Haiti, 1969

134. Madam President, kindly accept, through me, the warmest

congratulations of the Government of Dr. François

Duvalier, President for Life of the Republic of Haiti, and of

the brother people of Haiti on your unanimous election to

the presidency of the General Assembly of the United

Nations, one of the highest bodies in the world.

135. Liberia was one of the first countries of Black Africa

to establish diplomatic relations with Haiti, through the

exchange of ambassadors, and the visits to my country of

your great President, Mr. William S. Tubman, and more

recently of one of your Foreign Ministers and one of your

Vice-Presidents, still live in the memory of our countrymen.

136. We welcome your election, Madam President, as that

of a representative of a sister nation; but in our eyes and

those of our brothers by race it is also symbolic.

137. A little over a century and a half ago Haiti won its

independence through the tears and blood of its sons, and

almost a century and a half ago your ancestors, having left

America in search of a new fatherland, founded the

Republic of Liberia, where they succeeded in merging the

newcomers and the tribes already there in a happy

symbiosis. My country and yours were for a long time the

rare regions of the world where the negro had the right to

walk with his head held high.

138. Now you are presiding over the Assembly of the

peoples of the world only a few years after another African,

Alex Quaison-Sackey of Ghana, so presided.

139. This is a happy symbol of the great brotherhood of

man, of the advent, perhaps not far off, of an era in which

all peoples, without distinction as to race or colour, will

walk side by side towards the achievement of a better

destiny, at one in the great civilization of the masses of the

people, where general well-being will cease to be a vain

delusion or a mere crumb of comfort for the underprivileged

peoples of the third world.

140. Before concluding these words of congratulation,

may I pay a heartfelt tribute to the memory of Mr. Emilio

Arenales, a diplomat of rare quality, a brilliant orator with

a diversity of talents, a man of uncommon courtesy, one of

the most outstanding men of our Latin America, who

presided with tact and authority over the work of the

preceding session of the United Nations General Assembly

and whom the merciless reaper took from his country and

from us all in the fullness of his genius.

141. And to you, Madam President, I renew my wishes for

a successful and fruitful leadership.

142. We are almost at the end of the First United Nations

Development Decade; the Preparatory Committee for the

Second Development Decade has already drawn up the

programme of work and calendar of meetings, in conformity

with General Assembly resolution 2411 (XXIII),

concerned essentially with defining the main elements of

the international development strategy and with establishing

an order of priority for the questions to be

considered: the rate of growth, financial and economic

assistance to developing countries, the world demographic

situation and several other equally important points.

143. According to the annual report of the Secretary-General

of the United Nations, His Excellency U Thant [see

document A/7601, p. 105], the world economic and

financial situation showed a distinct improvement during

the year 16 June 1968 to 15 June 1969, indicating some

progress over the previous year. The analysis of a number of

indicators in the field of personal income, consumption and

welfare and the extent to which, by means of investment

and institutional adaptation, the productive capacity of the

developing countries has improved were considered to be

encouraging signs.

144. According to the same report [ibid., p. 106], industrial

recovery in the Federal Republic of Germany and the

continued rapid industrial growth in Japan helped to raise

the rate of increase in world manufacturing (outside

mainland China) to above 7.5 per cent, about 3.3 per cent

higher than in the previous interval. Vigorous industrial

expansion was also recorded in some of the developing

countries of eastern Asia: China (Taiwan), Hong Kong, the

Republic of Korea and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the

Philippines, raising the region’s rate of growth in manufacturing

production to 10 per cent, about three times as

high as in.1967. A marked recovery was also registered in

some countries—notably Argentina and Brazil.

145. The only shadows on this bright picture, in which no

reference is made to the developing countries of low

productivity in Africa and Latin America, are the constant

disequilibrium in the reserve currency countries, the

marked deterioration of balance in the European Economic

Community and the relatively vulnerable external position

of France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

146. Let us hope that these facts, which show the other

side of the picture, do not portend an economic crisis on a

world scale like that of the 1930s, a recurrence of which

according to the experts, would be quite impossible in view

of the precautions taken and the new criteria adopted.

