Nicaragua, 1996

Allow me to begin by congratulating the President on his

election to preside over the Assembly this session. We are

convinced that he will guide our work successfully. We

would also like to take this opportunity to thank

Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral for his work.

In 1990, when Mrs. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro

became President of Nicaragua, the country was in a state

of war. Negotiating the demobilization of more than

20,000 people who had taken up arms and reducing an

army of over 90,000 soldiers were key tasks in ending a

civil war that had lasted almost 10 years. This

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complicated pacification process was just the beginning of

a process of peace, reconciliation, democracy and

development in Nicaragua aimed at bringing the country

into line with the new situation in the region and the

globalization of international relations.

As part of this process, we began to modernize the

State, curbed hyper-inflation, liberalized the pricing system

and did away with the State monopoly in the areas of

foreign trade and finance, where we have managed to

privatize almost all the companies that used to belong to the

State.

As the State apparatus was reduced, we began to

decentralize government and transfer responsibilities to

municipal and community levels and to sectors in which the

private sector could clearly be much more effective.

We have carried out the process of peace and

reconciliation that was essential for democratic national

consolidation. We have stabilized the economy and reduced

the external debt, although, unfortunately, it is still a great

burden.

One of the main concerns of the Government of

President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro has been to ensure

that the human rights of the entire population of Nicaragua

are respected. To this end, we have adopted legislative and

administrative provisions that have rid Nicaraguan jails of

murder, torture and impunity.

We have set up new institutions that encourage

education, trade and banking. We have introduced a new,

much more effective, social security system. We have

allocated more of our budget to primary and technical

education, and we can be proud of the unlimited freedom

of the press in Nicaragua today. We have also managed to

establish civilian control over the military, which will be

another important bequest to the new Government.

Today our country enjoys the greatest degree of

political freedom in its history. Considerable progress has

been made in institutionalizing democracy, and the

resources that in the past we Nicaraguans used for war are

now once again being used for education, health and the

building of housing and roads — in other words, for the

comprehensive development of Nicaragua.

Democracy in Nicaragua was born in 1990, with the

election of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in the

only truly free election ever enjoyed by the Nicaraguan

population in its history. At that difficult time, we

Nicaraguans accepted the challenge of sowing the seeds

of a new culture of peace. The United Nations played a

very important role in this process of achieving

democracy and opening up a new era for Nicaragua. In

the same spirit, the United Nations is now cooperating

with us and providing guidance for the elections later this

year.

Since 1990 major changes have occurred at the

world level. Many countries have rid themselves of

oppression and dictatorship. The Iron Curtain has been

torn down, as have the walls of ideological intolerance.

The foundations of apartheid have crumbled, and in the

Middle East a peace process is unfolding, filling us with

hope, although it is not without problems. Major

sacrifices have been made by peoples under totalitarian

regimes so as to win the right to live in peace and

freedom in a more secure world — a fairer, more

peaceful, tolerant and democratic one.

However, we see that new crises and armed conflicts

have arisen in other regions of the world. Because of its

international character, the United Nations is duty-bound

to face up to the challenges of security required by the

current situation; our Organization’s global agenda allows

it to operate more dynamically. The United Nations must

confront issues such as the eradication of poverty,

environmental degradation, terrorism, the use and

trafficking of drugs, violence suffered by women and the

promotion of democratic values and progress in social

development. Nicaragua is convinced that peace and

democracy are closely related to development, and that

without economic development it is extremely difficult to

achieve sustainable democracy.

In the Secretary-General’s “An Agenda for Peace”

we have a summary of the important changes that have

occurred in recent years. He sets forth the difficult

conditions of hunger and poverty among other things, still

existing in developing countries. He also recognizes that

the burden of debt and barriers to international trade are

still a danger to world stability. All this makes the

development of the new concept of international security

more difficult — as discussed right here in the United

Nations. The Secretary-General’s “An Agenda for Peace”

is a mechanism to help us bring about true,

comprehensive peace.

Let us recall, as was stated today by the Prime

Minister of Norway, that peace is no longer only

something that States must seek from one another. We

must seek peace within each State as well.

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The sensitive mission of the United Nations at this

new stage of its development can be illustrated by its

dynamic role in Central America, a region that in 1992 was

declared by this very General Assembly to be an area of

peace, freedom, democracy and development.

No one doubts that the United Nations has begun a

major process of profound transformation and renewal,

taking place precisely 50 years after its establishment and

reflecting the current international situation. With this

renewal we hope for greater democratization of our world

Organization, particularly in the Security Council. We also

hope for the admission of new Members to the

Organization, such as the Republic of China on Taiwan,

which meets the requirements set forth in the Charter to be

a Member State, but whose right to be a Member is still

denied it. Likewise, we are expecting the United Nations to

contribute to developing countries, particularly through

programmes of technical cooperation and cooperation for

development.

During these last few years of transition, while we

have been establishing and consolidating peace and

democracy in Nicaragua, world disarmament has

accelerated. Budgets for armaments have been reduced in

many countries, and we, the Governments of Central

America, have adopted some serious initiatives as regards

the production, use and transfer of anti-personnel mines.

