Venezuela, 2010

On behalf of the

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, I wish the new

President of this session of the General Assembly the

greatest success during his term.

The Bolivarian revolution plans to contribute to

the structure and agenda of the United Nations, which

currently reflect the unjust power relationships that

exist in the world. As it is today, this forum helps to

perpetuate the unjust relations inherited from the

Second World War, relations that become more

exclusive and authoritarian as neoliberal globalization

advances. The President of the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frías, said on 15 September

2005, in his speech during the general debate at the

sixtieth session of the United Nations General

Assembly that “the United Nations has outgrown its

model. It is not just a question of simple reform. The

twenty-first century requires profound changes that

will be possible only if the Organization is truly

recast.” (A/60/PV.6, p.17)

There are two poignant examples that illustrate

this unfair and irrational world power architecture. For

the past 19 years, the overwhelming majority of the

countries of the world have come before the General

Assembly to demand an end to the economic and

commercial blockade imposed on the heroic Cuban

people. But what has the Organization done to ensure

that the United States Government abides by the will of

the General Assembly? The answer is well known:

nothing.

Dozens of resolutions have been adopted by the

Security Council and the General Assembly on the

question of Palestine, but the Israeli military and

political elite refuse to comply. The occupying Power

acts with total impunity and with the complicity of its

main ally. What has the Security Council done to get

the occupying Power to respect the principles of

international law, including international humanitarian

law, and particularly the four Geneva Conventions of

1949? The answer is well known: nothing.

The rebuilding of the United Nations hinges on

strengthening the General Assembly and its handling of

matters relating to international peace and security.

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Venezuela challenges the fact that a small group of

countries impose their conditions in these areas, while

the opinion of the majority is not taken into account. A

strategy aimed at weakening the General Assembly and

excluding it from the most relevant world decisions is

being implemented in the United Nations, while the

Security Council progressively increases its power and

influence over the United Nations agenda and takes

over topics beyond the purview granted to it by the

Charter of the Organization. The Secretary-General,

according to the Charter of the United Nations, is an

administrative officer of the Organization responsible

for answering to the interests of all Member States, and

not the policies of a few Powers that seek to drive the

global agenda.

For almost 20 years we have been discussing the

reform of the Security Council and the strengthening of

the General Assembly, yet so far almost nothing has

been achieved. The call from President Chavez to

recast the United Nations remains fully valid. To that

end, Venezuela proposes to eliminate the right of veto

enjoyed by only five Members of the United Nations.

This remnant of the Second World War is incompatible

with the principle of the sovereign equality of States.

Venezuela also proposes an increase in the Security

Council’s membership in both the permanent and

non-permanent categories. Why are developing

countries deprived of the right to participate in that

forum?

Venezuela therefore urges all States to propose

candidates for the post of Secretary-General, with the

aim of democratizing elections to this senior post. We

believe that resolution 11 (I), adopted on 24 January

1946, regarding the terms of election of the Secretary-

General, in no way restricts the ability of Member

States to discuss and vote in this election. In line with

democratic principles and transparency, Member States

must participate in both the nomination and the

appointment of this senior official. States would

therefore be free to choose among several alternatives.

Rebuilding the United Nations also requires that

the General Assembly fully exercise its responsibilities

in matters of international peace and security, as

enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Climate change negotiations are unfolding in a

complex context that makes it difficult to arrive at

consensus on the majority of topics. Developed

countries reject international commitments that are

fully in force, specifically the Kyoto Protocol. The

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela hopes that, at the

next Conference of the Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held

in Cancún at the end of this year, a legally binding

agreement is reached that is ambitious and respects the

Convention and the Kyoto Protocol.

Venezuela is fighting for the creation of a

development model based on a new paradigm that

substitutes the prevailing models of production and

consumption. Developing countries and the most

vulnerable sectors of developed countries suffer the

impact of the economic and financial crises of

capitalism. It is therefore essential and necessary to

consider a transformation of this inhumane model that,

with its new crisis, has generated more hunger, poverty,

unemployment and inequality. The crisis of capitalism

has not ended. Its structural nature reproduces itself ad

infinitum. Privileged groups, the financial economy,

speculators, monopolies and oligopolies and the

Bretton Woods institutions will continue to try to have

the crisis paid for by developing countries and the

world’s poor and most vulnerable. Neoliberal policies,

which are applied as a result of the global crisis of

capitalism, propose the totalitarianism of the financial

markets, deepening the gap between the rich and the

poor within those countries and widening the

inequalities between the North and the South.

It is also important to underscore that the efforts

of the developed countries in the context of official

development assistance (ODA) have not been

sustained, as large donors have repeatedly not fulfilled

their pledges when it comes to the agreed goal of

allocating 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product

to ODA.

Faced with this crisis, developing countries

should strengthen South-South cooperation and create

alternative sovereign mechanisms to avoid the credit

monopoly maintained by the Bretton Woods

institutions. To that end, Venezuela aims to create and

strengthen regional financial institutions such as the

Bank of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our

America — Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP)

and the Bank of the South. We welcome the initiatives

in that regard that are being undertaken in Africa and

Asia.

South-South cooperation is a top priority for

Venezuela. In Latin America and the Caribbean there

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are already successful experiences such as that of

Petrocaribe, which fosters supportive cooperation in

the energy sector, and that of ALBA-TCP, which is

producing successful results in overcoming poverty

and inequality. These novel forms of solidarity and

supportive cooperation contribute to the development

of our peoples and to the achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals.

I take great satisfaction in pointing out that,

despite the problematic international economic and

financial environment, the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela has met almost all of the Millennium

Development Goals, in particular in the areas of

poverty, health, nutrition, education, child mortality

and sanitation, among others. We would like to

underscore that Venezuela assumed the presidency of

the Latin American and Caribbean Summit on

Integration and Development in February 2010. The

third Summit will be held in our country on 5 July

2011, within the framework of the historic bicentennial

anniversary of our signing of our Declaration of

Independence.

Venezuela attaches particular importance to the

process of union and integration in Latin America and

the Caribbean. Progress to that end will lead to the full

operation of the Community of Latin American and

Caribbean States, thereby achieving the dream of our

liberators as reflected in the Constitution of the

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The union of our

peoples — the peoples of the South fighting for

independence, freedom, sovereignty and self-

determination — is a priority of our Simon Bolivar

national project, as enshrined in our first socialist plan

for the period 2007 to 2013.

In the face of recurrent attempts to erode the

sovereignty of countries and in the face of a savage

capitalist and neoliberal offensive, the Bolivarian

Government calls for the relaunching of the Group of

77 and China and the Non-Aligned Movement so that

developing countries can more forcefully defend the

interests of their peoples.

We wish to avail ourselves of this opportunity at

the rostrum to express our appreciation for the

compliments sent to President Hugo Chávez Frías by

numerous Governments and social and popular

movements from around the world on the occasion of

the victory in the Venezuelan parliamentary elections

last Sunday, 26 September. That victory is a clear

testament to the majority support of the people for the

humanistic policies promoted by the Bolivarian

Government. This electoral victory will also enable our

Bolivarian Government to strengthen its solidarity with

developing countries.

Defenders of peace, justice, freedom and

solidarity in the world can continue to rely on the

support of the Bolivarian revolution.