147. But leaving aside the results of the year June

1968-June 1969, which were quite brilliant in some

respects, has the United Nations Development Decade

achieved all the objectives it set itself? It may be doubted.

148. Here we are in the ninth year of the First Decade.

Having nearly run the whole set course, can we really see on

the horizon any glimmer of hope for a better future?

149. The reply must apparently be in the negative. The

demographic dynamism of the developing countries, reluctantly

resigned to practise a family planning policy

restricting the growth of available manpower—sometimes

condemned through under-employment to expatriation but

despite everything a possible factor of progress and source

of foreign currency earnings—the policy of many States to

decrease financial aid, either in order to ward off the danger

of monetary crisis or to slow down an economic expansion

that has become a real cause for concern for certain

Governments, the difficulty of finding sources of international

financing—all these are disquieting signs for the

deprived countries of the third world.

150. Are not the conclusions put forward in 1966 by

Mr. Philippe de Seynes, Under-Secretary for Economic and

Social Affairs, still valid today? “It must be clearly noted”,

he said at that time, “that the flow of capital towards the

third world has not increased in a period of exceptionally

rapid growth, and we can imagine what it will be if we are

to enter a period of less rapid growth”—a period that,

despite optimistic conclusions, the above-mentioned facts

might well usher in.

151. Basing himself on a study by the Hudson Institute,

Mr. Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, in his book The

American Challenge, which is not without some attempt at

sensationalism, stated that within some thirty years, subject

to “unforeseen changes“ (perhaps a simple stylistic precaution),

the classification of nations would be as follows:

“The post-industrial societies will be, in this order: the

United States, Japan, Canada, Sweden. That is all.

“The advanced industrial societies that have the potential

to become post-industrial include: Western Europe,

the Soviet Union, Israel, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia,

Australia and New Zealand.

“The following nations will become consumer societies:

Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, South

Korea, Malaysia, Formosa, and the other countries of

Europe.

“The rest of the world—China, India, most of South

America, the Arab countries and Black Africa—will not

even have reached the industrial stage.“

152. Thus is announced cold-bloodedly to the countries of

the third world their long-term condemnation to certain

poverty as a result of some irreversible determinism.

153. These same reasons explain the moving appeals of the

Heads of State of the developing countries, who are

alarmed to see that the development of the economy of

countries with meagre resources has proved difficult and

that the gap between the economies of the affluent and the

poor countries continues to grow, so that the rich countries

daily become richer and the poor countries poorer.

154. We, the developing countries of Latin America, have

heard, in the inter-American system, the successive promises

of Operation Pan-America, proposed by Brazil, the

Bogota Charter, the first meeting at Punta del Este and,

finally, the Alliance of Progress.

155. The results have been so disappointing that the

present United States President, Mr. Richard M. Nixon, felt

it necessary to send Mr. Nelson A. Rockefeller, the

Governor of the State of New York, on a tour of the Latin

American countries for a complete review, in all sectors, of

United States policy vis-a-vis its Latin American partners.

156. The choice of the Presidential emissary was a happy

one. It was thought that Mr. Nelson A. Rockefeller, who

belongs to the liberal wing of the Republican Party and was

for some time at the State Department in charge of United

States relations with Latin America, could count on many

friendships in the countries he was to visit, and he had in

addition a large number of business contacts.

157. In his visits to the various Latin American countries

he met with varying receptions. In Haiti he was received

with that cordiality, that sense of hospitality, that respect

for the foreigner that are characteristic of our race, which

“nourishes no hatred in the heart against anyone”.

