Paraguay, 2008

On

behalf of the nation of Paraguay, I wish to express to

you, Mr. President, my most sincere congratulations on

your election to preside over the General Assembly at

its sixty-third session. I wish you every success.

This is a place where every year the Powers of

the world write history that should transcend mere

lofty political prose and be a tool for verse — the

poetry of eliminating hunger, embracing equity among

nations and building a better world for all. I believe

that, one day, these enormous buildings — which were

built with the aim of preventing war — will be

increasingly dedicated to providing bread, eradicating

hunger and malnutrition throughout the world and

saving millions of lives from disease and violence of

all kinds.

After 61 years of single-party Government and

for the first time in my country’s political history, a

party has come to power via the ballot — the

appropriate means under the democratic code.

Paraguay is soaring on the winds of democratic change

that are blowing through the region. The new

Government that I represent is an unequivocal response

to the many needs that have arisen and opportunities

that have been lost in recent decades. This year,

citizens voted for greater social justice, to halt the

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massive destruction of the environment, and to combat

the corruption, shady dealings and favouritism of a

weakened and opportunistic State that delayed the

implementation of a sustainable and inclusive

development strategy for years.

The new administration represents the end of our

19-year transition to democracy and has embarked on

reform of the State and the economy. It has encouraged

citizens to participate in the political decision-making

process. We understand that political and economic

stability is not more important than social stability.

That is why we are committed to applying social

policies to combat extreme poverty. We cannot hope

for sustainable development when the market and the

State deny opportunities to the weakest, nor is it

possible to sustain democracy when the vast majority

are excluded from enjoying economic benefits. We

therefore believe in economic growth with social

equity and in environmental responsibility as the very

heart of our public policies.

Paraguay has opened a door of opportunity to the

world. Two weeks ago, before we had come to the end

of our first month in power, my Government launched

a major assault on illicit Government management. The

mafias that enjoyed shameful and excessive wealth

through their influence on public power are enduring

the worst moment of their history in Paraguay. We do

not rule out the possibility of stripping the ill-gotten

gains from those whom scandalous wealth made

millionaires overnight and are now digging in their

heels and even hatching specific plots to foment

political and economic instability. The political

holdovers in Paraguay still cling to a fascistic style of

patronage, to which my Government has responded

firmly but calmly. We will show zero tolerance for any

anti-democratic activity and close our doors to all

blackmail and any attempt to revive outdated models of

access to power.

The new Government, which came to power on

15 August, has been proactive in a historic show of

solidarity with the democratic peoples of Latin

America and in its rapid response in defence of

democratically elected Governments, such as in the

sister Republic of Bolivia, in the context of the Union

of South American Nations. We also thank those

brotherly countries that stood with us in the face of

potential instability and have expressed their concern

for and solidarity with the Paraguayan process.

The only way to build economic relations has

been through a market mechanism which sold Latin

America on the financial speculation of the 1980s that

sunk our continent in debt, sidelined the role of the

State and widened the gap between rich and poor. That

mechanism, which was forced upon us, has proven to

be wrong-headed and very costly for our peoples on

the social level.

Today, we are seeing a financial crisis in

developed economies as a result of immoral

speculation that also affects the well-being of peoples.

The sole motive behind such speculation is the desire

for greater wealth that privatizes benefits and

socializes the costs of unregulated market economies.

Paraguay is in favour of strengthening the

General Assembly and restoring its mandated attributes

and functions under the United Nations Charter. As the

most representative body of the Organization, the

Assembly must become a true world parliament in

which the major issues affecting humankind can be

discussed and are not relegated to other bodies whose

decision-making process is confined to a small number

of countries that often fail to take the opinion of the

majority of the membership into account.

Paraguay believes that the problems that have led

to climate change call for short- and long-term world

responses in line with the most recent scientific

advances and applied in a fashion that is compatible

with the economic and social development of each

country affected. Countries with economies in

development suffer in particular from vulnerability and

isolation as they attempt to enter the globalized market.

Ironically, it is the poorest — those who are the

least responsible for climate change — who suffer

most from its consequences. When it comes to major

responsibility, we often note the irony of conservation

measures imposed on areas of the world that are

already suffering from poverty and exclusion. At the

same time, we note the sustained indifference and

limited capacities for self-criticism in the political

realms that manage the fate of the world. That is

precisely where the principal industrial and

consumption phenomena arise, creating societies that,

due to the irresponsibility of their leaders, persist in

depleting their own resources, their own lands, their

own dreams and their own lives.

