Colombia, 1999

Allow me, on

my own behalf and on behalf of my country, to express our

congratulations to you, Sir, on your election as President of

the General Assembly for the current session. I am certain

that, with a person of your qualities and experience at the

helm, the Assembly will achieve the desired results.

I wish to express my congratulations and gratitude

to your predecessor, my friend Chancellor Didier Opertti

of Uruguay, for his efficient work.

I would also like to express my appreciation to the

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan,

for his dedication and his contribution to the renewal of

the Organization, and to reiterate to him our confidence

in his work and his leadership.

This session of the General Assembly is the last one

of the twentieth century. In the last hundred years, despite

two disastrous global conflagrations, the nations of the

world have come to the collective realization that all wars

are civil wars, all killing is fratricidal, and that any minor

conflict could, by escalating to the nuclear level, spark

humankind’s final war. It has thus become clear that in

order to survive and prosper, nations must be united in a

basic agreement on the prevention of war and the

protection of human rights, with the preservation of the

human race as a first priority.

Today, on the eve of the new millennium, after half

a century marked by setbacks as well as by major

successes, the United Nations must renew its mandate as

a source of social and economic development and as a

force for peace.

Here I would prefer to avoid pro forma statements

and present instead some concrete and explicit

considerations, as we believe that this Organization must

be the catalyst of a fair and realistic response to the

challenges of our common destiny.

No one could argue with the lofty principles

underlying the Charter of the United Nations. Its

unquestioned universality is one of the characteristics of

the second half of the twentieth century. We agree that

respecting the Charter must mean, above all else, applying

those principles effectively, without interpreting them in

ways that distort the purposes of the Charter.

Our collective experience of over half a century has

shown that the proper application of the Charter of the

United Nations is indeed the best and safest way of

achieving and consolidating the benefits of world peace.

One of the Charter’s cherished principles is the obligation

of States not to interfere, directly or indirectly, in the

affairs of other States, as sovereign equality excludes

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interference in the internal jurisdiction of other countries. It

also implies complying, in good faith, with agreed

commitments; observing the principles underlying them;

and simultaneously respecting freedoms and human rights.

This is a fundamental aspect of international affairs.

The founders of the United Nations — and my

grandfather was among them — were not mistaken in their

belief that international peace is based on the sovereignty

of Member States. Nor were they wrong when, ruling out

the unilateral use of threats and force against the integrity

and independence of States, they envisaged the use of

effective collective means.

Over the past year, we have worked with

determination to put an end to the 40-year-old conflict in

Colombia. We have reached agreement on an agenda for

negotiations between our Government and the Colombia

Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), the oldest and largest

of the guerrilla groups. But as the world knows, we are

negotiating in the midst of conflict, without benefit of a

ceasefire, so the killings, kidnappings and attacks by the

guerrillas and the “self-defence” groups are still taking a

high human, social and economic toll. Achieving peace will

require time, patience and optimism in order to successfully

overcome the obstacles and doubts inherent in this process.

When I last stood upon this rostrum, one year ago, I

outlined a new direction for my country: to work to put an

end to the corruption and violence in Colombia. I must

admit that the past year has been difficult; the challenges

we face are complex. The most important lesson we have

learned is that peace is a primary goal for Colombia. Not

peace at any price, but a genuine peace that strengthens our

democracy, preserves territorial unity and gives every

Colombian his or her rightful place in our common destiny.

The quest for peace is not limited to dialogue and

negotiation or to putting an end to armed conflict.

Achieving peace requires much more than convincing the

parties to sit at the negotiating table and reach

compromises. It requires rebuilding a society and State in

which the causes of conflict have been eradicated, which

strengthens the State and helps to create the foundations of

a stable and lasting peace.

We Colombians have taken seriously the responsibility

of achieving peace. As our recent history makes clear,

international support is also necessary for us to face our

challenges. Colombia needs financial support from

multilateral organizations, from friendly countries and from

non-governmental organizations to complement my

Administration’s efforts. Such support is key for

Colombia.

To this end, we have formulated a strategic package

for peace, economic prosperity and the strengthening of

the State; it is called Plan Colombia. It synthesizes our

economic, political and social views and aims to defend

Colombia from the threat of drug trafficking, to

strengthen our democratic institutions throughout the

national territory, and to guarantee the security of our

citizens and the full enjoyment of their rights and

freedoms. For that reason, we are counting on the

solidarity and contributions of the international

community.

Given the complexity of the process, it is clear that

cooperation for peace must be carried out with the utmost

caution. Careless actions can thwart these efforts. That is

why we are increasingly concerned by the groundless

rumours of alleged military interventions in Colombia,

whose supposed purpose is to help my country in the

struggle in which it is engaged.

I would like from this rostrum solemnly to state that

Colombia, true to the principles that govern our Republic,

rejects any foreign interference or intervention in its

internal affairs. We Colombians will work to overcome

our own challenges. These are times of cooperation, not

intervention.

My Government also believes that the peace process

is key in winning the fight against the worldwide problem

of drugs. That immoral trade, which ruins lives, fuels

violence, promotes corruption and destroys our ecosystem,

must be opposed by all nations, by all available means.

To that end, we must coordinate our efforts regarding

production and consumption as well as the numerous

links between these two evils.

Over the past two decades, Colombia has been on

the front lines of this battle, facing down the drug cartels

and their campaigns of intimidation and terror. In the

process we have lost many of our finest citizens, to whom

we owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude.