158. Dr. Francois Duvalier, President for Life of the

Republic of Haiti, handed him a memorandum for the

President of the United States, in which he vigorously

stressed the urgent need for close co-operation in all sectors

and the responsibilities of the leader of the Latin American

countries towards those countries. In it he stated:

“We should like to express the hope that the United

States of North America, which we have always recognized

as the leader of the Western Hemisphere, will

remember that we have stood by it ever since the

memorable battle of Savannah, ever since the magnificent

dialogue between Toussaint Louverture and John Quincy

Adams, right up to the days of the present President for

Life of the Republic who, always desirous of pursuing the

dialogue, pointed out again and again to many American

friends and American Ambassadors the danger that the

disappearance of General Fulgencio Batista would

represent....But the leader of the world’s first black republic

was not heeded.

“The United States of North America has assumed the

leadership of the continent.

“I have expressed the view that it is, desirable to

recognize and appreciate the burdens carried by a great

Power and the nature of the difficulties it encounters

when it assumes the responsibilities of leadership. That is

why I have always sought the attentive and enlightened

understanding of the Heads of Government of your

country, or of its high officials, without, let us say quite

frankly, the desired success. The leader of the world’s

first black republic was not understood. He himself has

known only lack of understanding and vacillation on the

part of our great neighbour, vacillation and lack of

understanding which go back to the first Pan-American

Conference at Panama in 1826 and up to the various

conferences at Punta del Este. Nevertheless, despite

vacillation and lack of understanding, Haiti continues to

solicit the attention of its great neighbour, the leader, the

United States of North America, for the safeguard of its

own security, which is linked with that of the entire Latin

American sub-continent and of all other Caribbean

countries. With the historic obligation of mutual assistance

that was sealed with the blood shed by my ancestors

on the plains of Savannah for the conquest of the

freedom and independence of the United States of North

America, I have, in all sincerity, sought the establishment,

on such foundations, of a firm, frank, loyal and brotherly

friendship; I have sought the establishment of a broad,

genuine and effective co-operation with a view to assisting

the Haitian nation, the Haitian people and my Government

to be ready to participate in the destinies of the

United States of North America in particular and of the

continent in general.”

159. The grave political crises that might hurl mankind

into the abyss are the logical consequence of the division of

the world into the wealthy and the underprivileged countries

and of the lack of international co-operation. They

also stem from the manifest desire of the dominant Powers

to monopolize the sources of raw materials that guarantee

material and intellectual well-being, whether they be

sources of energy like the petroleum deposits of the Middle

East, distant plantations of so-called allies, or mines that

provide them with strategic metals such as nickel,

ciromium, aluminium, manganese and copper, to say

nothing of uranium—some of them essential to the steel

industry and the successful operation of steel foundries,

others for the manufacture of deterrent weapons.

160. If we wish to trace back the basic causes of the crises

in the Middle East, in Biafra and in Viet-Nam, and of the

events in Czechoslovakia, we could analyse them as follows,

against a horizon on which it is impossible to say whether

the spectre of nuclear war, of an apocalyptic destruction of

our civilization, looms near or far.

161. With regard to Viet-Nam, we are advancing stealthily

towards what has been called, in a happy euphemism, the

Viet-Namization of the war, in other words, confrontation

of the dominant Powers through third parties.

162. To satisfy national public opinion, the United States

Executive first, under the Democratic administration,

ended the bombing of North Viet-Nam; then under the

present Republican administration, it effected the withdrawal

of a number of United States units, more and more

of which are to be withdrawn as the forces of President

Thieu become able to take over the responsibilities of the

war.

163. The first operation, carried out with consummate

skill or, shall we say, diplomacy, with olive branch held out

and the desire of the American people for peace well in

evidence, aroused a real wave of enthusiasm throughout the

world. Thousands of messages of encouragement were sent

to President Johnson, among them that of President

Duvalier, which I had the honour of reading from this

rostrum last year [1679th meeting].

164. The second operation ordered by President Nixon

was also interpreted as a demonstration of the will for

peace of the great American nation.

