Guatemala, 1998

Omar Aguirre, of Bolivia; Lisa Malone, of

Australia; Pablo Gorga, of Uruguay; Luis Escoto, of Spain;

Pedro Ruz, of Chile; together with Guatemalans Rolando

Palacios and Celso Mart'nez, all of them United Nations

personnel stationed in Guatemala to collaborate in the

verification of the peace agreements, gave their lives in

carrying out their mission, when they died in a tragic air

accident, on 17 March 1998, as they were travelling to a

remote area to perform their duties. With the Assembly’s

permission, I would like to pay a sincere tribute to those

who, at a time of peace, generously gave their lives for

peace in Guatemala.

Equally moved by the destruction left by hurricane

Georges in its passage through the Dominican Republic,

Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica,

Saint Kitts and Nevis, and other Caribbean territories and

the southern United States, I wish to express the solidarity

of the people and the Government of Guatemala with those

who suffered economic losses and the inconsolable pain

of the loss of human lives.

Guatemala feels honoured to welcome Mr. Opertti to

the roster of eminent persons who have had the privileged

responsibility of conducting the debates of this forum

throughout its existence. His election to the presidency of

the General Assembly at its fifty-third session, while

showing recognition of his great diplomatic talent, is the

natural result of the efforts that he and his country have

made in promoting understanding among the peoples and

the nations of the world.

We are fully convinced that our Organization will

benefit from his ample experience as one of the

supporters of the principles of the inter-American system.

This guarantees that the excellent work of his

predecessor, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, will be continued,

and we wish to express our appreciation for the excellent

manner in which he conducted the work of the General

Assembly during the year of his mandate.

This is the second time that Guatemala has

addressed the General Assembly since the signature of the

peace agreements that put an end to the fratricidal

struggle that senselessly tore our nation apart for almost

four decades. I must again acknowledge the solidarity the

international community showed throughout the process,

especially during the difficult and protracted task of

implementing the accords, which will lead us to the

reconstruction of our society and the fulfilment of our

highest aspirations for economic development, equity and

justice.

The United Nations and the Government and the

people of Guatemala have worked together in the

implementation of the peace agreements. Under the

United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala

(MINUGUA) we have gone forward with firm and sure

steps in complying with the accords, and it is with great

satisfaction that I can report to the Assembly that the

timetable of the accords is being met with sure progress.

That is why we welcome the recent report of the

Secretary-General on the status of verification of the

peace agreements in Guatemala (A/53/288), and we

strongly support his recommendation that the General

Assembly authorize the renewal of MINUGUA’s mandate

until 31 December 1999.

As a Member of an Organization whose main

objective is to preserve peace among nations, our own

15

experience of living in peace leads us to reaffirm our belief

in multilateralism as a genuine form of pooling efforts for

coexistence among the peoples of the world. To the

ordinary citizen of Guatemala, regional organizations, sister

nations and international commitments are no longer

regarded as abstractions, instead becoming elements of our

reality which, added to our political and cultural experience,

is producing a new synthesis of the local with the global.

That new synthesis in Guatemala means peace, which is

rooted in the happy conjunction of the ancestral pacifism of

our own ancient cultures with the universally accepted

ethical values promoted in the various centres of

multilateral convergence, both regionally and globally.

These positive results have also been factors in

accelerating our involvement in regional cooperation

initiatives, especially in the process of Central American

integration, in which Guatemala, determined to achieve it,

has made significant efforts, motivated by the view shared

by the other actors in the process that a united Central

America will be much more capable of facing the

challenges of globalization for the benefit of our peoples.

Believing also that the centres of multilateral

administration are fundamental to promoting peace and

development, we have been motivated to participate

actively in the tasks of consolidating the work of the

Association of Caribbean States, an organization of 25

member States sharing the Caribbean Sea as their common

heritage and having the most varied cultural and linguistic

traditions. This Association has decided to unite in order to

explore the regional potential for promoting conditions that

will improve the living standards of their citizens.

We do not have time to continue listing the various

regional integration initiatives. However, they exemplify the

importance that Guatemala attaches to multilateral bodies in

efforts to coexist under conditions of justice and equality

and in an environment which is increasingly interactive and

interdependent. The global condition of the contemporary

world is no longer expressed recurrently through periodic

events, but is rather a daily constant that, every minute,

concerns all individuals on the planet. It poses challenges

that may be regarded as either opportunities or threats and

that elicit a full spectrum of responses, from naive

enthusiasm to irrational fundamentalist resistance.

That is why multilateral administration requires

renewed, flexible and participatory institutions that respond

to the dynamic conditions derived from the development of

international relations in the post-cold-war era. Thus,

Guatemala has followed with interest modernization efforts

within this Organization. We have enthusiastically

assumed the responsibility of contributing to the

implementation of administrative reforms through a pilot

project.

We are pleased at the progress that has been made

in this area, and we would like to express once again our

appreciation for the support we have received from the

agencies of the United Nations system, which, under the

coordination of the United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP), are helping us with the process of

peace and development and making system-wide reform

a reality in our country.

The work undertaken by Secretary-General Kofi

Annan in response to the concerns of Member States

regarding the modernization of our Organization deserves

our very special recognition. Last July, the Secretary-

General honoured us with a visit to Guatemala, and we

saw for ourselves the determination and commitment he

demands of himself in order to strengthen our

Organization and the clear vision of the future that guides

his efforts towards the new millennium.