Paraguay therefore calls on countries to recognize

their shared but differentiated responsibilities. We

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stress the need for all members of the international

community to act on their pledges. The same is true in

determining political and economic responsibility for

the deterioration of the world — the irreplaceable

home of humankind.

At the same high level as our concern for the

structural and immediate causes of poverty is our

concern for the situation of indigenous peoples. Not

only are they poor and excluded, but in many regions

of the continent they have not reached a level of civic

inclusion that permits them to be involved in decision-

making processes. In many cases, those who uphold a

discourse of inclusion are intolerant when our

indigenous brothers take on political leadership roles.

The indigenous nations of Latin America are not

the ancient creation of our continent, but the most vital

potential for political action, which we must respect,

promote and include. If we did not, that would be an

intolerable attack against our own civilization. America

must wake up in the face of all of that.

We need to account for the old debt, which began

to accrue in the filthy bowels of the slave ships and

continued to grow with every gesture of disdain

towards any indigenous attempt to have their say, their

vote, their dreams and their plans for the land that at

one time was theirs alone. Recognizing indigenous

peoples as participants in the political and participatory

processes of the State is still a pending issue, and it is a

sad expression of intolerance in many regions.

In Paraguay, we have begun a process of

transparency that has no precedents. The media are

playing a fundamental role in this process. They were

very proactive in combating corruption in Paraguay,

and today, because of their questioning of our

management, they are working at a high standard to

generate ongoing self-criticism. As we guarantee the

most unconditional support for enlightened

management in journalism, self-expression and the

right to access information, we seek to open up better

horizons for the communications and education media,

which had always been persecuted or dismissed as of

no importance in our country.

We must work to build a more just world through

social engineering. It is time to go beyond statements

that are incapable of showing clear signs of progress in

the fight against poverty and exclusion. The world’s

forums for debate and reflection cause strain and risk

losing credibility if they do not lead to actions that can

draw a smile on the faces of unemployed youths who

have no future. It is sad to see migrants who wander in

an incessant exodus of biblical proportions, or to see

women who are relegated to a secondary position by a

culture and a civilization unable to recover the original

dignity that belongs to them, who give life, affection,

creativity and courage to change the world.

We need to highlight food security by ensuring

not only space and opportunities for self-managed

production, but also its cultural, sovereign and national

identity dimensions. We are calling for greater, better

and more timely international assistance for

agricultural and fishing production in order to ensure

increasing food production without destroying the

environment and avoiding the current rise in food

prices. Those costs end up punishing primarily the

most vulnerable groups. On the global scale, we call

upon nations that are heading huge agricultural projects

to recognize the tribulations of small local producers,

who often are crushed by new models that are

arrogantly imposed on them.

The question of landlocked developing countries

is a fundamental issue in Paraguay’s foreign policy.

The disadvantages and asymmetries that that

geographic situation has generated and continues to

generate can be remedied only through international

recognition and the granting of special, differentiated

treatment in the country’s insertion into a globalized

world.

Paraguay believes that the upcoming midterm

review meeting of the Almaty Programme of Action is

extremely important. It is an opportunity to consolidate

achievements made so far and to ensure greater

commitment from international bodies and from more

developed countries. Working together in a coordinated

matter will help landlocked developing countries

overcome their limitations.

In Paraguay, large corporations — the Itaipu with

Brazil and the Yasyreta with Argentina — offer

abundant and available electric energy. Our

Government is committed to prioritizing and using

these renewable resources for economic and social

development of the country in such a manner as to

complement our efforts to create better sources of

work, more production and a reduction of poverty. We

are operating in a framework of increasingly fluid

dialogue with our brotherly countries, with which we

share those power stations, so that the benefits can

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repair the social debts deserving our attention and

become true factors for economic growth.

Taking into account the upcoming review of the

financing for development process, which will take

place in Doha at the end of the year, Paraguay calls for

the international community to mobilize its external

resources to provide decisive support for the

development of small economies. That is a priority

both for both international financial bodies and

developed economies. We would like the call for just

international trade to become a true impetus for

development.

