Guatemala, 1997

It is a great honour for me, as the representative

of the people of Guatemala and as President pro tempore

of the Central American Integration System, to

congratulate you, Mr. President, on your well-deserved

election to preside over the General Assembly at its fifty-

second session.

We wish to thank the President and the Secretariat

for their understanding in allowing us to alter protocol

and to address the Assembly in the form of a joint

presentation. We Central Americans deemed it necessary

and timely to do so because we wish in this way to

highlight the importance, the scope, the depth and the

extent of the changes that are taking place in Central

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America after years of confrontation and suffering for our

peoples and our region.

We bring good news. Central America is undergoing

remarkable changes, and the Central American leaders wish

to share together here in this world forum the progress

achieved in our region. We bring news of peace, democracy

and development, news of understanding and cooperation,

news of accord and unity. Our region is leaving behind

years of internal war and authoritarianism to move into a

constructive stage of political, economic, social, cultural

and ecological strength, one that will enable us to enter the

new millennium with new hopes and achievements by our

peoples. And this new stage is being constructed with the

respectful participation and responsible support of the

international community.

We must recall that barely 12 years ago we Central

Americans were on the verge of a regional war and that our

countries were experiencing the with full intensity of being

one of the last settings of the so-called cold war. But then

negotiation prevailed over conflict and we found Central

American roads to peace, which led, 10 years ago to the

Esquipulas II Accords, embodying the procedure for a firm

and lasting peace in Central America.

The processes of dialogue and reconciliation moved

forward along difficult and complex roads. The heat of

battle was replaced by the warmth of debate. Weapons were

laid down, and we began the difficult but unpostponable

march towards reconciliation, towards a return to the rule

of law, towards democratic strengthening and towards

peaceful and constructive coexistence.

As may be recalled, at last year’s session I came

before the Assembly anticipating peace in my country. In

less than 10 months during 1996 we were able to complete

negotiations on seven specific peace accords in Guatemala

with the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca

(URNG) and thus, on 29 December of last year, we arrived

at the signature of the final Agreement on a Firm and

Lasting Peace. Thus we did put an end to the 36 years of

internal armed conflict that had torn at the very vitals of

my country.

As many here know, the process of complying with

the accords has advanced with firm steps. Thanks to the

will of the parties and the timely and determined

collaboration of the international community, in barely three

months the demobilization of the former guerrilla

combatants was completed, with the assistance of a military

Verification Mission of United Nations Blue Berets,

approved by the Security Council.

Without going into undue detail, I can reaffirm what

we reported a few days ago in my country: the process of

compliance with the peace accords is going forward

decisively with regard to all fronts and commitments. The

joint commissions envisaged in the accords have already

been established, thus creating the broadest and most

diversified structures of citizen participation in our

history. The commitments on investment and public

expenditure on health, education, justice and security for

the people are already reflected in detail in the budget for

next year, not only increasing the ratio of social

investment to levels unprecedented in our history but also

changing their orientation in order increasingly to favour

rural areas. The National Congress is ready to discuss the

agreed constitutional amendments. Similarly, the agreed

institutional reforms have begun to be implemented in all

areas. The process of the return of refugees from the

neighbouring brotherly country of Mexico will be

completed before the end of this year, and the guerrilla

organizations that formed part of the URNG, having been

demobilized, are returning to legality and are becoming a

political organization that will participate in future

elections.

All of these important changes in my country are

being verified and supported by the United Nations, for

which we are deeply thankful. All these changes can be

added to others that have already taken place in our

isthmus and that are enabling us to rediscover our

regional agendas of democratization and development.

Indeed, while peace negotiations were progressing and

maturing in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, we

once again undertook to revitalize our regional integration

process. Following the finalization of the series of peace

negotiations, that process of integration and regional

development has taken on a renewed vigour and

dynamism and has recently received a further important

impetus. It gives us real pride and hope to be able to

share with the Assembly a brief summary of our advances

in that process and of the important decisions that we

have recently taken.

Fully aware that the region is going through a rare

historical moment, one characterized by the existence of

popularly elected Governments in all of the countries of

Central America and a situation of peace, we deem it

essential to design and implement regional and unified

responses to the demands of our peoples and the

challenges of globalization.

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During the past three years we have made

extraordinary progress in our integration efforts, which

extend from a new conceptual horizon, one that has become

better balanced and more inclusive with the creation of the

Alliance for Sustainable Development and the establishment

of innovative regional projects to increase regional

competitiveness by means of joint efforts on the part of

Governments, academic centres and sectors of production.

We replaced the former common market in 1991 with

a new legal framework that created the Central American

Integration System (SICA). However, as we were also

convinced of the need to go beyond mere governmental

cooperation in our regional integration efforts, a few weeks

ago, in Panama, we took an important step towards

strengthening, deepening and developing our regional

cooperation. We agreed on the broadest possible review and

modernization of our regional institutional framework, as

we were convinced that the benefits of development to

which our people are entitled cannot be tapped by each

country separately — they are attainable only to a regional

community, because of the dynamics of today’s

increasingly interdependent environment.

For the first time, at our most recent meeting in

Managua, all the Governments of the area agreed that we

need to look beyond economic integration and clearly show

the will and resolve needed to direct our efforts towards a

possible regional political union, a community of

independent nations that pool their capabilities without

losing their individuality. And that is how we agreed to

begin the gradual and continuing process of setting up the

Central American Union, as a higher expression of

communitarian partnership stipulated in the 1991 Protocol

of Tegucigalpa.

Thus, we have taken the first step in a broad and

complex process that can bring us closer to the vision of a

Central American Union, with the ultimate goal of

producing the concrete results sought by our populations:

overcoming poverty, creating opportunities, increasing the

number of jobs, activating our production capacity,

increasing our competitiveness, equitable and unified

participation in the benefits of development, genuine

democratization, equitable access to an efficient system of

justice and the legitimate enjoyment of peaceful

coexistence.

We have redoubled our efforts to ensure that Central

America is more united and better prepared to face the

enormous challenges of its development and to respond

creatively and dynamically to the international demands of

our contemporary and ever changing world. We, the

Central American leaders, have come together to this

forum as genuinely united nations to demonstrate our

common aim of regional unity and the efforts we are

making to that end. We reiterate our deep appreciation for

the support and cooperation of the international

community to date, and I offer my best wishes for the

prosperity of all as the new millennium dawns.