Guatemala agrees with other Members on the need

to continue the deliberations on the reform of the Security

Council. We have studied with interest the various

proposals that have been presented, and we hope that

despite the differences in their current positions, Member

States will be able to reach the necessary level of

agreement and understanding in order to bring about a

reform that is equitable for all regions and that

demonstrates the democratic will that should prevail in

the Organization.

I must emphasize the important role that the United

Nations must play in the creation, codification and

application of the norms of international law. A greater

involvement by the Organization in this matter would

promote greater creativity on the part of Member States

in confronting shared problems and would eliminate legal

ambiguities that could enable national legislatures to

dictate international laws which would then be imposed

on less developed countries. We call upon the community

of nations to redouble its efforts in this area.

At the threshold of the new millennium, and in

response to an international society that is increasingly

interdependent, we call for a more equitable and just

order in the sphere of trade, with clear rules and equal

opportunities for all regions and States. This is the only

way to promote development in areas where there is an

16

imperative need to eliminate poverty and build more just

societies.

As the President of Colombia expressed very well in

this Assembly, development should take into account the

human side of our societies. We must keep striving to

accomplish more internal equity in the distribution of

resources and burdens. But it is increasingly difficult, under

present conditions, to comply with the demands of the

international institutions that finance development, without

sacrificing the lives of our people, who are already, for the

most part, mired in poverty. We are also greatly alarmed to

see an insecure and uncertain worldwide economic situation

in which dubious speculative practices continue to wreak

havoc in the absence of effective controls by those

responsible. The world is filling up with products that

populations and countries no longer have the means to

acquire, and there is no longer any place for our small

economies.

Now that the Central American countries are making

efforts on various fronts to accomplish our integration and

liberalize our economies, and as we strive to leave years of

armed confrontation behind us and adapt to the demands of

the world market, our products must have fair, non-

discriminatory access to world markets, and our potential as

a competitive destination for productive investment must be

recognized.

One of the most important subjects on the agenda of

the General Assembly is that of disarmament. Guatemala,

together with the other Central American countries,

condemns any type of nuclear testing. We expressed our

concern over the recent tests carried out in other continents.

Such activities do not contribute to the peace or the nuclear

disarmament that most of the Member States of this

Organization desire.

Guatemala was also among the first countries to sign

the Ottawa Convention prohibiting the manufacture and use

of anti-personnel mines. We ask those countries that have

not yet done so to become parties to this Convention.

We also note with great satisfaction that the concerns

of Member States relating to the subject of weapons are

growing in scope to include the proliferation, illegal traffic

and abuse of small arms. Guatemala is extremely interested

in the quest for a solution to this problem, and we believe

that the Oslo platform can generate satisfactory responses.

We are extremely concerned to see that although to a

large extent it has been possible to overcome internal

conflicts in most Member States, the international

community continues to be shocked by such horrendous

acts of international terrorism as those that recently

caused much bloodshed in Africa and Northern Ireland.

In addition to condemning and unanimously rejecting

these vile and cowardly actions that primarily affect

innocent human beings who have nothing to do with the

causes that are invoked, the international community must

observe the resolution of the Rome Conference on the

Statute of the International Criminal Court to the effect

that

“terrorist acts, by whomever and wherever

perpetrated and whatever their forms, methods or

motives, are serious crimes of concern to the

international community”. (A/Conf.183/10, annex I,

section E, second paragraph)

As is well known, Guatemala was one of the last

staging grounds of the cold war, where transnational

networks operated with impunity in support of the dirty

war taking place inside and outside of the country. We

wish to express once again our firm and emphatic

political resolve that never again will our territory be used

to prepare any type of aggression against any other

country.

As the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights draws near, Guatemala

reaffirms its resolute commitment to honouring the

principles contained in the Declaration. One of the most

important tasks of the Government of President Alvaro

Arzú has been to promote fulfilment of and respect for

human rights in all aspects of life in our country. The

human rights dimension has been integrated into all

spheres of civic life, and, although we still have much to

do in that area, we have certainly made great progress,

promoting the full blossoming of our rich ethnic,

multicultural and multilingual diversity.

The United Nations, founded in 1945 on the ideal of

keeping peace in the world and with the fundamental role

of ensuring that all nations can coexist on the basis of

mutual respect among States, is the highest expression of

representation by all peoples. However, 53 years after the

birth of the United Nations, there are still territories

whose citizens are not represented here. My country is

aware of the divisions that persist between brothers in the

Middle East, Asia and Africa. We hope that their

differences can be resolved through dialogue and in a

peaceful manner, so that, without any form of rejection or

17

discrimination, all the peoples of the world may be

represented in the United Nations.

I wish to mention in particular the situation of the 22

million citizens of the Republic of China on Taiwan, as

well as the importance and soundness of their economy

amid so much financial uncertainty in that region.

Our Organization must face great challenges as the

new century draws near. We hope that, with the goodwill

of all Member States, we can resolutely embark on it so as

to ensure the survival of the human race, as well as lives

lived in peace, the protection of our environment, economic

growth and sustainable development. Only in that way will

we achieve the dream of those who, full of ideals, founded

the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945.