Bolivia, 2003

Allow me to congratulate the President on his election

as President of this session of the General Assembly.

We wish him every success.

At the same time, it is a pleasure to greet the

Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, whose efforts for

peace and cooperation between nations we highly

value. For that reason, I take this opportunity to

express, on behalf of the people of Bolivia and my

Government, our sorrow and solidarity in the face of

the terrorist attacks against the United Nations

headquarters in Baghdad, which once again

demonstrates intolerance for and lack of understanding

of a peacekeeping mission, which is the only possible

path in our search to resolve conflicts.

This attempt strengthens our resolve to fight

without giving any quarter against terrorism in any of

its forms, but, at the same time, it shows us the need to

support the joint efforts of the nations of the world

with policies that are debated and adopted at the United

Nations. This Organization and its bodies are a

fundamental forum where our voice and that of all

countries of the world can be heard. For that reason, we

also believe that reforms are required to give the

Security Council more flexibility and balance in order

to guarantee greater participation in the decision-

making process.

The terrible episodes that we have recently

experienced have forced us once again to reconsider

the path that many nations have set for themselves in

their vision for development. It is a dangerous mistake

to believe that we can coexist in a world of isolated and

closed compartments. It is not possible to generate

growth and well-being for a privileged few and expect

that the excluded great majority will look on silently

from the fringes of that reality. In our opinion, the only

possible path to confront the future is the paradigm of

equity.

For over a half century, Bolivia has been opening

democratic and participative spaces for its people. A

nation such as ours, where 62 per cent of the citizens

identify themselves as indigenous, must do away with

the social, economic and ethnic exclusion that has been

a historic millstone that our elite refused to eliminate.

The process begun by us with the revolution of 1952

with its successes and set-backs of greater or lesser

magnitude is part of our challenge today. This vision is

also essential to defending the human rights of those

citizens who have been marginalized throughout the

course of our history.

For one year now, under the administration

headed by President Sanchez de Lozada, within the

framework of a pluralistic Congress with a very

significant percentage of indigenous representatives

and of very different ideological positions, we are

working to overcome levels of poverty that are

threatening to break down the buttresses of order and

the population’s faith in democracy, which has been

achieved with great sacrifice by the people of Bolivia.

Our Government has broadened its political base

by integrating another political party, Nueva Fuerza

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Republicana, into the alliance between the Movimiento

Nacionalista Revolucionario and the Movimiento de la

Izquierda Revolucionaria in an effort to face an acute

economic crisis that has taken the form of a persistent

recession, which, fortunately, is beginning to reverse

itself.

We have implemented a programme that

combines efforts to increase State revenues through an

increase in public investment in order to stimulate the

economy and improve private contribution, create jobs

and decrease social inequality. We have given priority

to the most vulnerable sectors of our society with

measures such as an annual solidarity bonus for all

citizens over age 65 and the consolidation of free

medical insurance covering mothers and children under

the age of five. This task is linked to achieving the

Millennium Development Goals, to which we are

deeply committed.

In February of this year and a few days ago, my

country lived through serious episodes of violence,

which have forced us to reflect. We are aware of the

fact that the last 21 years of democracy — the longest

uninterrupted period in our history — are at stake as

we face the legitimate pressure exercised by the

marginalized sectors of our society, who deserve our

attention. Unfortunately, in spite of the new democratic

parliamentary participation, we have not yet been able

to sustain a real and enriching dialogue about our most

severe problems. I am convinced that one of our

principal tasks is to generate a fundamental change in

the behaviour of political parties and of every

politician, but a less radical and more rational attitude

of the social sectors in their relationship with the State

is also indispensable.

We are going through a very difficult time, when

compliance with the law and respect for the authority

of the State threaten to collapse. Loss of trust in these

essential elements of democracy is one of the greatest

dangers to the future of our society, which will only

achieve its goals if it has a credible and legitimate

administration that acts with authority. We are

assuming our responsibility in this area. It is the only

way we can be tolerant of the ideas of others. Our aim

is the urgent search for a true national encounter

through national dialogue, an issue that we are deeply

committed to, despite the difficulties that must be

overcome.