We have also declared Central America to be a region

completely free of those devices.

Areas that were once battlegrounds, including

Nicaragua, are now seeing demining operations with good

prospects. At the same time, several nuclear-weapon States

have initiated moratoriums on testing, thus greatly

diminishing the possibility of a devastating nuclear war.

We have also seen an increase in the number of

nuclear-weapon-free zones. The signing of the Pelindaba

Treaty establishes a zone of this kind in Africa; and with

the establishment of other nuclear-weapon-free zones in

South-East Asia we will be strengthening the potential for

a more secure world. It is important to recall that very

recently we adopted by an overwhelming majority, right

here at United Nations Headquarters, the Comprehensive

Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

We are seriously concerned that much of the recent

political progress achieved throughout the world is not

necessarily in tune with progress in the economic sphere.

Developing countries continue to face serious problems

such as extreme poverty and unemployment. Access to new

international markets continues to be limited for our

products. The burden of debt is unbearable, and the

constant inequalities in international financial systems

continue to affect our countries adversely. Therefore, we

must urgently establish much fairer and more equitable

international economic relations.

We are also concerned that during this same period

of global, regional and national transition, new forms of

intolerance, lack of understanding and violation of human

rights have breached the peace in certain areas of the

world. Such is the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Somalia and Rwanda, where events have profoundly

disturbed the human conscience.

In this same regard, Nicaragua is troubled by recent

events in Burundi, where in spite of the efforts of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the

international community, the situation remains delicate.

On the other hand, the efforts made towards reaching

peace in Chechnya hearten us.

We are concerned at the continuation of practices

and their pernicious effects. We believe that their

perpetrators should be brought to justice without

exception. We condemn attacks such as that upon

President Mubarak of Egypt and the recent one in

Dharan, Saudi Arabia, in which hundreds of innocent

people were wounded. We feel great solidarity with the

victims and their families.

Nicaragua is concerned at the growth in the

production, consumption and traffic in drugs, and in the

growing relationship between terrorism and weapons

trafficking, which, like drug trafficking, continues to pose

a major threat to future generations.

For these reasons, I would like to state that

Nicaragua was pleased to hear the proposal made by the

President of Colombia regarding the need to develop a

global agenda for drugs. We believe that the United

Nations should think hard about that important initiative.

On the eve of the twenty-first century, the

international community as a whole should seek out ways

and means to overcome all of these situations. We should

make our best efforts in that regard. Nicaragua is ready to

support the international community in these initiatives.

In July 1994, the second International Conference of

New and Restored Democracies was held in Managua,

Nicaragua; its main objective was to study in a frank and

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objective manner the weaknesses, prospects and challenges

of new democracies. On this occasion, on behalf of my

country and in our capacity of interim secretariat of the

Conference, I would like to urge that the third conference

of new democracies, which will be held next year in

Bucharest, Romania, receive the international community’s

special attention.

In this ongoing quest for peace and for the

strengthening of democracy, we in Central America are

putting into practice a new model of regional security. The

outstanding features of this new model have been embodied

in the Alliance for the Sustainable Development of Central

America, which is a national and regional strategy to foster

a change in personal and social attitudes to ensure the

establishment of a model of sustainable development in the

political, economic, social, cultural and environmental

fields.

We Central Americans have already ratified a

framework treaty for democratic security which deals with

respect for and the promotion and protection of human

rights. Its provisions ensure the security of the Central

American States and their inhabitants through the

establishment of conditions which will allow them their

personal, family and social development in peace, freedom

and democracy. These are initiatives which could be studied

in other regions with the aim of strengthening national

processes within the context of new circumstances and with

the objective of moving towards a new international order

which will be more secure, to which we all aspire.

Only months away from the end of President Violeta

Barrios de Chamorro’s term of office and less than one

month from the elections in which her successor will be

chosen, we are very satisfied with the work carried out

during this period. World and regional events have had, and

will continue to have, their impact within countries. In the

case of Nicaragua, this impact has been highly positive. By

the end of its term, our Government will have left

Nicaragua completely different from the Nicaragua we

found in 1990.

We are certain that whoever is elected President in the

coming elections will have the necessary vision to establish,

as it has done in the past, a Government of benefit to all

Nicaraguans. Thus, we believe that extensive democratic

consolidation should also continue in order to continue on

the path of peace, harmony and progress.

On behalf of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro,

I would like to ask the international community and the

United Nations to continue supporting Nicaragua, for the

good of democracy, for the good of our country, and,

above all, for the good of the international community.

I take this opportunity on behalf of the people and

Government of Nicaragua and on my own behalf to thank

the States, the Governments, the international

organizations and non-governmental organizations which,

in one way or another, have lent our country their

cooperation and solidarity. Without this solidarity we

Nicaraguans would never have been able to achieve the

democracy we have today, nor would we have been able

to lay the foundation for economic development. To all of

them and to all of you, members of the Assembly, thank

you very much.