Guatemala, 1996

Allow me to congratulate you, Mr. President, on

your well-deserved election to preside over the General

Assembly at its fifty-first regular session. I also wish to

convey our appreciation to Ambassador Diogo Freitas do

Amaral for the skill and efficiency with which he conducted

the work of the General Assembly in the course of its last

regular session.

We are very close to the achievement of peace in my

country. This can already be felt in the silence of the guns

and the newly flourishing spirit of unity among brothers.

Intolerance is giving way to awareness of the common

challenges we face. We now realize that, for example, if we

are to combat corruption and impunity, we need to share

values and principles, though not necessarily ideologies.

United in diversity, we must discover our own

means for building our future. Our country is healing its

deep wounds and revealing its true face, as a generous

land that is the home to age-old cultures. Guatemala is

coming to terms with itself and, in so doing, is

reconciling itself with the world.

We are once again speaking as a friendly nation

among friendly nations. The peace process has enabled us

to evolve our own agenda, which responds to the needs

of our country without our having had to accept an

agenda imposed by anyone else. To that end we have

received the constant support of the international

community, and in particular of the United Nations

system.

Today, at a time when the reform of the system is

the subject of such intense discussion, our national

experience may perhaps be useful, as it is an example of

cooperation that is at once respectful and dynamic, based

fundamentally on internal efforts with appropriate external

help. For us this approach is indispensable since, to a

large extent, it has been possible to build peace, thanks to

the valuable and diverse forms of support received from

agencies of the United Nations system.

But this has not been effected through the

mechanical application of preconceived formulas, or of

automatic institutional moulds. On the contrary, what we

have here is a challenging and complex empirical

laboratory where all of us are learning step by step. It is,

in fact, a constant exercise in discovery with living social

tissues, an exercise in which we have all had to pool our

best efforts. The creativity of individuals, Governments,

and various organizations — private and public, local and

national, regional and multilateral — has come together

to produce a constant quest for the solutions we need. It

has been an exercise in international solidarity that,

complementing internal endeavours, has made it possible

for us to forge ahead along the right path to recovery.

But the test tube is the life of our people, and for

that reason there is little margin for error. Errors increase

the suffering of my people. And Guatemala has suffered

greatly from authoritarian intervention and the imposition

of alien patterns that once impaired a political and social

maturation process that sought to infuse its own life-

giving fluids with contemporary ideas of equity and

democracy. Domestic injustices and imbalances were

aggravated by the tensions of the cold war that exploded

within my country.

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Now is the time for reconciliation. Now is the time

once again to take development in hand. Now is the time

to search for effective formulas to link our villages with the

World Trade Organization; to link the poverty afflicting the

families of our neighbourhoods with international financial

institutions; and to link decisions independently taken at the

level of our domestic communities with the large

development agencies.

We are on the threshold of signing the peace. We look

forward to this historic transition with hope and jubilation,

and we foresee the complex stage of strengthening the

fabric of society and production. From that stage we can

look hopefully to the future. Peace will come to Guatemala

because we Guatemalans have striven for it and because the

international community has helped us along the way.

As is well known, last week in Mexico City the

parties signed the agreement on the last substantive item of

the agenda agreed upon in the peace talks, the one

concerning the strengthening of civilian power and the role

of the army in a democratic society. We now have to deal

with the operational issues: demobilization, reinsertion into

civil society, the cease-fire and the timetable for the

implementation of the agreements. In the course of this year

we shall initial, God willing, the final agreement for a firm

and lasting peace, which will put an end to an armed

conflict that has lasted 36 years.

It is worth emphasizing then, that for the last five

months there has been no armed confrontation, which has

allowed the peace talks to progress without subjecting our

negotiators to the anguish and pressure of knowing that as

they are working Guatemalan blood is being shed. That is

over. Far from deadening or delaying the dialogue, this

state of affairs has stimulated it, given the prospect of a

definitive cessation of hostilities. This has also stimulated

us to see clearly where we are going and to gain a more

profound understanding of what has happened.

As many of the representatives in this Assembly

know, the internal conflict caused great misfortune and

suffering for our people. I am referring primarily to the

irreparable loss of thousands of lives. I also have in mind

the traumatic aftermath of the conflict, which is evident in

the faces of every cripple, orphan and widow, and in every

surviving family, a number of which were eye-witnesses to

the tragedies. I am also referring to the economic losses, in

the form of damage to infrastructure and lost opportunities

for productive development.

I also wish to call to mind the set-backs caused by

the conflict. Let us recall the words of the singer-

songwriter who asked,

“Who will return to us the fatherland that could have

been?”

