Chile, 1969

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.