Colombia, 2004

I am

addressing the General Assembly once again, at a time

when the people and the institutions of Colombia are

making great progress in their struggle to achieve

democratic security. Such security would enable all

citizens to live in peace, express their political views

without putting their lives in danger and to support or

oppose the Government while fully respecting different

opinions.

That policy has made significant progress in

reducing murders, kidnappings and other terrorist acts,

as well as population displacement and the growing of

illicit drug crops. There is still a great deal to be done,

but if we are persistent we will prevail.

Democratic security is one of Colombia’s highest

priorities if we are to regain credibility and if our

citizens are once again to have confidence in our

institutions. When trust is destroyed, the ties between

the citizen and the nation are broken. Such trust

requires transparency in public and private actions, as

well as economic revitalization and social cohesion.

Social cohesion builds trust among citizens and

between citizens and the State. Social cohesion is the

enemy of poverty and helps to promote equal

opportunities. Colombia has established a legal

framework to ensure that the benefits of economic

growth lead to poverty eradication. Yet Colombia’s

growth, which during the 1960s and 1970s was

averaging 4.5 per cent a year, fell to an average of 2

per cent after 1980. That decline encouraged the

informal economy, and was accompanied by poverty.

The contrast became increasingly obvious between the

formal private sector — which was fair with its

workers and complied with its tax payments, but which

grew at a slow pace — and the informal sector, which,

with its overwhelming influence, drew in the destitute

masses.

Drug trafficking, which bankrolls terrorism,

reversed the trend towards land distribution, through

agrarian reform and the natural process of inheritance

from one generation to the next.

Between 1994 and 2000, unemployment among

heads of household grew from 4 per cent to 10 per

cent, and overall unemployment grew from 7.5 per cent

to 19 per cent. In relatively few years, the deficit

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increased from 1.5 per cent to 4.2 per cent of the gross

domestic product (GDP), public debt rose from 24 per

cent to 54 per cent of GDP and 40 per cent of the

public budget was allocated to debt servicing and

repayment. Very low levels of private investment only

made the situation worse.

Defeating poverty requires strong and sustained

economic growth. This in turn requires physical and

legal security, transparent regulations and

macroeconomic stability. Last year, Colombia forecast

growth of 2.5 per cent — but growth was close to 4 per

cent. This year we are endeavouring to achieve 5 per

cent growth. We are able to do because we are

restoring confidence among investors. With such

growth, unemployment has fallen three points,

although it is still quite high. A positive sign is that

jobs are being created in sectors that will provide for

social security and fair wages for workers. All that has

happened despite fiscal restrictions to public

investment and in the midst of an intense struggle to

eliminate illicit drugs, which have become so

significant that they now affect whether there will be

positive or negative growth in our agricultural sector.

At one time, my generation explained violence as

the result of social inequities. My country’s experience

over many decades allows me to affirm that terrorist

violence has increased poverty and has destroyed the

possibility of eliminating social inequity. Violence has

worsened poverty and has exploited it to perpetuate

itself.

Our goal is to reduce poverty at a rate equal to or

higher than economic growth. To a great extent, our

social investment programme depends on sound and

sustained economic growth. Therefore, our social

investment programme goes hand in hand with our

democratic security policy. If we neglect security

measures that respect democratic values, terrorism will

grow, we will lose momentum in defeating it,

investment will be affected, the strength of our

economic recovery will weaken and we could be left

without resources for social investment.

Today’s equality lies in economic and social

opportunity. That is why we have placed so much

emphasis on education. We have increased elementary

school enrolment by 750,000, but the country still

needs classroom space for 1.25 million new pupils. In

25 months we have increased technical training by two

and a half times, promoting basic employment skills to

enable young people to join the work force while

continuing their studies. In the cities and in the

countryside, we have been carrying out a silent

revolution in technical training that will reach 4

million young people a year by 2006.

A subsidy is being paid to 340,000 poor families

to improve their children’s nutrition and ensure school

attendance. There are now 503,000 children in the new

breakfast programme for children under five; that

number will double in 2005. That, together with the

school cafeterias and the “Community Mothers”

programme, will reach more than 6 million children

under various nutrition programmes.

By December, when this Administration will

have been in office for 28 months, more than 4 million

poor Colombians will have enrolled in the subsidized

health programme, in addition to the 13 million who

were already protected. We are carrying out legal and

administrative reforms to increase coverage, with

improved transparency and an effective and efficient

use of resources.

