Paraguay, 1982

On behalf of the delegation of Paraguay I should like to congratulate

Mr. Hollai on his election to conduct the proceedings of the General

Assembly, an honor that has been conferred upon him because of his

personal integrity and his well recognized diplomatic experience.

We extend to the Secretary General our best wishes for success in the

important work before him. We do so not only because of the esteem in

which we hold him but also because as South Americans we feel

gratified at his election. We are pleased to see that every day he

gives clear proof of his skills and his unquestionable dedication to

his work, as evidenced by his report on the work of the Organization,

a report that concisely sets forth many creative suggestions at a

time when, though there has been hesitant progress, efforts are being

made to achieve survival in peace and dignity.

My delegation fully shares the deep anxiety of the Secretary General,

who has urgently appealed to us for common sense and effective

action. We note his hopes and offer him Paraguay's cooperation in his

noble efforts to implement the Organization's mandate under the

Charter to avoid the untold sorrow that results from war, to reaffirm

faith in fundamental human rights and to establish conditions

conducive to the general progress of all our peoples in a universal

atmosphere of coexistence based on mutual respect, justice and

freedom.

Perhaps more than any other year in the life of the Organization, the

past year has been characterized by continued violence in different

parts of the world. As the Secretary General has pointed out, we are

apt to forget with suicidal single mindedness the six years of global

agony and destruction that preceded the San Francisco Conference, and

it is true that thus far we have not learned to operate sensibly the

system of collective security that is the only instrument available

to us to preserve our generation and succeeding generations from

total disaster. We are haunted by far justified and healthy fear that

alerts us and prompts us to understand the dangers that stalk us.

With all the defects inherent in human endeavor, the Charter remains

the only valid instrument Car the finding of solutions which, though

provisional, can defuse the critical situation that confronts us. The

different conferences on disarmament that have taken place since the

days of the frustrated League of Nations have not thus far offered

the Rope of a promising course of action. The so called major Powers

and those that try to be major Powers bear the tremendous

responsibility of giving the world an example of wisdom and of real

and effective respect for life, the most important human right.

Statements on the principle of the sovereign equality of States are

meaningless if the destiny of mankind is linked to the interests of

those who wield atomic power, with all its horrors. Equally

meaningless are the intentions of promoting the overall well being of

peoples if vast sums are earmarked to annihilate them, in a vicious

circle of dissuasion which can last only so long. Moreover, the

terrorism which is exercised in the internal sphere and exported

equally criminally beyond their own borders by some Governments is an

eloquent expression of a state of madness which can be compared only

to the threat of an atomic holocaust. In spite of the inexplicable

difficulties involved in the consideration of this topic in the Sixth

Committee, my delegation would ask that the study of draft

international instruments aimed at removing the apocalyptic scourge

of terrorism, such as, for example, the draft Code of Offences

Against the Peace and Security of Mankind and a draft international

convention against the recruitment, use, financing and training of

mercenaries be accelerated. Those and other legal instruments with

binding force at the international level should, together with The

Hague, Montreal and Tokyo Conventions, which my country has already

signed, provide a body of provisions which can counteract that type

of crime.

A/37/PV.23

Paraguay has heroic experience of wars. My country has itself

suffered not only the incalculable loss of life of its sons and

daughters in devastating numbers but also the hardships of foreign

military occupation and the mutilation of its territorial heritage.

