Guatemala, 1993

Allow me, Ambassador

Samuel Insanally, to congratulate you sincerely, on behalf of

my delegation, on your election as President of the General

Assembly of the United Nations at its forty-eighth session.

At the same time, I would express to you our satisfaction

that this post has gone to such a distinguished representative

of the Latin American and Caribbean region. You may

count on our cooperation in the important work that lies

ahead of you.

I would also like to express our gratitude to

Ambassador Stoyan Ganev for the efficiency with which he

8 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

served as President of the General Assembly at its forty-

seventh session.

I would give a special greeting to Andorra, the Czech

Republic, Eritrea, Monaco, Slovakia, and The Former

Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and bid them a cordial

welcome to our Organization. Guatemala wishes to extend

to them its friendship, respect, solidarity and understanding.

The increase in its membership is further proof of the faith

the international community places in the United Nations as

a multilateral forum par excellence for seeking together the

solution to the problems that beset the world today.

I would also like to extend my greetings to

Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the United

Nations, whose dynamic leadership has allowed us to

progress towards the common objective of strengthening our

Organization and adapting it to the new world situation. We

hope that his efforts to ensure fulfilment of the Charter and

of its purposes and principles will be successful. We need

a strengthened Organization to maintain international peace

and security and to promote social progress and better

standards of life for human beings within the widest concept

of freedom.

We believe that the continuous dialogue between the

Secretariat and the Member States should be based on

mutual respect, confidence and understanding, and should

take into account cultural, political, economic and social

realities. The Secretary-General’s role as a facilitator of

peace processes, as an adviser on human rights and as a

mediator in international conflicts may be strengthened by

the contribution of distinguished statesmen and experts who

share with him their experience and prestige.

The events which have taken place in my country since

25 May of this year have marked a fundamental change in

the political and institutional life of Guatemala.

The breaking-off and subsequent restoration of

constitutional order created a situation in which the people

of Guatemala, as the country’s only sovereigns, exercised

legitimate resistance in order to protect and defend their

rights and guarantees enshrined in the political Constitution

of the Republic.

As one of the principal consequences of these events,

with a view to consolidating the restoration of constitutional

order so as to reinstall the Congress of the Republic, the

political parties formally pledged in writing to purge the

membership of that body.

Since this commitment has not yet been fulfilled,

President Ramiro de León Carpio, as Head of State and the

representative of national unity and the interests of the

people of Guatemala, in accordance with the Constitution,

requested the supreme electoral tribunal to hold a vote so

that the citizens could express their will with regard to the

political decision of calling for the resignation of the sitting

members of the Congress and the judges of the Supreme

Court. This vote, in conformity with the resolution of the

tribunal, will be held on 28 November this year.

This process has no precedent in our political history.

We wish to stress that all the actions taken by the

Government of the Republic fall strictly within the

framework of the Constitution, and, though the people of

Guatemala may have opted for a slower path, through

legality, to consolidate their democratic institutions, we are

sure that this will be the best solution for the reconciliation

of the Guatemalan family and the political stability of the

State. Guatemala is charting its own course, and its political

process cannot be compared with other realities.

Yesterday, President Ramirio de León Carpio presented

the National Peace Plan and the Official Declaration on

Human Rights to the Guatemalan people, as he does today,

through me, to the international community. President León

de Carpio’s Plan seeks a firm peace, based on far-reaching

reconciliation through dialogue, so that we Guatemalans can

find unity in the diversity of our cultural, ethnic, religious,

social, political, economic and ecological values.

It seeks lasting peace, achieved by putting an end to

armed internal confrontation and seeing to it that the roots

of hatred, resentment and distrust that have divided us are

extirpated through negotiation and never again by violence.

It seeks a peace with the power to transform, achieved

by consensus and national compromise, which will lead to

the strengthening of the capacity of the Government and the

society as a whole to respond promptly and effectively to

social requirements, with particular attention to the sectors

of the population most affected by the armed internal

confrontation.

The first component is reconciliation. The Plan

considers it essential to establish and promote the

functioning in Guatemala of the permanent forum for peace.