165. But, to be objective, it must be recognized that the

Paris talks have made very little progress, North Viet-Nam

and its ally, the National Liberation Front, having declared

their determination to continue the struggle until the

departure of the allied troops and the elimination of what

they call the puppet government of President Thieu. If,

therefore, the latter manages to hold out, with the help, of

course, of advisers and the supply of the necessary arms,

the action threatens to go on for some time to come.

166. It is to be hoped, however, that the Viet-Nam phase

of the war will be of short duration and will end in a

compromise. The struggle has already produced too many

innocent victims and has offered to the eyes of the civilized

world such a display of calamities and horrors that any kind

of peaceful solution, however lame, has become desirable.

167. The war in the Middle East, following Israel’s victory

after six days of fighting, has degenerated into a war of

attrition carried out against the victor by the coalition of

Arab countries, and into a disguised holy war following the

unfortunate burning of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

168. But here, too, the Powers concerned are watching

jealously over the maintenance of the balance of power.

The armed forces of the United Arab Republic, having been

put to a severe test when the first blow was struck, with

their air force destroyed on the ground, have been carefully

built up again and trained by qualified experts, while Israel,

with the delivery of new combat aircraft, has regained all its

striking power. Newspaper headlines stress the will to battle

of the adversaries. “Israeli jets”, says a newspaper of 13

September, “launched a devastating raid along the Gulf of

Suez at Ras Zafarana and at Ras Ghareb”; “Fire and the

holy war“, says another paper; “One with the nation, the

Israeli army exerts a decisive influence“, states a widely

read monthly publication. All this adds fuel to the fire.

169. I could not fail to applaud once again this year the

noble efforts of the Secretary-General to restore peace in

the Middle East. He deserves full credit for having brought

the four great Powers, permanent members of the Security

Council, together on the Middle East problem. After having

enjoined the four great Powers, in an appeal on 12

September, to intensify their efforts to restore peace, the

secretary-General made arrangements for a working dinner

on 20 September for the four Foreign Ministers present in

New York. May it produce good results!

170. Another irritating problem that has for a good many

years defeated all United Nations efforts is that of the

apartheid policy of South Africa, to which have been added

the problems of South West Africa and of the Rhodesia of

the rebel Ian Smith.

171. South Africa’s policy of apartheid, a system of

out-and-out racial segregation enforced upon 12 million

blacks by a white minority of scarcely 3.5 million, imposes

upon its victims restrictions that would have been inconceivable

even in the slave societies of the past: they are

forbidden to move about freely within their borders or to

go beyond them, they are forbidden to go about after a

certain hour, they are required to live in places appointed

by the white authorities, their right to education is limited

and they are completely segregated from the dominant

group, which uses the black man only for the labour which

it finds repugnant.

172. The system displays a proud prosperity and reference

is constantly made to a rich South Africa, when its wealth

is the fruit of the most shameful exploitation of man by

man.

173. The wishes of the various United Nations bodies, and

the resolutions adopted by them under the vigorous urging

of the Committee on Apartheid, have remained dead

letters.

174. About six years ago, the Prime Minister of the

Republic of South Africa initiated the hypocritical policy

of the bantustans, which are nothing more than reservations

separated from the areas occupied by individuals of the

superior race, the two races being allowed neither to see nor

to communicate with each other.

175. That, according to Pretoria, is a progressive liberalization

of the system, a step towards a certain degree of

autonomy granted to the blacks, towards the setting up of a

sort of commonwealth in which the Republic of South

Africa would be the nerve centre and the various black

reserves satellite republics. But good care has been taken

not to indicate when the period of evolution would end.

Will it come about in sixty years, in three hundred years?

No one knows. The system, it is to be hoped, will lead to

numerous ambiguities and risks for its creators.