But as the major Colombian cartels are wiped out,

the illegal drug trade has become a kind of hydra — more

spread out, more international and less public, and

therefore more difficult to defeat. To vanquish it requires

a genuine partnership among the countries that consume

and produce illegal drugs, underpinned by the principles

of joint responsibility, reciprocity and fairness.

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Increased efforts must also be made to confiscate from

drug traffickers the money and property they have obtained

from that illegal trade. In particular, we must fight the

smuggling of industrial products to Colombia, which serves

to launder drug money and ends up suffocating Colombia’s

industries. We must also halt the flow of precursor

chemicals needed for the production of narcotics. And

multinational corporations that benefit in one way or

another should be held accountable for not taking the

necessary precautions to prevent their helping and

participating in drug trafficking through negligence.

There will be no peace in Colombia as long as the

greedy businesses of drug trafficking and the black market

in weapons continue supplying irregular groups. We are

very concerned about the significant amounts of various

types of weapons illegally entering Colombian territory.

There is an urgent, inescapable need for all Governments to

cooperate to control and halt this unacceptable traffic in

death and destruction.

For the last two years, since the first shock wave of

the so-called Asian crisis, the economy has been suffering

the difficulties of instability and slow-down. This crisis has

shown that no State, however powerful, is immune, and that

the poor countries have suffered the most from its

consequences.

The hypothesis that capital flows would promote

accelerated and sustained economic growth has faded in the

light of the facts. We have seen the growth of enormous

sums of virtual money, whose uncontrolled movements

have brought economic turbulence, unemployment, more

poverty and even, in some cases, political instability. Latin

America has become the most recent victim of the crisis.

We must, therefore, give the most serious consideration and

priority to the design of a new financial structure. This will

be viable and efficient only if it involves increased

resources from multilateral financial institutions. It must

also involve support mechanisms to lessen the social impact

of structural adjustment programmes, especially those

affecting the most vulnerable. The Secretary-General, Mr.

Kofi Annan, said so when he spoke about the need to

respect essential values to give a human face to the global

market.

At the end of the twentieth century, we are moving

into an era of powerful changes, accompanied by

worrisome tensions. Globalization is deepening, but it

coexists with forces that encourage fragmentation. As the

peace processes move forward in many regions, new

violence explodes in others. Wealth is expanding to

unprecedented levels, but alienation and poverty persist.

The technological means that promote interdependence

and development also support networks of organized

crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and

arms trafficking. New struggles and conflicts have

appeared, some using means for which the international

community does not seem to be prepared.

Global confrontation is a thing of the past, as are the

old plots resulting from strife and spheres of influence.

These are times to think in terms of a real community of

nations, as competing partners, but mainly as partners that

share a common destiny.

There is, nevertheless, a perception that not

everything is going well. The world is still not satisfied

with itself. There are forces of destabilization and

imbalance which put at risk the achievements made to

date. Many millions still suffer from malnutrition,

illiteracy, disease and exclusion.

We must, therefore, revitalize international

cooperation to make the best of globalization, to distribute

its benefits more fairly so that development and peace can

complement each other efficiently and productively.

Revitalizing cooperation is not an option; it is a duty.

After over five decades of existence, the United

Nations has partially fulfilled its promise. It has been able

to avoid the horrors of a new world holocaust. But the

anticipated order, wherein the United Nations would

guarantee peace, security and development for all peoples,

remains to be built.

After the progress achieved with the Secretary-

General’s reform proposals, we see with great concern

that the pace of change has slowed. Reform must be a

continuing process. The United Nations must continue

adapting ever more effectively to new conditions and

realities. But this cannot simply take a form that is a

product of the post-cold-war era. We need a concerted

will. From various directions there are calls for the

Security Council to become more effective, to consult the

spirit of the Charter and to balance the realities of world

power with the just aspirations of those peoples which are

least strong.

The system of collective security is one of the

cornerstones of multilateralism. It is the rational response

to interventionist or isolationist tendencies, the maximum

guarantee of the principles to which we all adhere.

Colombia reiterates its confidence in these principles of

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collective security and its commitment to work, decisively,

with the different sectors of the international community in

order to invigorate the capacity of the Security Council to

respond to problems and crises in all regions. That is why

my country has submitted its candidature for a seat on the

Council for the period 2001-2002.

The time for simple reform intentions is past. With the

arrival of the new millennium, the historic moment has

come to begin anew real negotiations in the different

institutions. We need to find genuinely universal paradigms

to ensure that multilateralism leads to the globalization of

solidarity. It is necessary to leave behind generalities or

fragmented criteria in order to find a comprehensive vision

of the United Nations system. A great effort of coordination

is required between these institutions and the new

international actors, including non-governmental

organizations, and the promotion of a real association

within a globalized but fairer system. The twentieth century

has demonstrated that, alongside the horror and cruelty,

there has prevailed what was once considered utopian: the

United Nations.

Our paramount commitment must be to the human

condition, the ethics and culture of peoples, solidarity and

respect for others, regardless of ethnic, ideological, religious

or any other considerations. We cannot give in until the day

when the freedom and democracy proclaimed in our

documents have become a universal reality. When we have

liberated the human spirit so that it may fully develop its

enormous potential, we will have laid the foundations of a

world truly at peace.

Colombia, amidst its difficulties and problems, does

not want to be, nor will it be, simply a witness to the

changes of these times. Colombia is not a military or

economic power. Nonetheless, it is respected by the

community of nations for its unlimited and unconditional

support for the norms and principles of international law.

We offer our contribution — modest, but part of the

common effort — to a better future for all mankind.