One year ago, in this very forum, I said that our

Government would make the fight against corruption a

State policy. Today I am proud to say that we are

fulfilling that commitment. We have established the

Secretariat to Combat Corruption, whose tasks are

carried out from within the very core of the State, with

broad participation from all levels of society, through

citizen networks and mobile brigades. In one year of

work, we have made public cases of corruption

involving State authorities. Corrupt civil servants have

been given prison sentences and others are currently on

trial for illicit acts. Furthermore, we have expanded the

programmes for better management of public entities.

We are launching a reform of the judiciary,

strengthening a culture in which the rule of law is

based on the concept of justice for all. We are also

promoting a strategy that will transform political and

productive institutions, especially those of the informal

sector, and promoting governance that is compatible

with fair human development opportunities.

Our commitment to fighting illicit drug

trafficking remains unchanged. For our country, this

task has meant high social, political and economic

costs, paid for with the blood of the Bolivian people.

The support of the international community in this

fight has been an incentive and a security factor.

However, our efforts require further support,

proportional to the scope of its effect, in Bolivia as

well as in those societies where drug consumption

remains a priority problem to be solved. We shall

continue to honour our commitments, but we shall also

continue to insist that the international community

fully assume the concept of shared responsibility.

For Bolivia, international assistance represents an

invaluable support. From this rostrum, I wish to thank

the nations and organizations that offer their

cooperation, but I emphasize the fact that the most

effective assistance is that which respects the decisions

and plans of those countries that receive it. Imposing

rigid and unilateral prescriptions often generates more

problems than it solves.

Our continent, Latin America, has seen its role in

the international concert diminished. The continent

faces several core problems, one of which is the siege

of its own democracy by poverty, corruption, inequality

and a globalization process of which it is part, but that

has not always generated positive results for the area.

Integration is the only possible solution if we wish to

face the future with optimism. Bolivia is working

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diligently in this direction, not only because it is a part

of subregional blocs, such as the Andean Community

and the Common Market of the South — of which it is

an associate member — but also because it promotes

the integration of both regional groups into one South

American body that will provide greater benefits and

targeted influence in the region. As hosts for the

thirteenth Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State

and Government, Bolivia is working for the genuine

strengthening of that mechanism, which unites the

heads of State and Government of a group of countries

whose cultural, political and economic importance

throughout the world is continuously growing.

In this context, the decisions that will be made to

establish the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas

must seek a still uncertain balance for the group of

member countries, taking into account the enormous

gap between the first Power in the world and the

poorest nations of the continent, in a way that will truly

benefit everybody. This will be possible if and when,

beyond trade issues, we prioritize the transport and

communications infrastructures, science, the transfer of

technology and education.

The difficulties emerging from the worldwide

debate on international trade are proof once again of

the gap to be closed between rich and poor nations. If

equity is the foremost exigency of mankind, the only

true and effective response in order to achieve it is a

fair trade agreement. Poor countries demand access for

our products to wealthy countries under fair conditions.

This urgent claim is linked to a sustained policy of

subsidies and protectionism for key production sectors

on the part of the most developed nations. Herein lies

one of the basic causes of poverty and social tensions

in the least favoured societies.

The issue of anti-personnel mines is a very

sensitive one for Bolivia, not only as a matter of

principle — inasmuch as these lethal artefacts continue

to kill or permanently maim people throughout the

world — but also because many such mines have been

planted along our borders. We vehemently request the

Governments responsible for planting these mines to

continue their removal and destruction until the areas

involved are totally free of mines.

Today, more than ever, I wish to confirm before

this Assembly that Bolivia will never waive its just

claim of sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean,

inasmuch as we were established as an independent

republic with a sea coast. This claim, which we have

been making for over a century, is a product not of

stubbornness or caprice, but of the lack of economic

resources and huge geographic obstacles that

undermine our ability to compete. Our landlocked

condition is a deterrent to our growth and the well-

being of our citizens, as proven by the analysis of the

challenges faced by all landlocked countries.

Reintegration of our condition as a maritime nation is a

matter of justice and we cannot set it aside. We will

therefore continue to call for solidarity and support

from the community of nations. Our vocation and our

destiny to be integrated with and economically

complemented by our neighbours compels us to exhort

the Government and people of Chile to act with a view

to the future and to repair a historical wrong that has

anchored Bolivia to the past century.

We are living through difficult times, complex

and full of uncertainty. It is our obligation to stop and

question the validity of many of the premises in which

we believe. No question and no form of questioning is

superfluous at a time such as this, in which the search

for a clearer and fair horizon is a life or death necessity

for our planet.