This forum will help to facilitate dialogue and ensure the

participation of all Guatemalans in the solution of national

problems. This reconciliation process will be promoted at

the national, regional, departmental, municipal and

communal levels. Thus, consensus and agreements will

Forty-eighth session - 5 October l993 9

express needs that are truly felt by the people and will at the

same time provide guidelines for joint action by the people

and the Government to solve these problems. In this

decentralization strategy, we shall make use of all

mechanisms for making the community’s voice heard,

including urban and rural development councils.

In those councils national problems will be discussed in

order to arrive at conclusions that will lead to the perfecting

of our democracy, the strengthening of a State based on the

rule of law, the full exercise of individual freedoms, respect

for human rights, integrated, self-reliant and self-sustaining

development with equality and justice and the solution to

problems deriving from our cultural diversity.

We must link this permanent forum to previous

achievements of the peace process. To this end, account

should be taken, inter alia, of the contributions made to the

great national dialogue and to the meetings that various

sectors of the Guatemalan population had with the

Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG).

When that group integrates itself legally it will be able,

through the national reconciliation commission, to present its

ideas and proposals for subjects to be dealt with in the

forum.

The matter of social requirements calls for honest,

efficient and immediate actions by the Government to

strengthen the protection and defence of human rights,

actions that will reduce poverty indicators and promote

development in the areas worst affected by violence and that

will succeed in perfecting our democratic system. At the

same time, the Government will promote and support

responsible action in these fields by all sectors of society.

We hope the valuable support of the international

community will be added to this effort of the people and the

Government, which will contribute to a prompt and effective

response to the needs and requirements of the population.

We cannot postpone the end of the armed confrontation,

which requires the restoration of the negotiation process to

bring about a definitive cease-fire; the return of the URNG

to legality by means of amnesty; the defining of the

conditions necessary for its integration into the country’s

political life; and, in consequence, its direct participation in

the permanent peace forum.

We shall also define the international verification

machinery which will make possible the concentration,

disarmament and demobilization of URNG personnel. To

achieve this, there must be an end to acts of terrorism, acts

of destruction against the infrastructure and actions that harm

the environment.

The process also requires, first, that there be a revision

of the Oslo and Mexico City accords and, secondly, that a

timetable for negotiations be set.

On the question of human rights, the Government has

declared that it will act firmly against violations of these

rights, with no distinction as to social or economic status.

The necessary measures will be taken to protect and support

persons and entities that are working in accordance with the

law to promote and safeguard human rights. We therefore

call upon the United Nations, the Organization of American

States (OAS) and the States members of these organizations

to increase their presence and technical contributions to

actions that the State of Guatemala and its institutions

undertake to strengthen, enable and perfect the machinery for

protecting and defending human rights.

On behalf of my Government, I request the Secretary-

General of the United Nations to seek a meeting with the

URNG to undertake a review of the Oslo and Mexico City

accords and to set a timetable for negotiations. The

Government of Guatemala is proposing this Peace Plan,

aware as it is of the imperative necessity for putting an end

once and for all to armed confrontation, which has cost my

country so many human lives over the course of more than

30 years. Only a sturdy, lasting peace with power to

transform can serve as a basis to strengthen democratic

institutions, guarantee respect for human rights and promote

political, economic and social development.

For all of the above reasons we most warmly welcome

the peace process that has been attained in the sister

Republic of El Salvador and the one recently initiated

between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation

Organization.

Guatemala reaffirms its faith and conviction regarding

the guiding principles set out in the Charter of the United

Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

outstanding among which are the principle of the peaceful

solution of disputes, the right to self-determination, the

sovereign equality of States and, fundamentally, the respect

for human rights and the principle of democratic

Government.

In keeping with the principle of universality prevailing

in the current international context, our country considers

that cases like that of the Republic of China in Taiwan

10 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

should be thoroughly studied and considered in the light of

the United Nations Charter. Guatemala renews its faith and

hope in multilateralism, and particularly in the United

Nations. It wishes to stress its tradition of peace, dialogue

and negotiation and the non-use of force in international

relations.

