El Salvador, 1993

It is a great pleasure for us to salute your

unanimous election, Sir, to preside over the General

Assembly’s work at its forty-eighth session, especially since

you are a worthy representative of a sister country of our

region of Latin America and the Caribbean. Your opening

address, in which you presented your vision of the world,

was rich in ideas and insights into international reality. You

urged that we commit ourselves to promoting the purposes

and principles of the Charter in order to achieve a better

world, and you encouraged us to reflect on our

responsibilities as we strive to meet the global challenges

facing our peoples. Your address demonstrated your

sensitivity and wisdom, which, added to your political and

diplomatic experience in multilateralism, will help us move

forward to change as we endeavour to achieve the objectives

of our Organization.

We should also like to express our appreciation to your

predecessor, Mr. Stoyan Ganev, the former Foreign Minister

of Bulgaria, for the successful manner in which he guided

the work of the forty-seventh session of the General

Assembly and in particular for his efforts to bring about the

restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations system.

We also wish to join in the expressions of appreciation

to the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, for his

dedication and hard work in leading our Organization. We

once again express our support for and confidence in him in

his difficult task of seeking international peace and security.

For the fifth year in a row we have come to this highest

international forum, from which it has been our privilege to

give annual testimony to the progress of a process that,

though it is unfolding in a small developing country,

represents one of the most complex and exemplary dynamic

forces for peace in modern history.

In 1989, when we first came to speak to the world’s

representatives from this rostrum, the case of El Salvador

was just one more knot in the tangled web of problems left

behind by the sadly notorious cold war as it began

unexpectedly to wind down. A few months earlier, we had

just taken the reins of government with a great purpose born

in the deepest part of our conscience: to do all that was

humanly possible to find a political solution to the

Salvadorean conflict. That is how we expressed ourselves,

with a solemn promise, to the Salvadorean people on the

first day of our Government. We reaffirmed it before the

United Nations in September of that crucial year of 1989,

only a few weeks before the world witnessed the almost

unbelievable dissolution of one of the greatest ideological-

military Powers on Earth. This led to a new era - difficult,

but also hopeful and promising, for all.

If we wish sincerely to interpret the history of our

country, we must say that the peace process in El Salvador

was a search along various avenues that had been present in

the lives of the people of El Salvador ever since our nation

was born. Our peace process is not a mere expression of the

need to find a sensible and reasonable end to an unjust and

painful war. In El Salvador, as in so many other countries

with a historical development similar to ours, peace is the

generic name for age-old needs and aspirations, such as

those for democracy, democratic institutions, the rule of law,

political freedoms and rights - in a word, the victory of

civilization over barbarism.

This helped us to understand, as our work for peace

began, that it must be solid and enduring. Otherwise, we

would be making just another effort - like so many in our

past - that would not rise above superficial means or lay the

true foundations of the country’s political, social and

economic modernization. For us - and this is the aspect that

has enabled our process to succeed - peace is synonymous

with democracy.

We in El Salvador have been delighted to learn that,

from varying perspectives of ideological and political

thought, our peace process is considered exemplary. In this

forum of nations, we should like to point to some of the

factors that, in our opinion, have allowed us to set that

example.

First of all, we believe that the solution achieved is

strictly in keeping with the nature of the conflict. Given that

it was a conflict with historical and social roots, its eruption

was eminently political, linked to the inadequacy and

dysfunctioning of the traditional Salvadorean political system

and the political-ideological confrontation of the super-

Powers. The solution had to be political, without winners or

losers, and to aim at the creation of a new scenario involving

a system of pluralistic participation. The peace agreement

is a plan of commitments to expanding, developing and

guaranteeing democracy in El Salvador. That was what we

needed. That is why it was implemented in an irreversible

manner, despite momentary problems that were merely

mishaps along the way.

Secondly, the conflict led to violent confrontation in the

country. The exhaustion from the war and the impetus

towards a process of democratization created the conditions

for the emergence in El Salvador of a culture of tolerance,

understanding and reconciliation - in a word, a culture of

peace. This concept has not emerged in El Salvador alone;

it is a growing concern throughout the world. With the

support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization, we are striving to promote a culture

of peace, for which we appeal for the firm support of the

international community. Without a culture of peace, which

will help to remove the ever-active remnants of the culture

of violence, it will be impossible to establish the new world

order demanded by our times, a new moral order between

men and nations as the foundation for this new world order

of competitive but respectful and harmonious coexistence,

which we can glimpse as an achievable reality as we pass

into the new millennium.

