
I am sure, Madam President, that you are familiar with
it. It is published in English, German, Russian and
Arabic. The first people who should read it are our
brothers and sisters in the United States, because the
threat is in their own house. The Devil is there; the
Devil himself is in the house.
The Devil came here yesterday, right here. It still
smells of sulphur today. Yesterday on this rostrum the
President of the United States, whom I refer to as the
Devil, talked as if he owned the world. It would be
appropriate to have a psychiatrist analyse yesterday’s
address by the President of the United States. As the
spokesman of imperialism he came to share his
prescriptions for preserving the current pattern of
domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of
the world. It was like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. I
would even propose a title: “The Devil’s Recipe”.
As Chomsky says here clearly and in depth,
American imperialism is doing all it can to consolidate
its hegemonistic system of domination. We cannot
allow it to do that. We cannot allow the establishment
and consolidation of world dictatorship. The address of
the world tyrant, cynical and full of hypocrisy, shows
the imperialists’ intention to control everything. They
say that they want to impose a democratic model, but it
is the democratic model of their own conception: the
false democracy of elites, and furthermore an original
democratic model imposed by bombs, bombardments
and invasions. What a strange democracy! It would be
necessary to revise the ideas of Aristotle and the other
Greek pioneers of democracy in the face of this model,
imposed by marines, invasions, aggression and bombs.
The President of the United States told us
yesterday in this Hall, “everywhere you turn you hear
extremists who tell you that you can escape your
misery and retain your dignity through violence and
terror and martyrdom.” (see ). Wherever he
looks he sees extremists, and when he looks at your
colour, my brother, he thinks “You are an extremist”.
Mr. Evo Morales Aima, the worthy President of
Bolivia, looks like an extremist to him. The
imperialists see extremists everywhere.
No, it is not that we are extremists. What is
happening is that the world is waking up and people
everywhere are rising up. I tell the world dictator “I
have a feeling that the rest of your days will be a living
nightmare, because everywhere you will see us rising
up against American imperialism, demanding freedom,
equality of peoples and respect for the sovereignty of
nations.” Yes, we may be described as extremists, but
we are rising against the empire, against the model of
domination.
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The President also said, “I would like to speak
directly to the people across the … Middle East: my
country desires peace.” That is true. If we walk through
the streets of the Bronx, New York, Washington, San
Diego, California, San Antonio and San Francisco —
anywhere in the United States — and speak to
individual citizens, we shall find that the country does
want peace. The difference is that the Government of
the United States does not. It wants to impose its
system of exploitation and pillage and its hegemony
through war. If it wants peace, what is happening in
Iraq? What happened in Lebanon and Palestine? What
has happened over the past hundred years in Latin
America and in world? Now there are new threats
against Venezuela and Iran.
The President spoke to the people of Lebanon,
saying “Many of you have seen your homes and
communities caught in crossfire.” What cynicism!
What a capacity to lie shamelessly! Was it crossfire
when bombs were dropped on Beirut with millimetric
precision? He was thinking of a Western, where men
shoot from the hip and somebody gets caught in the
crossfire. This was imperialist fire, fascist fire, the fire
of an assassin, the genocidal firing of the empire and
Israel on the innocent people of Palestine and Lebanon.
That is the truth.
Now it is said that we are suffering because we
see homes destroyed. Early this morning I was looking
at some statements in preparing my remarks, and I
have brought with me a document in which I note that
the President of the United States came to talk to the
peoples. He said “To the people of Afghanistan”, “To
the people of Lebanon”, “To the people of Iran”. He
addressed them all directly. One wonders what those
peoples would tell him if they were given the
opportunity. What would they have to say? I know
what is in the soul of the peoples of the south, the
oppressed peoples. They would say “Yankee
imperialist, go home!” That would be the cry of the
peoples of the world if they could speak with one voice
to the American imperialists.
That is why last year when I came to this Hall, as
I have been doing for the past eight years, I said
something that has now been fully confirmed. Hardly
anybody here can defend the United Nations system.
Let us be honest and accept that the system born after
the Second World War has collapsed. It is worthless. It
is true that it serves to bring us together once a year to
meet, make statements, prepare long documents, reflect
and listen to good speeches like those yesterday by
President Evo and President Lula and the ones we have
just heard from the President of Sri Lanka and the
President of Chile. But the Assembly has been turned
into a merely deliberative organ, with no power to
make any impact on the terrible situation in the world.
That is why Venezuela once again proposes here
today, 20 September, that we re-establish the United
Nations. Last year we made four modest proposals that
we felt were crucially important for discussion by
heads of State and Government, ambassadors and
representatives.
The first — President Lula said this yesterday —
is the expansion of both the permanent and non-
permanent membership of the Security Council, with
developed and under-developed countries of the third
world as new permanent members. That is the first
step.
Secondly, there must be effective methods to
address and resolve world conflicts, with transparent
debate and decision-making.
Thirdly, it is essential that, as everyone demands,
there be an immediate end to the anti-democratic
mechanism of the veto that is exercised when decisions
are made in the Security Council. Let me give a recent
example. The immoral veto of the United States,
blocking a resolution, allowed the Israeli forces to
destroy Lebanon with impunity before our very eyes.
Fourthly, as we have always said, the role and
powers of the Secretary-General must be strengthened.
Yesterday the Secretary-General practically gave us his
farewell speech. He recognized that in the past 10
years serious world problems such as hunger, poverty,
violence and human rights violations had worsened and
become more complicated. That is a terrible
consequence of the collapse of the United Nations
system and American hegemonistic pretensions.