While more difficult to pinpoint, and perhaps impossible

to measure, these too are irreparable losses: all that we

could have done, but did not do; all the growth that could

have occurred, but did not occur; all we could have built,

but did not build.

While others were progressing, we were stagnating,

locked in a cruel domestic struggle that included elements

imported from the cold war, which arbitrarily kept in

check for 40 years our political, social and economic

evolution. While technological, commercial and political

changes were taking place in the rest of the world, and

nations were discovering new opportunities in their

relations, we were plunged deeper into the violence of a

domestic conflict that took the lives of thousands and

thousands of young people, who were unable to provide

their country with the fruits of their talents and

endeavours. While new international options for well-

being were blossoming elsewhere, we continued to be

consumed internally by a dirty war that crushed entire

villages and compelled many people to flee.

There is a part of our country that never came into

being, because Guatemalans were bogged down in

fratricidal domestic struggle that we were not able to stop

in time — an internal conflict that — it is true — was

fuelled by our own injustice, but — it must be

acknowledged — was also fanned from abroad. But such

is history: hope springs up amid tragedy, and lessons are

drawn from mistakes. Our people has an extraordinary

capacity for recovery and learning.

We are nearing the end of this stage, and another

has already begun: one in which all of us — absolutely

all — are responsible and committed. One of the

consequences of this deeply traumatic and protracted

conflict is that never before have we found ourselves in

a situation so propitious for dialogue and reconciliation.

Never before have we shared such a profound and keen

awareness of our immense multi-ethnic, multilingual and

multicultural wealth, or of our environment, which is

extraordinarily varied. Never before have we been so

keenly aware of our need for internal integration and for

the development of our own potential.

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We have within our grasp a unique opportunity, one

that will never recur, to transform this moment into a

moment for the future and for renovation. This is perhaps

not the appropriate occasion for detailing all the progress

made in recent months. Such details may be found in the

various reports of United Nations Mission for the

Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the

Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human

Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA) and other agencies of

the United Nations system. But it is worthwhile to stress

the enormous effort that has gone into fulfilling the

agreements already signed, even before most of them have

come into force. In particular, we have had remarkable

successes in the field of human rights, as has been

recognized by various commissions and subcommissions

dealing with the issue.

At this singular moment at the end of the century,

when we are celebrating the International Decade of the

World’s Indigenous People, it is fitting to point out that

Guatemala has recently ratified and deposited International

Labour Organization Convention 169, the Indigenous and

Tribal Peoples Convention, which strengthens the rule of

law in Guatemala by conferring benefits and guarantees on

the Mayan population with regard to property, conditions of

employment, training for professions, crafts and rural

industries, health, social security, education, the

administration of justice, the environment and the proper

and rational use of natural resources.

We are very close to the signature of an Agreement on

a Firm and Lasting Peace. We now face the hardest part of

our task, but also the most challenging part, replete with

possibilities: that of creating peace, of building peace. We

would do well, therefore, to recall two fundamental points:

first, the peace that we are striving to build has a specific

orientation; and, secondly, peace is not made only by those

who sign the agreements.

We seek a peace that is well oriented. We should not

be content with a precarious peace, or with political

accommodations made for the occasion, with no sense of

direction or permanence. The accords signed so far, and

those that are to follow, express basic agreements that,

taken as a whole, constitute a specific agenda aimed at

deepening democracy and furthering development.

Furthermore, peace is not made only by those who

sign the agreements. Peace is made on a day-to-day basis,

by the entire population, which takes seriously the need for

reconciliation and realizes optimistically that it is possible

to have fair opportunities to work, educate oneself, be

productive and improve one’s situation.

Peace is built by men and women of flesh and

blood, with their differences, passions, interests and

enmities. Peace is built day by day, in villages, hamlets,

neighbourhoods and communities. Peace is built through

ordinary coexistence, with all Guatemalans, male or

female, striving daily to make a living and to help their

families get ahead, seeking out better opportunities while

enduring hardships in a country with so many limitations

and so much distrust. That is where reconciliation must

take place and where we must identify the true enemies

of peace: poverty, discrimination, exclusion and

intolerance.

We live in a spirit of solidarity within a fragile

shared space. Our mission is to care for it and improve it

as a legacy for coming generations. That space, that

possibility, does not belong to us; it is but a legacy of

what former generations did or failed to do. Solidarity is

not limited to those who stand before us; there is a kind

of solidarity that embraces even those who have not yet

been born. What can we do to ensure that this solidarity

accepts life as a primary, elementary and basic value,

when we have lived for so long immersed in violence?