Thirdly, we must recognize that the peace process in El

Salvador was continually and effectively followed by the

international community, represented by the Security Council

and the Secretary-General of this great world Organization,

by a group of countries that had close ties to the situation in

El Salvador in a variety of ways, and by a widespread

general interest in observing the ways and means used to

resolve a conflict such as the one that afflicted El Salvador

for such a long time. We have no doubt that without this

international attention a solution to the problem in El

Forty-eighth session - 27 September l993 3

Salvador would have been much more difficult and

complicated.

El Salvador is a living example of how the transition

from a world dominated by a confrontational bipolarity to

one determined by the logic of specific situations is taking

place. We do not doubt for one instant that the engine of

the world process is changing: from abusive and heartless

ideology to pragmatic and ordered rationality. There have

always been many problems and conflicts in the world, but

for a long time the international drama seemed to be an

increasingly absorbing confrontation of ideologies. This

distortion, aggravated by the real problems that existed,

impeded their solution. It is true that since the cold war

painful and cruel situations have erupted, such as the one

now experienced in the former Yugoslavia. But ideological,

strategic and geopolitical bipolarity artificially created some

conflicts and stifled others, also artificially. Reality is, of

course, a better guide than all the fantasies of the ideologies.

We in El Salvador do not speak of these matters with

the tranquillity of analysts or the scientific patience of

academicians. We speak of war because we have physically

endured it. We speak of the worldwide ideological

confrontation because, during what we now know was its

last phase, El Salvador was one of its most intense

battlegrounds. And we also speak of peace because we are

building peace on the basis of an agreement of great

institutional significance, conceived and structured to

strengthen democracy in El Salvador and throughout Central

America.

We have already expressed what this peace means to

us. And now we would like to emphasize that we are well

aware that peace is a process. Being a process, it cannot be

static, but must evolve. In this as well, El Salvador sets an

example. Countries such as ours were for long caught up in

the struggle between authoritarian stagnation and

revolutionary radicalism. This is a pivotal moment in

history, because it is giving us all a lesson in the

pre-eminence of an ancient but under-valued concept:

evolution. "Everything changes," said the pre-Socratic

philosopher. But the natural rhythm of that change has

always been a kind of historical riddle. With many

certainties remaining, and in the healthy absence of the

magical formulas that have so tormented the world during

our century, we are perhaps on the way to understanding that

the natural rhythm of change can also be summed in another

classic phrase: "Without hurrying, but without pausing."

With evolution as our guide once again, we have no

reason to hurry. The rhythm of transformation occurs in a

way that cannot be resisted. We see this in the changing

international, political and economic relations of our time.

An almost spontaneous restructuring has followed the

removal of so many straitjackets. And this restructuring has

brought to light what has always been most important: the

real problems. As the East-West conflict has disappeared,

almost no one speaks about the North-South conflict or

alternative alignments, but the serious problems of

inequality, critical poverty and dependence have not been

resolved. They are still with us. And they are a challenge

for this new order which we are trying to create on a more

rational and reasonable foundation.

In this new scenario, the United Nations has a central

role which was until recently unimaginable. The great

dynamic of universal peace cannot be led by a single

country, nor even by a privileged group of countries. The

cooperation, understanding and support of all countries is

needed, as is an instrument which will make peace processes

viable and monitor and support them. That instrument is

this Organization, and this special dimension of its work has

expanded and been emphasized in recent years. El Salvador

has the honour to have been one of the first countries to

benefit from the new United Nations system of peace-

keeping efforts. All the work of active mediation and then

active monitoring - unprecedented in international law -

which the United Nations has been putting into practice in

El Salvador, is not some theoretical artifice, but an exercise

derived from the necessities of a real situation. The dynamic

of the Salvadorian process has shaped the role of the United

Nations in our country. We Salvadorians have learned much

from our close relation with the world Organization, and we

are sure that it too has learned very important lessons from

its continuing participation in the achievement, maintenance

and development of peace in El Salvador.

Our view of the United Nations has been enriched as

we have shared with the world Organization the

responsibility of carrying out the peace plan in El Salvador.