176. The Pretoria authorities have applied the same policy

in the Territory of South West Africa, considered by

Pretoria to have been annexed by right cf conquest after

the iniquitous judgement of the Court of The Hague,

which, ruling on form rather than on substance, decided in

1966 that Liberia and Ethiopia, Members of the former

League of Nations and duly commissioned by the Organization

of African Unity, had neither a right nor a juridical

interest in the subject of their request.

177. And the same system is gradually taking root in

Southern Rhodesia, despite the sanctions which have

greatly shaken its economy and which will ultimately, at

least this is the hope of all free men, ruin it completely.

There again, as in the case of the Middle East, the solution

to the problem lies in the hands of the four great Powers,

the permanent members of the Security Council.

178. But no social system based on iniquity is viable.

Nothing can halt the march of history. The struggle of

peoples for freedom will go on gaining in intensity and

sooner or later will come the collapse of the hideous system

of apartheid, inaugurated in South Africa and extended to

South West Africa—now Namibia—and Southern Rhodesia.

The prosperity of rich South Africa will be but a sad

episode in the annals of the history of man’s inhuman

cruelty.

179. Many other questions, of equal importance and of

vital interest for mankind, have still to be settled; general

and complete disarmament, a problem that has been

discussed at Geneva for years; the urgent need to suspend

nuclear and thermonuclear tests; a comprehensive study of

the whole question of peace-keeping operations in all its

aspects.

180. Let us point out, however, that at the noble initiative

of Mexico, with the support of the whole Latin American

group, the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in

Latin America was concluded in Mexico [see resolution

2286 (XXII)], and that instruments of ratification have

been deposited by all the signatory States. Let us also point

out that a convention held recently in the Aztec capital,

under the chairmanship of the Under-Secretary of State for

Foreign Affairs of Mexico, studied the ways and means of

implementing that Treaty. May that example be followed in

the interest of the protection of the third world!

181. As far as my country is concerned, the analysis for

the year 1967-1968 made by the competent service for the

various sectors—agriculture, mining, quarrying and construction,

manufacturing, electricity and drinking water,

transport and communications, trade, banking, insurance

and real estate, housing government and services—

contributing to the establishment of the national product

has, in the face of the ever-growing population figures,

shown a slight drop in per capita income.

182. This situation may be explained in part by the low

rate of investment in the private and public sectors and by

the fall in export earnings owing to a contraction in the

volume of exported raw materials as a result of the

devastating effects of hurricanes Flora, Cleo and Inez,

whose after-effects are still being felt.

183. Faced with such a situation, the great leader of the

nation, Dr. Francois Duvalier, President for Life of the

Republic of Haiti, having considered that the Duvalier

revolution had achieved its administrative and organizational

objectives during its first decade, in full accord with

the values and concepts of his own ancestral heritage,

decided that the second decade of the Revolution should be

devoted to the promotion of the Haitian economy.

184. He expressed this with force and authority in his

message of 13 August 1968, entitled “The Haitian road to

planning“. I quote:

“The call to adapt or perish applies to all nations, large

or small, developed or developing. One of the most

edifying tasks of the age is to build a more harmonious,

more humane and more just society, in freedom and

self-determination and not as a reflect on or model of

societies that are proposed or that it might be desired to

impose. The refusal in this regard is clear and positive.

“My struggle for the past ten years has been to build a

sure and stable socio-political structure that can provide

support and protection for the tasks of the decade of

organization and adaptation in the specific Haitian

context. A Government that does not constantly watch

over the adaptation of men and of structures, a modern

writer has said, is a bad manager, just as an engineer who

lives only on past knowledge is a bad technician.

“You must remember—if the Executive Secretary, my

Minister of Finance, has not already said the same—the

options and priorities that must prevail in the drawing up

and implementation of the 1968-1969 plan of action:

“I. First and foremost, the Francois Duvalier hydro-electric

power station in Péligre, the symbol of our

forthcoming economic independence;

“II. The Southern Road, which unquestionably

demonstrates the expertise of the Haitian technician in

ensuring the movement of goods and persons inside the

country, as the magnificent poem in stone and concrete,

the Francois Duvalier International Airport, has done in

the case of foreign communications;

“III. An agricultural programme in which projects

must be selected according to the extent to which they

are able to meet our needs for foreign currency and to

raise the purchasing power and general level of living of

the rural masses, which constitute the national majority.”

