Nicaragua, 2013

On behalf of the people and Government of Nicaragua,

Comrade President Daniel Ortega Saavedra and

Comrade Rosario Murillo, I want to begin by paying

tribute to the Commander of the revolution of our

America and the Caribbean, leader of the free men and

women of the world, Hugo Chávez Frías, who has left

us a legacy of strength, hope and certainty of victory

in defending the inalienable rights of humankind, such

as sovereignty, justice, freedom, democracy, solidarity

and peace.

On behalf of the people and the Government of

reconciliation and national unity of Nicaragua, led

by Comrade Daniel Ortega Saavedra, I congratulate

you, Sir, on your election as President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-eighth session. We are pleased

that a representative of a brother country and member of

the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America,

Petrocaribe and the Community of Latin America and

the Caribbean States will guide us in the activities of

this important organ so that our efforts may contribute

to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the

United Nations, which must be implemented by the

Organization.

The United Nations continues to require profound

reform that cannot be delayed any longer. The position

of some permanent members of the Security Council on

the issue can no longer be an insurmountable obstacle.

We continue to support the proposed reinvention of the

United Nations proposed by our colleague Father Miguel

d’Escoto Brockmann. The power of the Organization

must rest completely with the General Assembly.

The economic and financial situation imposed by

global capitalism continues to rapidly dismantle the

welfare State in developed countries and seriously

affects developing countries. Now more than ever, it

becomes essential to establish a new global economic

model that is sustainable, based on justice, solidarity,

complementarity and committed to the defence of the

Earth and the environment.

International democracy cannot exist without

respect for international law. Nicaragua continues

to demonstrate with reliable facts its adherence to

international law and its respect for the principle of

resolving our differences through dialogue, negotiation

and recourse to international bodies such as the

International Court of Justice to settle territorial and

other types of disputes.

We welcome the central theme selected by you,

Mr. President, for the Assembly’s sixty-eighth session,

namely, “The post-2015 development agenda: setting

the stage”. It is important, therefore, that we agree to

launch an intergovernmental process for that new phase.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, we are

deepening our political, economic, social and cultural

integration process, all the while respecting our

diversity and building unity. Our Community of Latin

American and Caribbean States has been achieving a

shared vision of social development, education, health,

the environment, energy and financing, among other

sectors. It is now preparing to work collectively on

cooperation, nuclear disarmament, fighting corruption,

agriculture, science and technology.

In the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our

America and in Petrocaribe, Nicaragua has found a

model of integration to overcome poverty, hunger and

inequality, while strengthening the Central American

Integration System , the Mesoamerican Integration and

Development Project and its economic and commercial

relations with the international community and its

organizations.

In this difficult context, Nicaragua continues

to make progress. We have opted for a development

model that produces results. Despite the difficulties

and limitations, the Millennium Development Goals in

Nicaragua are being realized in a tangible manner that

demonstrates our Government’s respect and promotion

of the human rights of its citizens and its deep ethical

commitment to the common good.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the

United Nations has recognized our country’s remarkable

progress to ensure the food security of our citizens and

to reduce the prevalence of undernourishment.

Our Government guarantees the right to universal

primary education. Major programmes are under

way — the “battle for ninth grade”, the intercultural

bilingual education programme, the inclusive education

programme and the comprehensive school nutrition

programme.

UN Women ranks Nicaragua among the leading

countries in the world with the highest percentage

of women in the executive, legislative and judicial

branches. Today 42 per cent of the deputies in the

National Assembly are women. Women hold 54 per cent

of positions in the executive branch, 60 per cent in the

judicial branch and 50 per cent in municipal councils.

We established a Ministry of Women to promote gender

equality and to empower women, while our laws ensure

that women enjoy human rights.

Nicaragua received the Americas Award

of the International Training Centre for Local

Actors/Authorities (CIFAL) Atlanta and the United

Nations Institute for Training and Research for

achieving its goals in reducing maternal mortality and

in recognition of the national strategy called Maternal

Homes. In 2006 the national maternal mortality rate

was 92.8 per 100,000 live births. In 2012 the rate was

nearly half that, reduced to 50.9, and we continue

fighting to reduce it further.

We continue our efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

Preventive measures are being disseminated and

supportive care is provided to patients. In 2012 Nicaragua

received recognition from the Pan American Health

Organization for its contribution to the community

vigilance programme against malaria. Campaigns are

being developed to curb dengue fever, leptospirosis

and influenza. We have successfully carried out the

campaign “Live clean, live healthy, live a good life, live

well”, which aims to clean and beautify communities,

provide preventive health measures against epidemics

and pandemics as well as to maintain a harmonious and

respectful relationship with one another and with the

environment.