Thus we understand more clearly that the United Nations is

also evolving. Its original form was a product of the end of

the Second World War; it must now open itself up to new

realities. Organs, such as the Security Council, and even the

Secretary-General now have roles and responsibilities which

demand changes. The composition of the Council and the

veto mechanism within it, which were a result of the deep

mutual distrust of the post-war period, must be

fundamentally revised to adopt them to times of cooperation

and exchange. The Secretary-General’s field of activity

should also be reconsidered, because there is far more

executive work to be done today than in the past. All these

are unavoidable challenges that now face the Organization,

to which we owe so much and which we wish to see ever

stronger and more efficient.

The United Nations has room for the whole world. In

successive addresses here, we have emphasized the

importance of the principle of universality. We understand

that this principle cannot in any way provide a means of

interfering in the internal affairs of States; at the same time

we believe that there are realities of today’s world that

cannot be disregarded. We have therefore supported

consideration of exceptional situations, in keeping with the

experience with parallel representation of divided countries

at the United Nations. It should be possible to resolve this

matter within the framework of understanding and openness

that now characterizes international relations.

El Salvador, for the first time in its history, is in the

vigorous mainstream of modernization, a dynamic that

concerns all countries during these times of change. Our

contribution cannot be material, because we lack resources

and wealth, but we have earned the capacity to speak with

the moral force of a people raising itself up from its own

rubble with the unexpected serenity that results from

prolonged suffering. If we in El Salvador can testify to

anything, we can testify that it is possible to move from

irrationality to the deliberate construction of historical

rationality. In proceeding along this long path we need the

international community’s political, moral and financial

support, in keeping with the resolution that the General

Assembly adopted last year for the reconstruction and

development of El Salvador.

We must reincorporate ex-combatants in institutional

and productive life through programmes such as the transfer

of land for farming. Also, there are many new institutions

emerging in our country, such as the civilian national police,

which is one of the most ambitious experiments in public

security in the world. We need timely technical and

economic support to build the structures of peace more

swiftly. We would like to be able to wipe from our minds

the discouraging evidence that it is easier to find the money

for war than for peace. The culture of peace - which is a

world-wide challenge - must also become evident in this

fundamental change in priorities.

We are here for the last time because our presidential

mandate comes to an end on 1 June 1994. It has been an

immense honour for us to come here every year to report on

the progress in a process that is of such great concern to the

people of El Salvador, and yet is also of such concern to

Central America and the international community because of

its positive effects on regional stability.

The country that we are talking about today is very

different from the one that we were discussing in 1989, and

the important thing is that what is surprising in the

difference is how positive and how full of hope it is. The

credit is not ours. We did our work and exercised our will.

The credit goes to a people that, from being a footnote to

history, has won, by dint of sacrifice, a place of honour in

this changing scene that we are seeing emerge at this close

of the century.

All the political and social forces in El Salvador have

worked together to bring about the emergence of the new

country. The friendly countries that are closest to us by

reason of history and geography can testify to this. We have

made a successful effort to bring order to our economy, and

we are laying the foundations for the continued constructive

advance of full democracy - political, economic, social and

cultural.

El Salvador expresses its concern over the continued

existence of conflicts that are devastating some parts of the

world. The tragic cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of

Somalia cause us great distress. However, we have

confidence in the force of reason, which always finds a way

to achieve even the most difficult goals.

And there is good news too, such as the extraordinarily

important agreement on mutual recognition between Israel

and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which has thrilled

the world. We have also seen an opening up in South

Africa for reason to prevail, and the situation in Haiti

becoming clear, albeit with difficulty. All that gives us

comfort, and reminds us that we are in a period of enormous

surprises. The world is ridding itself of many oppressive

spectres, and this gives us the strength to believe in the great

potential of the international system.

If we had to prepare a list of all those to whom we

would give thanks for their contribution to peace in El

Salvador, we would always leave out a few, but we cannot

fail to mention the extraordinary work carried out both by

the previous Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar,

and the present Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros

Boutros-Ghali, and also their body of collaborators and

advisers, without whose participation and support it is

unlikely that we would have achieved the goal of putting

El Salvador on the road towards genuine peace. The

Security Council has always been very mindful of the peace

process in our country, and the Council’s active even-

handedness also deserves our highest praise.

Forty-eighth session - 27 September l993 5

On behalf of El Salvador, I give thanks to everyone.

El Salvador is a living example. We hope that we will

continue to be an example of stability, respect for human

rights, national concord and progress. We therefore call on

the world to give us its attention and support, and, most of

all, we ask God to shed his light on El Salvador, on the

United Nations and on all men and women of good faith on

this Earth of ours, which is a common inheritance that must

be shared by all mankind.