185. As a result of these specific instructions and of the

mobilization of all the vital forces of the nation, the Péligre

hydro-electric power station began to take shape. Not only

did the civil engineering work, which was carried out with

rare competence by Haitian technicians, make it possible to

bring into operation the heavy equipment necessary for

completion of work on the plant, but the work on the

Southern Road was pursued with vigor.

186. On 3 January 1969, extolling the profound truth of

the Revolution, President Duvalier made known to the

people that the sacrifices they had made had not been in

vain. He said:

“Tomorrow, my dear fellow citizens, I feel—and, why

should I not say so, I know—that you will come to offer

your sorrows, your tears, your blood, your sacrifices and

your courages, in the achievement of the Francois

Duvalier hydro-electric power station at Péligre, so that

light may burst forth and shine like sunlight into the

smallest cottages and in the spirits of men.

“Thus tomorrow, 3 January 1969, Haiti is making its

second payment of $517,000 required under the contract

signed on 3 May 1968 in respect of the turbines to be

delivered to Péligre in March 1969.

“In the vast infrastructural sector, the year 1968 saw

considerable advances. Construction work on the

Southern Road, of which 200 kilometres have been

completed, continues with the same vigour. The bridges

at Carrefour and Petionville, as well as educational centres

and dispensaries, have been inaugurated. The construction

work on the bridge at Momance and the maintenance

work on the Plaisance-Limbé, Saint Marc, Pont Sondé-Péligre

and Morne to Cabrit Mirebalais roads are well

advanced.

“In the general field of culture, letters, the arts, the

sciences and technology, the National inheritance has

been enriched by powerful and useful works.”

187. In this respect, the Mémoires d’un leader du tiers

monde by Mr. Francois Duvalier, is still the book of the

year for Haiti. In that work, the President for Life of the

Republic has given a lively and detailed description of the

negotiations that were to lead to the setting up of a Haitian

episcopal hierarchy: an archbishop, one of the youngest in

the world, and three bishops. This was the necessary

consequence of the socio-political revolution inaugurated

more than ten years ago by the Chief of State of Haiti; it

marked the recognition by Rome of the spiritual maturity

of the Haitian people and the Haitian Church.

188. A French critic has paid a well-deserved tribute to

the literary and historic value of this work:

“The very title of the work which Dr. Francois Duvalier

has just had published by Hachette conveys the dominant

idea of the policy which he proposes for the consideration

of Haitian youth and of the peoples of the third

world.

“There can be found in it the essential points of his

militant doctrine for what he calls the black homeland,

for which, in the manner of Charles Péguy, he says he

feels physical love.

“His faith in the civilizing mission of the Church, the

education that he received in the family and in the sugar

plantations of Carrefour and Cold River, have been

strengthened with the years, especially since, according to

Ernest Lavisse, one must never believe in the uselessness

of history to the point of trying to separate scientific

work from the moral and social education of the citizens

of a democracy.“

189. Thus the programme from September 1967 to

September 1969 was carried out for the Haitian people,

whose heart has never ceased to beat in unison with that of

its leader, in the midst of all manner of difficulties and

sacrifices voluntarily accepted to ensure the future of the

country in the hope—to use the words of Mr. Jean-Jacques

Servan-Schreiber, already quoted—that some “unforeseen

change“, but one fervently desired by the Haitian nation,

will help it to move from a certain phase of development

where the “rest of the world” now finds itself to a more

advanced stage.