The security of nations is no longer an exclusively

geopolitical matter falling within the framework of bipolar

confrontation. It is a global problem within which we must

tackle the problems that afflict today’s world. The concept

of security should include new elements that are fundamental

for the peoples of the world: democracy, development, the

preservation of the environment, combating drug trafficking,

food security, population trends and so on.

The Secretariat should be in the service of Member

States and in that role should facilitate instruments that will

make it possible to maintain international peace and security

and promote economic cooperation and social development,

which will guarantee the full exercise of human rights and

fundamental freedoms throughout the world.

Guatemala believes that, within the process of

restructuring and reorganizing the United Nations that is

currently under way, the efficiency of the system and the full

and democratic participation of all its Members should be

secured. Democratization, as a fundamental element in the

development of peoples, must coexist with development of

the international community and its multilateral system.

We support the initiative to expand the membership of

the Security Council from a regional perspective.

Operations designed to contain or solve conflicts should

be matters for priority action by the United Nations as part

of the Organization’s efforts to forge a new world order.

Among the problems of development are to be found

many of the causes of regional, national and international

tension. Development must be the central focus of the

efforts of the Organization. We therefore support the

holding of a World Summit for Social Development, and we

hope that the Secretary-General will submit the proposed

agenda for development, embracing economic affairs that

have traditionally been assigned to the Organization, as well

as social, political, environmental and cultural matters, which

we are beginning to realize are fundamental elements in the

welfare of peoples.

The well-being of mankind depends in large measure

on the rational use of available natural resources. With

regard to ecology, we need a global perspective, as the

environment is the heritage of all mankind. If the benefits

are enjoyed by all, the effort should be shared. The

developed world must work more closely and more

effectively in financing the various programmes to preserve

the environment of the developing countries and must

honour the commitments given in Rio de Janeiro.

National and international security are threatened

primarily by differences between the levels of development

of countries. Effective action must be taken against poverty,

hunger, disease and illiteracy. These scourges are worsening

where there are concentrations of refugees or displaced

persons. Cooperation must not be delayed. For this reason,

Guatemala hopes that the initiative of reactivating the North-

South dialogue to strengthen international economic

cooperation for development and to revitalize global

economic growth, as formulated by the Non-Aligned

Movement and the Group of 77, will be agreed to and will

lead to the creation of a better world.

The developing countries must refine the machinery for

political and economic coordination to enable us to get this

dialogue going seriously and constructively. It is therefore

essential that international economic cooperation be

strengthened to revitalize global economic growth and to

ensure that the technological revolution that is under way

will be one more factor in the promotion of a just and

equitable world order.

We must not overlook the fact that the problems of

national development are to be found also in the Central

American region. International cooperation is necessary for

the consolidation of peace and to encourage the development

of the region. Meetings of Presidents of Central American

States continue to be held regularly. Due note has been

taken of regional political advances, and proposals for

further improvement in this field have been put forward. A

summit meeting of Central American Presidents will be held

in Guatemala at the end of this month for the purpose of

adopting the Protocol to the General Treaty on Central

American Economic Integration, whose aim is to encourage

social development - a priority when it comes to

consolidating peace in Central America.

The Central American effort at integration has been

intensified. The Central American Integration System,

which coordinates efforts at regional integration and is

therefore a fundamental instrument in the process of regional

development, now has a Secretary-General.

Forty-eighth session - 5 October l993 11

It has been proposed that a coordinated Central

American fund to fight poverty be set up. This proposal will

be studied at the next Summit of Central American

Presidents.

Guatemala supports economic openness so that its

economy may be integrated effectively into the sphere of

world trade. Along with the other Central American

countries, we have made progress in establishing an

integrated economic space, and we are negotiating with

countries and groups of countries with a view to concluding

agreements on the liberalization of trade.

The Government that I represent has embarked upon a

process of restructuring and consolidating its democratic

institutions. Keeping faith with the Constitution of the

Republic, it has today, with the greatest good will and good

faith, presented its plan for peace. This is designed to save

many lives and to bring to our country the longed-for peace,

which cannot be achieved without the wholehearted support

of the international community.