Thus we repudiate and forcefully condemn the Soviet Union's

subjugation of the sovereignty of Afghanistan, a country which is

steadfastly struggling to defend its independence; we repudiate with

equal force Viet Nam's intervention in Kampuchea; and we cannot fail

to condemn the brutal genocide carried out against defenseless

communities in Lebanon. All these and similar events of transitory

notoriety seem to have the incredible purpose of lulling our

consciences and anaesthetizing our sensitivities. Faced with this

negative picture, which causes pessimism, my country welcomes the

certain positive signs of understanding which have emerged in the

international political sphere. We express the fervent hope for

success in the efforts made by the Republic of Korea to bring about

the unification of the peninsula through direct negotiations with the

People's Democratic Republic of Korea, and we trust that, under the

competent guidance of the Secretary General, the efforts which began

in 1979 will continue. Paraguay has for more than a quarter of a

century now enjoyed a climate of political, social and economic

stability based on a system of sound democracy, administered with

constant dedication to the higher interests of the Republic. In spite

of the serious general deterioration which has dangerously affected

the economic and financial situation of the world, my country

maintains the conditions which make it possible for us to benefit

from one of the highest growth rates on the continent, a very sound

external public indebtedness record, a balanced administrative budget

and a very low level of unemployment which is not in any way a social

problem. None the less we are fully aware of the need and the

obligation of the developing counties to remedy, through common

action, the unacceptable shortcomings of an economic structure which

affects the prices of our commodities, stimulates disorder in the

monetary system and stultifies international trade. We have faith in

the creative capacity of our nation. As far as we Paraguayans are

concerned President Stroessner stated, at the beginning of his

outstanding work of leadership that the people is the source of the

spirit that has made Paraguay's Homeric record possible in the

history of the nations of the world. The people is the substance that

nourishes us, that gives us strength to react the summit without fail

and to raise our flag as a lofty, lasting symbol of our national

grandeur. My Government, together with those of other nations of the

Americas, signed a request for the inclusion in the agenda for debate

at the present session of the General Assembly of an item on the

question of the Malvinas Islands. In doing so, Paraguay was merely

endorsing the attitude it had already adopted at the two special

sessions of the Assembly of the Organization of American States in

May and June of this year in order to consider the armed conflict

which broke out in the South Atlantic. Aware of the extreme

seriousness of the military confrontation, which was then approaching

our continent, my country joined hi the united action of the nations

of the Americas to try to avoid the crisis, even though the situation

resulting from the events that had taken place and from the ongoing

negotiations aimed at reaching agreement, did not offer much hope of

a negotiated solution. Now, in the same spirit of friendship towards

the parties to the armed conflict over the Malvinas and with the same

sense of responsibility regarding our duties towards the

international community, the delegation of Paraguay is sponsoring,

together with other nations of the Americas, a draft resolution to be

submitted at this session of the General Assembly, with a view to

achieving a just and honorable solution to the conflict between

Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern

Ireland. It is our fervent hope that the disputes over territorial

delimitations between Argentina and Chile, Ecuador and Peru and

Guyana and Venezuela will be resolved in a dignified and intelligent

way. Throughout the difficult process of institutional consolidation,

the nations of the Americas without exception found it difficult to

delimit their respective territories. These difficulties stemmed

mainly from the confusing administrative legacy received from the

Spanish Crown in the political sphere in which the colonial Power

exercised its authority. This is the reason for the armed conflicts

that have taken place among nations in our continent to resolve their

disputes. Paraguay, for example, has throughout its history as a

colonial political entity seen the shrinking of a territory which

originally included what is now the vast region of the Rio de la

Plata in addition to a strip of land 200 leagues in extent on the

Pacific Ocean. Hence, in the sixteenth century my homeland was called

the Vast Province of the Indies and the ocean adjacent to the present

coast of Uruguay and Argentina was in the seventeenth century called

the Paraguayan Sea. I mention this merely to recall that the process

of delimiting our American republics has in every case been the

result of an accumulation of circumstances, fortunate or otherwise,

which, in the final analysis, have been accepted as the rule of

history, In the light of this, it is difficult for us to imagine that

a breakdown in diplomatic negotiations aimed at resolving territorial

conflicts between our countries should give way to the theory of

Clausewitz and that there should be recourse to armed force. My

delegation expresses the very fervent hope that the aforementioned

territorial disputes will be resolved in a strong Americanist spirit,

which would do honor to the sincere and irreversible desire to build

together an effective system guaranteeing the future and the well

being of our peoples. Since I have just recalled the process of

delimiting the borders of our American countries, it is relevant to

point out that Paraguay has been reduced to a landlocked country and

in this respect has every right to lay a claim to the legitimate

means provided by the international community to countries that are

deprived of a coastline. There are agreements between my country and

neighboring countries aimed at facilitating river and road

transportation for access to the sea. At the present time, the

Government of Paraguay is considering, on the basis of an already

developed project, the construction of the facilities needed to join

its national railway to that of Brazil, making available to us

another important channel of access to the ocean.

Precisely because it is a land locked country, Paraguay has expressed

its great interest in overcoming the limitations that stem from that

condition. Thus, my country participated actively in the various

conferences on the law of the sea held since 1958 and in the drafting

of the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea, which will be

open to signature countries in Jamaica next December. I should like

to affirm my country's interest in obtaining through that Convention

all the facilities for land locked countries provided for therein. In

addition, situated as it is by geography in the Plata basin, my

country is conducting a policy of genuine regional integration in

order to exploit Ally the natural resources that we share with

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay. I am pleased to announce to

the Assembly that, because of this, on 5 November 1982, at the border

of our countries, the President of Paraguay, General Alfredo

Stroessner and the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil,

General Joao Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, will meet for the

formal development of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, the largest

hydroelectric complex in the world, which will have an installed

capacity of 12,600 megawatts and will produce approximately 75

billion kilowatt hours a year. I wished to conclude my statement with

an affirmation of what peoples can do when they are inspired by genuine

cooperation and understanding. President Stroessner has said: Peace

is the basis of all that makes it possible for us to progress with a

calm vision of the future; this is reason enough to defend it from

those who make of war an instrument of domination and of democracy a

pretext for extinguishing freedom. For the sister nations of America

and all the nations of our world we hope for days of constructive

peace. We hope that the pain that has affected the fraternal

countries of our continent will come to an end. We hope that the

Americas will be a powerful and respected force in the international

sphere, with a sense of life that does honor to the ideal of

independence and freedom, a flame kindled by Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de

Francia and Francisco Solano Lopez, Bolivar, Marti, Juarez, Jose

Bonifacio, San Martin and so many other eminent individuals who gave

our nations a lasting example of human dignity.