We will attain development when we become

capable of providing comprehensive security for all

Guatemalans. The assurance that our children will not die

because of negligence or lack of medical attention, the

security of a stable job, plans and facilities for the

acquisition of housing, security of access to a competitive

educational system allowing us to learn and to teach our

children, the security of ample nutrition, security for our

possessions and for our lives, access to and equal

treatment under impartial and timely systems of justice —

these are the key aspects of comprehensive security.

In this regard, Central America has taken important

decisions to renew its agendas under the Alliance for

Sustainable Development, which it is taking decisive steps

to implement, including through the Treaty on Democratic

Security signed by the Presidents of the isthmus at San

Pedro Sula in December 1995. That broad set of

commitments prepares Central Americans to wage a

comprehensive fight against trafficking in drugs and in

human beings.

There can be no stable democracy over the long

term if there are extreme inequalities in the distribution of

wealth and of social opportunities. Democratic citizenship

5

poses the question of how we are to incorporate those who

are unlikely to have access to public institutions; those who,

because of poverty or discrimination, cannot invoke their

rights or have them recognized. No democracy is possible

when a significant percentage of the population is living in

extreme poverty. Our democracy must generate economic

conditions that permit the satisfaction of the basic needs of

the population.

The greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity for

Guatemala resides in organized, realistic and coherent

implementation of the commitments derived from the

agreements undertaken. That is why we must understand

them as a starting point that opens up a new page of

challenges and efforts for all the population.

For its part, the Government has taken on some very

daring and far-reaching commitments that encompass

almost all its institutions. They imply major legal reforms

and major budgetary efforts. These commitments have

made it possible to reach the agreements, and stability and

the strengthening of peace and stability depend upon their

fulfilment.

But to do all of this, we also need the understanding

and firm support of the international community. We need

a real opening of markets and fair prices for our products,

as well as foreign investment to add to the internal savings

achieved through the generation of jobs and the stable

improvement of our productive capacity. We also need the

complement of technical and financial cooperation, above

all during the stage immediately following the signing of

the peace.

For all of these reasons, Guatemala appreciates the

support and recognition of the international community. For

those same reasons, Guatemala also aspires to contribute,

to the extent of its modest possibilities, to strengthening the

multilateral system and respectful understanding among

nations.

Guatemala attaches great importance to the principle

of universality that must characterize the United Nations,

and this leads us to express our conviction that the Republic

of China on Taiwan must also be fully represented in our

Organization and must actively participate in the search for

solutions in this new global, interdependent world. In our

opinion, and taking into account earlier positive

experiences, this in no way contradicts any effort at

reunification.

It is often said that we are living in a time of

change. But it is much more than that: this is a change of

times. We are living just on the bridge between two

different eras of world history, where we cannot yet make

out the difference between what is ending and what is

beginning. There is an order that has gone into crisis, but

there is a new order that cannot yet be clearly perceived.

All institutions are being put to the test.

We view with appreciation and hope the fact that

this interaction between Guatemala’s experience and the

respectful participation of Governments and multilateral

institutions is yielding modest but valid solutions,

enabling us to envisage a simple, competent and less

bureaucratic form of institutional structures, and a kind of

cooperation that does not undermine the precarious living

conditions of the poor majorities in our countries and that

contributes ideas and technical skills with due respect for

our population. Guatemala is becoming a laboratory for

cooperation with respect, of partnership rather than

imposition.

It is also becoming a broad and open horizon for

discovery, an opportunity to search for ways to

encompass the aspirations, proposals and initiatives of so

many people from inside and from abroad, and above all,

to go on creating spaces for self-expression by the people

and the communities of my country, which, with such

courage, endurance, valour and desire, have not

succumbed to adversity.

I wish to attest to the gratitude of my people and my

Government to the Secretary-General and to all the

officials who in various capacities have contributed to

advancing the peace negotiations in my country, as well

as to making a reality of the various complex efforts at

development that we are undertaking. We wish especially

to thank the Moderator appointed by the Secretary-

General for the negotiations between the Government of

Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional

Guatemalteca (URNG), the small but efficient Guatemala

Unit of the Secretariat and all the members of the United

Nations Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and

of Compliance with the Commitments of the

Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in

Guatemala (MINUGUA), as well as the other Secretariat

officials who, in one way or another, directly or

indirectly, have contributed to the success of the peace

process.

Our deep gratitude goes also to the six countries that

constitute the Group of Friends of the peace process,

6

which have worked so doggedly for that long-sought

goal — Colombia, Mexico, Norway, Spain, the United

States of America and Venezuela.

We wish also to express our appreciation to other

Governments that, without being a formal part of this

Group, have substantially contributed to the advancement of

our reconciliation and development. Many thanks to all

those persons of good will, committed to peace in my

country.