Colombia has more than 600,000 senior adults

living in extreme poverty. In the past, 60,000 of them

received a cash subsidy. This year, we have raised the

number to 172,000 of our elderly compatriots. We are

now starting a new programme to deliver one meal a

day to 400,000 more who do not receive the cash

subsidy. In addition, this year we are paying more than

$100 million in subsidies to provide electricity to low-

income members of the population.

We are also subsidizing more than 7,000

reintegrated former members of various violent groups.

This is part of a huge, silent, but effective peace

process. When one of those persons is reintegrated, he

sees the support of the State and the community,

reconciles himself with civic institutions, embraces

democracy and coexistence and rejects any justification

for violence. We hope that many more thousands will

follow, but we will require international cooperation

for this programme.

We are subsidizing 21,000 forest ranger families,

who were formerly involved in illicit drug crops and

are now committed to eliminating them and to

recovering their tropical forests. Their task is essential

for mankind, considering Colombia’s rich biodiversity

and its 578,000 square kilometres of jungle, which are

threatened by illicit drugs. To guarantee their food

security, we are also subsidizing 700,000 farmers, and

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that number will soon reach 1 million; we are also

subsidizing the crops of farmers’ associations until they

become productive and competitive. Poverty indicators

should take account of such subsidies, which are

usually not included when measuring the income of

those families.

Colombia has suffered a tragedy in the form of

internal displacement. We have reduced its incidence

by 40 per cent, but it is still high. We have facilitated

the return of more 70,000 people and we expect that

number to increase. One State agency alone has

multiplied eightfold its budget to care for displaced

persons.

As a result of a law approved at the beginning of

this Government’s tenure, the process for “ownership

extinction” for illegally acquired assets has moved

more quickly. We expect that that mechanism will be

used to advance constructive agrarian reform.

By paying additional taxes, the Colombian people

are making an effort to finance security measures and

restore social investment levels, for a total that

represents 2 per cent of our gross domestic product. We

have received the support of the multilateral banks, but

we require greater understanding from the financial

markets: longer-term loans and lower interest rates. We

are engaged in an intense struggle, and we need better

access to the markets of the industrialized countries.

I would like to reaffirm Colombia’s commitment

to multilateralism. Multilateralism must continuously

improve if it is to become more effective and restore

the lost consensus for safeguarding international peace.

Building that consensus requires each State to feel that

it is being heard and that it is being taken into account.

I am grateful for the support of the United

Nations agencies in social matters. We are fully

prepared to back the efforts of the international

community to consolidate democracy and security in

the region, especially in Haiti. Colombia will be part of

the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. We

will cooperate with police experts in the fight against

drug trafficking, as well as with the humanitarian

presence.

Mr. Baali (Algeria), Vice-President, took the

Chair.

We must all join in an effective international

solidarity movement with our Caribbean brothers, who

are so seriously affected by the hurricane season.

We need the total commitment of the

international community in the struggle against

terrorism in Colombia. Terrorism in one country feeds

and strengthens terrorist networks throughout the

world. The widows and orphans of violence in our

country ask why we attach so much importance to

terrorism in other parts of the world, and why some

attach so little to the terrorism that besets Colombia. I

make this appeal from the depths of our profound

democratic conviction. It is difficult to find another

country facing such a challenge of terrorism while

simultaneously strengthening its democracy.

Today, Colombia offer effective guarantees for

the exercise of political pluralism by means of our

democratic security policy. Our institutions combat

terrorism with the unflinching political will of the

Government. They do so with courage, selflessness and

transparency. A dirty war has no place in our policies.

A democratic State has the right to ask the world

to demand that the terrorists return their kidnap victims

rather than clamouring for lopsided agreements with

terrorists. We ask the world for more decisive and more

effective support. If it is broadened, the violent groups

will have no option but to abandon terrorism and to

accept peace.

With the people of Colombia, its democratic

institutions and the international community united, we

can make Colombia an example of the capacity to

defeat terrorism and observe human rights. And we can

make Colombia an example of the ability to defeat

terrorism and of the will to build social justice.

We will expel terror with the help of legitimate

institutions and of a community of solidarity and

justice, with opportunities for its poorest members.