A few years ago Venezuela decided to wage this
battle within the United Nations, recognizing the
United Nations, as Members, and lending it our voice
and our thinking. Our voice is an independent one
representing dignity, the search for truth and the
reformulation of the international system, with
denunciation of persecution and of the aggression of
hegemonistic forces against peoples of the planet.
That is how Venezuela, the homeland of Bolivar,
came to put itself forward for a non-permanent seat on
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the Security Council. The United States Government
launched open, immoral aggression throughout the
world to try to prevent Venezuela being freely elected
to a seat on the Security Council. The empire is afraid
of the truth, of independent voices. It calls us
extremists, but it is the extremist.
I should like to thank all those countries that have
announced their support for Venezuela even though the
ballot is secret and there is no need to make an
announcement. I believe that the open attack by the
United States empire has increased the support of many
countries, and that support strengthens the morale of
Venezuela, our people and Government. Our brothers
in the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR),
for example, have expressed their support as a bloc.
With Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, as well
as many other Latin American countries, such as
Bolivia, Venezuela is now a full member of
MERCOSUR. The Caribbean Community has
expressed its support for Venezuela, as has the Arab
League. I am immensely grateful to our Arab and
Caribbean brothers. The African Union, almost all of
Africa, has expressed support for Venezuela, as have
countries such as Russia, China and many others.
On behalf of Venezuela and its people, and of the
truth, I thank them all most warmly. With a seat on the
Security Council, Venezuela will make not only its
voice but that of the third world and all peoples heard
throughout the world. We will defend dignity and truth.
Over and above all this, there are reasons to be
optimistic — a poet would say “hopelessly optimistic”.
Beyond the threats, the bombs, the wars, aggression,
preventive war and the destruction of entire peoples,
we can see that a new era is dawning. As Silvio
Rodriguez sings, “the era is giving birth to a heart”.
New trends are developing, alternative ways of
thinking, alternative movements. Young people think
differently. As has been shown in scarcely a decade,
the idea of the end of history has been shown to be
totally false, as has that of the Pax Americana and the
establishment of the capitalist neo-liberal model, which
creates poverty and is rejected.
Now we must define the future of the world. The
dawn is breaking all over: Latin America, Africa,
Europe and Oceania. I want to emphasize that
optimistic vision, so that we may strengthen our will
and our readiness to fight to save the world and build a
new and better world.
Venezuela joins that struggle, and that is why we
are threatened. The United States has already planned,
financed and set in motion a coup in Venezuela, and it
continues to support coup attempts and terrorism there.
President Michelle Bachelet Jeria reminded us a short
time ago of the horrendous assassination of the former
Chilean Foreign Minister, Orlando Letelier. I would
simply add that those who perpetrated that crime, in
which an American citizen also died, are free. And they
are Americans themselves, CIA terrorists.
We should also recall that in a few days there will
be another anniversary: 30 years will have passed since
another horrendous terrorist act, the destruction of an
airliner of Cubana de Aviación in which 73 innocent
people died. Where is the biggest terrorist of this
continent, who masterminded the blowing up of the
plane? He spent a few years in prison in Venezuela, but
thanks to the CIA and Venezuelan Government
officials at the time he was able to escape. Now he
lives in the United States, protected by the
Government. He confessed and was convicted of his
crime, but the United States Government has double
standards and protects terrorism when it wants to. I say
this to make the point that Venezuela is fully
committed to combating terrorism and violence, and
joins those peoples that are fighting for peace and a
world of equals.
I have just spoken of the Cuban airliner. Luis
Posada Carriles is the name of the terrorist concerned.
He is protected here, as are very corrupt people who
have fled Venezuela. A group of terrorists bombed
various embassies and assassinated people. During the
attempted coup they kidnapped me and were going to
shoot me. But God intervened, as did a group of loyal
soldiers and the people, who took to the streets. So by
a miracle I am here today. The leaders of that
attempted coup and those terrorist acts are living in this
country today, protected by the United States
Government. I accuse the American Government of
protecting terrorists and of holding a completely
cynical discourse.
I mentioned Cuba. I was very recently in Havana
for a few days, and I left it feeling happy because the
birth of a new era could be seen. The Non-Aligned
Movement summit adopted a historic final document.
Do not worry; I shall not read it out. It contains a set of
resolutions adopted after open and transparent debate.
More than 50 heads of State attended, and Havana was
the capital of the south for a week.
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We have now relaunched the Non-Aligned
Movement. If there is anything I could ask of all those
here, my partners and brothers and sisters, it is that
they lend their good will to strengthen the Non-
Aligned Movement, which is important for the birth of
the new era and the prevention of hegemony and
imperialism. The Assembly will know that we elected
President Fidel Castro Chairman of the Non-Aligned
Movement for the next three years, and we can trust
him to lead us very efficiently. Those who hoped that
Fidel would die were disappointed, and they will
continue to be disappointed, because he is back in his
olive-green fatigues and is now not only President of
Cuba but Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement. A
very strong movement has been born: that of the South.
We are men and women of the South.
With these documents, ideas, criticisms and
reflections, I am now closing my file and taking the
book with me. Do not forget that I recommend it very
warmly and very humbly to all those present. I have
tried to put forward ideas to save our planet, to save it
from the imperialist threat. I hope that in this century,
in the not too distant future, we shall see our children
and grandchildren living better, in a world of peace
based on the fundamental principles of the United
Nations — a renewed and relocated United Nations. I
believe that it must move to another country, to a city
of the South. That is what we in Venezuela have
proposed. The Assembly knows that my personal
doctor and chief of security had to stay on a locked
plane. Neither was allowed to come to the United
Nations. This abuse we regard as a personal insult by
the Devil. It smells of sulphur here, but God is with us,
and I embrace you all. May God bless us all.