Bolivia, 2001

I

come from the city of La Paz to add Bolivia’s voice to

this universal support the United Nations has received

through the Nobel Peace Prize. This award expresses

better than all the speeches could possibly do the way

in which the world appreciates the Organization and its

Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan. The mediating role

performed by the Organization, its calls to nations to

agree among themselves, the courage it has in

assuming risks and the willingness it has shown to

offer lives for a cause go beyond the mere performance

of a duty; they are an example to all our Governments.

The active role played by the Organization is more

necessary now than ever before.

This is a time in which the evil, malignant

shadow of terror is rising on the horizon as the new

century dawns. The Berlin Wall was the symbol of

ideological divisions during the second half of the

twentieth century. We must now, after 11 September,

tear down the wall of terrorism and intolerance that a

few people wish to raise to divide the world.

On one side of this new wall are those of us who

have built up and believe in democracy with pluralism.

On the other side are those that wish despotically to

impose their beliefs, with no respect for the rule of law.

On one side of this new wall are those of us who

permit and encourage the freedom of worship and

expression. On the other side are those that do not

practice, permit or tolerate it. On one side of this wall

are those of us who every day try to create equality of

opportunities for all women. On the other side are

those that oppress and dominate them. On one side of

this wall are those of us who value freedom above all.

On the other side are the terrorists that wish to destroy

and restrict it.

Let there be no doubt that Bolivia will always be

on the side of democracy, freedom and tolerance. We

want a life in peace and harmony. This is why my

Government, without any hesitation, with total

conviction and in all forums, has expressed its full

support for the measures undertaken by the coalition

led by the United States Government after the attacks

that took the lives of thousands of innocent people, the

majority of whom were in this very city of New York.

Terrorism is to a large extent incubated in and fed

by the underground world of drug trafficking. We must

not accept that in attacking freedom, terrorism

disguises itself by putting forward political claims. We

cannot accept that drug traffickers, seeking to

undermine our democracies, drape themselves in the

mantle of legitimate social demands. It is clear that

terrorism and drug trafficking are Siamese twins and

enemies of the free democracies. This is why we must

combat each of them with the same vigour and

determination.

Bolivia, with all its limitations, is performing its

task in fighting drug trafficking. By the will of the

majority of the Bolivians, expressed through our own

national dialogue, guided by our own interests and

encouraged by our own public opinion, we are

irreversibly moving forward towards eradicating illegal

coca crops used to prepare cocaine and are entering

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into the final stage of the Dignity Plan, whose purpose

is to remove Bolivia from the drug circuit.

But the work is not finished. International

solidarity and support are now more important than

ever before. To complete the task, Bolivia needs

support on two levels. First of all, the international

community must realize that sustained support for

alternative development programmes is more necessary

for the countries that have eliminated the bulk of illegal

coca crops and cocaine, and in which many people

have been displaced as a result.

Bolivia has reduced more than 90 percent of its

illegal coca leaf production. However obvious it may

seem, this percentage must be repeated over and over,

because many international bureaucracies allocate

resources according to the size of the problem, which is

mistakenly defined as the volume of production of coca

leaves and cocaine, when the real economic problem

arises from the size of the reduction that has been

achieved and the proportional reduction of the income

generated by this activity. Bolivia deserves and needs

more support than ever before, because it has made

more progress than ever before.

Secondly, and of more relevance now, it is

necessary to provide access to markets; the opportunity

to fight for a place under the sun; and the right to work,

produce and sell. And here, at this point, the decision

by the United States and the European Union to open

up their markets to the products of alternative

development takes on critical and definitive

significance.

Bolivia is the least developed nation of South

America, the economy that is most open the region and

the only country that has achieved such a dramatic

reduction in such a poisonous and harmful product as

cocaine, within so short a time. For these three reasons,

we feel that we have every right to call for access to

markets through free trade — triply free trade: free

from tariffs, free from subsidies and free from non-

tariff measures.

We need free trade, the triply free trade that

applies to sectors such as telecommunications,

banking, computers and turbines, must also apply to

agriculture, textiles and leather. Unfortunately, these

last three labour-intensive sectors are governed by

nineteenth-century rules in the midst of the third

millennium.

In Bolivia we are moving forward with

decentralized and participatory programmes on health

and education. An educated and vaccinated citizen who

does not have a market, however, is not a full-fledged

citizen of the present-day world of ours. In Bolivia we

have straightened out and opened up our economy, but

we have not seen full reciprocity in the developed

world or on the part of our neighbours.

In Bolivia we have almost entirely eliminated the

production of cocaine, which however harmful it might

be, was an export product that was not subject to

subsidies, barriers or tariffs. This is why we require

access to markets to guarantee the completion of the

Dignity Plan and avoid frustrating the will of our

citizens, who have assumed the challenge of moving

from illegal activities to legitimate work, without,

however, having achieved the same access to the

market.

On the threshold of the twenty-first century, in

the midst of a severe economic and political crisis that

affects all the countries of the region, Bolivia is facing

another challenge that can decisively change its future.

In the few years since the work on the most important

gas pipeline of South America was completed,

Bolivia’s natural gas reserves grew exponentially, and

have made my country a significant player in the

hemisphere-wide market. We are now serving a

growing part of the energy demands of Brazil, and we

firmly intend to go on from here to reach the markets

of the Pacific, Mexico and the United States.

The tragic events of 11 September saw to it that

energy and gas integration must be based on a long-

term vision that takes into account three elements:

extensive gas reserves, a reliable economy and a solid

democracy. Bolivia has these three elements. The

projects that are now being studied and negotiated will

transform the productive structure of my country,

propel the growth rates, reinforce our role as a hub and

the environmentally clean heart of the continent, while

expanding our role and presence on the Pacific.

Bolivia will thus take another step on the march

that it began more than 120 years ago to return to the

sea of our ancestors.

Bolivia thus will reassert its unflinching

determination to regain its status as a maritime nation,

something with which we were born into independent

life.

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Bolivia supports the struggle against terrorism

and for freedom. My country, more than any other

country, is making a gigantic effort to fight the ally of

terrorism — that is, drug trafficking. Given this effort,

given our determination to be open, and given the need

to fight poverty, my country calls for access to markets.

Bolivia will play a central role in working

towards reliable gas and energy integration in the

twenty-first century.

Finally, we realize that the long struggle for

freedom and the fight against terrorism is just

beginning and will end only when all the citizens of the

world, men and women alike, will be entitled to vote,

to elect, to offer their opinions and to profess their

faith, to move about freely and, above all, to live free

from fear and terror. The United Nations must be the

place where the world comes together to walk down

this shared path. And together we will build this road

towards integration and peace, as these times demand.