Many of our countries have communities in

various places in the world. Just like Europeans who in

the past century came to America, today many friends

and families from our regions seek better prospects in

the countries of Europe and in North America. We call

upon the humanitarian, brotherly, hospitable sense —

the same that our continent showed in the past in

sharing its scarce resources — in nations that today

take in our migrants, who are dreaming of having a job

and the right to a dignified life, far from their

countries. The human dimension of that drama calls for

a frank dialogue with receiving countries to find a

solution to this new drama of globalization.

The Republic of Paraguay believes that, although

progress has been made towards the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs), we cannot deny the

existence of the inequalities that persist in the

developed world. Millions of people continue to live in

extreme poverty, a situation that is worsened by the

sudden increase in the cost of food and fuel and the

consequences of climate change.

In order to achieve the MDGs by 2015, we are

calling for strengthening the combined efforts of

Governments, civil society organizations and the

private sector in the context of a global alliance for

stronger and more effective development, increasing

official development assistance for the most vulnerable

economies in particular.

We must not forget the thousands of millions of

human beings worldwide who live below the poverty

line. In our Latin American subcontinent, poverty has

risen to 44 per cent of the population. In Paraguay,

35.6 per cent of our citizens suffer from this scourge,

and of those almost 20 per cent live below the line of

extreme poverty. Malnutrition now affects four out of

every 100 Paraguayan children. This situation is

unacceptable and demands a radical change in the

approach taken to combat this state of affairs. The most

disadvantaged, those who remain in the sidelines of

development are the ones we must listen to, and

alleviating their suffering must be our priority.

Today more than ever, Paraguay requires

international cooperation in achieving its socio-

economic priorities, in developing and strengthening

its institutions and in providing preferential attention to

the most vulnerable sectors. We hope that the opening

of developing countries will favour the most

disadvantaged and that the same restrictions demanded

in the development of more developed economies will

not be applied.

We believe that this will be a vital tool for

strengthening developing countries. That is why

Paraguay signed the constitution of the Bank of the

South and will continue to support the strengthening of

that institution so that it can meet its objectives of

financing the balanced and stable economic and social

development of its member States, promoting

macroeconomic stability and strengthening integration

in order to set the foundation for regional and financial

autonomy. However, that does not mean that we no

longer require the support, resources and cooperation

of the most developed countries for the two modes of

cooperation are complementary for development.

Paraguay believes that the international

community should ensure that the mobilization of

external resources becomes a priority for international

financial bodies and the developed economies. To that

end, we must regain the level of expansion of official

development assistance, which in recent years has been

shrinking in a disturbing fashion.

Terrorism must be eradicated from the face of the

Earth. There is nothing more dangerous to the unity of

civilization than terrorism as a fact of daily life: the

terrorism that kills children through hunger; the

terrorism of weapons anywhere; the terrorism that

affects children in my country who die because of toxic

produce; the terrorism that killed our brothers in the

Twin Towers, which will continue to kill as long as war

remains a business for a few and fanaticism continues

to cloud our hearts.

I know that love is a word not frequently used in

political discourse, but there is no other way to rebuild

a world so disfigured by hate. We must not forget

individuals who, for various physical and mental

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reasons, have special capacities. Those are our dearest

brothers and sisters in a world that often excludes those

who cannot compete in terms of physical strength or

thought. We must create conditions to enable them to

share in our everyday lives without suffering the

burden of exclusion or indifference. Our efforts to

support that sector of the population need not be

extraordinary but should be carried out in daily actions,

rich in sharing and informed by an awareness of

brotherhood and nature.

In this globalized world where things happen so

quickly and communication is immediate, we see

clearly its greatest technological advancements, its

powerful financial architecture and its scientific plans

to colonize the universe, but, we have to ask ourselves,

where has the human being been left in all of this?

Men and women must always remain at the centre

of that scenario. The only thing that will save us from

post-modern savagery is if they recover their place

from which no one should ever have been exiled.

Humanity is the only value shared, without a single

difference, by a child dying of hunger in a developing

country and a child who eats breakfast every day in a

developed country.

Paraguay is a small country in the world, but it

believes in friendship. That is why we have set 30 July

as the Day of Friendship. We hope that this initiative

will resonate in various regions of the world and that

friendship, with its values and its principles, sooner

rather than later will replace the hostility which is so

present in our times.