All of those projects are made possible by the

enormous efforts our people, who have made a social,

economic and political model of dialogue, alliances and

consensus, recognized by all. Our people’s inexhaustible

capacity for hope and essential relationship with the

Christian, socialist and solidarity model that we have

built together, in which all sectors of the country

participate, has meant that our people continue to move

ahead while promoting peace, serenity and the full

exercise of their rights.

Our defence of peace and international security

remains unwavering. Similarly, we continue to fight

against drug trafficking and the various manifestations

of transnational organized crime. Our retaining-wall

strategy produces positive results. We are committed at

the regional level to implementing the Central American

Security Strategy. It is urgent that the international

community give more support through additional

financial resources to the efforts and investment the

Central American countries are making against those

scourges. Despite its limitations, Nicaragua invests

considerable resources from its budget to ensure an

optimal environment for public safety. Its successes

are internationally recognized, and Nicaragua is seen

as one of the safest countries in Latin America and the

Caribbean.

We are committed to the struggles of other peoples

for their full independence and sovereignty. Therefore,

we demand once again the immediate and unconditional

termination of the economic, trade and financial

embargo imposed against Cuba by the United States of

America and the immediate and unconditional release

of the Cuban patriots imprisoned in that country. The

United States must also stop its arbitrary and capricious

inclusion of that brother country in its unilateral list of

State sponsors of terrorism.

We reiterate our full support for the legitimate

rights of the Argentine Republic in the sovereignty

dispute relating to the question of the Malvinas Islands.

We recognize and welcome the progress in

the political process of the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela and reject international campaigns aimed at

weakening it.

We condemn, once again, the arbitrary conduct

of the Government of the United States in preventing

the aircraft of our colleague, Nicolás Maduro Moros,

President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, from

flying through Puerto Rico’s airspace. We condemn

that act, as well as the refusal of the United States to

grant visas to our Venezuelan brothers so that they

could attend this General Assembly plenary.

We reiterate our support for the brotherly people

of Puerto Rico in their struggle for self-determination,

independence and social justice. Puerto Rico is one of

the last colonial enclaves in our continent. Its brave

people deserve our full support and solidarity in order

to take their place within the United Nations and in our

Community of Latin American and Caribbean States,

thereby eliminating colonial situations from the region.

We express our solidarity with comrade Oscar López

Rivera and demand that he be freed immediately.

We express the hope that the peace process in

Colombia will come to fruition, bringing peace and

social progress to the people of that country.

We support the efforts being made to achieve lasting

solutions to the conflicts in the Middle East and North

Africa. Nicaragua continues to support a negotiated

solution to the bloody conflict in Syria. The proposal

of the Russian Federation to put an end to the war has

received broad international support, including from

countries that are members of the Security Council

with the right of veto.

We reiterate our commitment to the cause of

the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-

determination and their legitimate right to establish

their own State. We consider the resumption of talks

between Palestine and Israel to be a step in the right

direction. The talks must be accompanied by the

suspension of the construction of Israeli settlements in

the occupied Palestinian territories.

We reiterate our solidarity with the struggle of the

Polisario Front and the Sahrawi people, which this year

marks its fortieth anniversary.

We welcome the fiftieth anniversary of the African

Union under the banner of pan-Africanism and the

African renaissance.

Furthermore, Nicaragua continues to support the

just aspirations of the Republic of China on Taiwan

for greater participation in the various bodies and

specialized agencies of the United Nations.

Much has been said and heard in recent days about

the Grand Canal of Nicaragua. With that project,

our Government intends to take advantage of the

unprecedented transformation in global maritime trade

that has taken place in the first decade of the twenty-

first century. Maritime trade is expected to continue

to grow, particularly between Asia and the Americas,

and our project is designed to complement the Panama

Canal expansion. We are planning a canal for peace, for

the development of all peoples, constructed with a sense

of responsibility as a world heritage site — a canal open

to international investment in a reliable and transparent

fashion, a canal that is the fulfilment of the dreams of

the General of Free Men, Augusto C. Sandino, and of

the people of Nicaragua, for their greater progress.

Climate change continues to be a grave problem.

“Our environmental, economic, political, social, and

spiritual challenges are interconnected”, states the

Earth Charter. In that statement lies the essence of

our vision and our duty — to save Earth’s vitality and

ourselves as the human race.