190. Despite its financial difficulties, Haiti, faithful to its

Pan American vocation, has not failed to respond to the

appeal of Mr. Galo Plaza, Secretary-General of the Organization

of American States, for the establishment of an

emergency fund to assist struggling countries. Mr. Plaza

stated that $45,000 had been contributed to this fund, of

which $25,000 were allocated from the working capital

fund of OAS, $5,000 given by the Government of Panama

and $20,000 given by the Government of Haiti. Thus my

country, despite its modest means, values the ideals of

peace, solidarity and fraternity which form the basis of the

regional organization that groups the countries of this

hemisphere.

191. All these efforts have been achieved despite the traps

laid for the Haitian people and its leader by a clique of

ambitious men who, in their country of exile, have not

reconciled themselves to having been driven from power by

the just anger of the people or to having lost their selfish

and undeserved privileges as shameless exploiters of the

majority classes.

192. These kings-in-exile have found allies among the hack

writers in the pay of the enemies of all those who do not

belong to the master race, irresponsible journalists who,

having abused the generous hospitality of Haiti, have turned

their poisoned and ill-famed pens against their benefactors

of yesterday.

193. They have even recruited supporters, to whom they

have no doubt promised substantial dividends.

194. For example, on 4 June, despite the strictest rules of

territorial asylum, they sent from a territory adjacent to the

Republic of Haiti a four-engined Super-Constellation air-craft,

the tail and fuselage of which had been painted in

Haitian colours, black and red, and which was loaded with

incendiary bombs. Those bombs were aimed at the National

Palace, the Chancellery building, the school of the Republic

of Venezuela, where nearly 3,000 children were taking

examinations for primary certificates, the Institution of

Saint-Louis de Gonzague, the Sainte-Rose de Lima boarding

school and Bird College, which has over a thousand

students. Fortunately the targets were not hit. There were

one or two fires, quickly brought under control, in some

heavily populated areas of the capital and a few unfortunate

victims, among them a child, the daughter of a

member of the domestic staff of the United States Embassy

at Port-au-Prince. The action lasted less than a quarter of an

hour. As soon as the Haitian fighter aircraft took to the air,

the pirate aircraft flew away and just managed to land at a

military base in a neighbouring island, the fuselage riddled

with bullets and the pilot’s seat half torn away.

195. Shame on these assassins, murderers of women and

children, whose action only strengthens the solidarity of

the Haitian people with its Government.

196. There is no end to the list of acts of banditry against

the Haitian nation and its leader by these power-hungry

people.

197. On 13 January 1969, the police seized a training

camp for Haitian exiles in a great neighbouring country.

198. On 17 August these exiles met on the territory of a

country which maintains normal diplomatic relations with

Haiti. Men of God, forgetting their sacred vocation, spoke

at the gathering and made a collection for the purchase of

weapons.

199. Lastly, plans were made to assassinate the Haitian

Counsul in a large town of the continent; his life was only

saved through the protection of the local police.

200. I suggest that these enemies of the people, if they are

still capable of so doing, should ponder the following words

of the President for Life of Haiti, in his message of

2 January to the Haitian nation—words that have been

taken up by another leader of the people:

“A higher power impels me to an unknown goal. Until

that goal has been attained I shall be invulnerable and

unshakable. Once I am no longer necessary, a fly will be

enough to overcome me.”

201. In concluding my statement, I would offer to my

suffering brethren in Africa these consoling words of the

Sovereign Pontiff, His holiness Pope Paul VI, when he took

leave of Dr. Obote, President of Uganda:

“We carry also in our heart the sufferings of all those

whose voices cannot be heard. For them we shall pray

that peace and fraternal aid will heal their wounds, tend

their sickness and alleviate their sufferings. We address

this appeal to all men of goodwill, and especially to the

Africans, who are better placed to help their fellow

citizens of this continent.”

202. I should like to declare once again the faith of the

Government and people of Haiti in the standards, principles

and noble aims of the United Nations Charter and to

express the hope that, through the action of our Organization,

there may reign upon this earth a little more of the

spirit of justice, peace and fraternity.