Honduras, 2014

I am Juan Orlando Hernández. I was born in

a humble village called Rio Grande, in the department

of Lempira, a region with very high rates of inequality

and poverty, although that is now changing, as is my

whole country. I am here in my capacity as President

of Honduras, a country located in the heart of the

Americas. It is a country small in size, but with a great

desire to achieve development based on its own identity,

and with a people who struggle daily to advance and

progress, and who aspire to better living conditions.

In 2009, our country suffered one of the worst

political crises in its history. It led to several hundred

million dollars in losses, and most unfortunately, to

thousands of divided families and more poverty. That

crisis caused more damage than any hurricane or

natural disaster. However, today we can say that we

have overcome the political crisis.

Honduras is a country where full democracy is

practised and there is complete freedom to choose its

leaders. In addition to representative democracy, we

practice participatory democracy. Proof of that is the

dialogue that will lead to a compact for Honduras that

will be the result of listening to the views of different

sectors of society on central issues for our people. Our

Everyone for a Better Life Plan includes four basic

pillars: restoring peace, generating investment and

large-scale employment opportunities, supporting

families living in extreme poverty, and combatting

corruption and promoting greater transparency in the

culture of the Honduran people.

Since taking office eight months ago, I have been

completely devoted to recovering and maintaining

peace and tranquillity, creating opportunities with fairer

conditions for everybody. We need more investment to

come to our country in order to create jobs that will

translate into greater income for our families. To that

end, Honduras has amended its Constitution to create

one of the best platforms in the world for investment and

employment. It is a very innovative. I am referring to

the Zone for Employment and Economic Development,

which is better known by its acronym ZEDE.

The Honduras ZEDE model is not just another free

trade zone, similar to the 3,500 that already exist in the

world. Ours is different because it is comprehensive. It

is a jurisdiction with four dimensions: legal, economic,

administrative and political. The Honduran ZEDE

is a L.E.A.P. zone, which in English means “to jump

forward”. In Honduras, the ZEDE will help us take a

competitive leap forward towards greater well-being.

Rather than joining the race to the bottom, Honduras

has decided to compete upwards, welcoming global

investment through a special jurisdiction of the highest

level to employ the most productive and profitable

workforce in a highly favourable location at the centre

of the Americas, bringing the Pacific and the Atlantic

together.

In the legal dimension, ZEDE offers a common law

system, with compulsory arbitration and international

judges. Economically speaking, we are competitive in

an open market, with a series of agile simple regulations,

with highly attractive and sustainable incentives for the

creation of good jobs under decent conditions. In the

administrative dimension, ZEDE provides a technical,

non-political structure without bureaucratic obstacles

that is effective for companies that must operate at the

speed of the markets and technology in the twenty-

first century, and with full guarantees of transparency

and security within the rule of law. Finally, to attract

long-term investment and ensure good jobs, we

guarantee political stability and transparency based

on international treaties and agreements, with the

support of an international commission of 21 trustees to

ensure compliance with best practices for workers and

the investors. I invite everyone to discover the great

opportunity Honduras offers the world.

We have also created a participatory model

of Government enterprises and the private sector,

with mixed capital — in other words public-private

partnerships. We are building an interoceanic logistical

corridor linking the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean,

allowing us to move cargo between both Oceans in less

than six hours — I repeat, less than six hours. Our hope

is to capture at least 5 per cent of the demand to move

goods from one ocean to another.

We have made progress, but we also recognize that

much remains to be done. For example, there has been a

rise in the number of Hondurans going abroad, including

an unusual migration of children and vulnerable youth

to North America, many unaccompanied by an adult.

This migration is the result of the violence created by

the movement of drugs through our territory, poverty

and the lack of opportunities. Special attention must be

dedicated to this phenomenon, especially in countries

that are responsible for the problem either because

they produce the drugs or because they are the market

where the drug is consumed. We believe that this is a

shared responsibility. Faced with the scant interest in

solving the problem shown but those who created it, we

Hondurans must stress this issue in every forum that

we possibly can, because we must speak clearly and

forcefully about that issue.

Honduran territory is today one of the main

battlefields of a war that is not our own. We did not start

this war. Its strategies are decided outside Honduras,

and it involves drug-consuming countries in the North

and drug producing countries in the South. It is a real

monster — a multinational, criminal octopus without

nationalities, borders or scruples, which is dedicated

to the trafficking, trade and consumption of drugs and

to encouraging demand, especially in the wealthiest

societies.

The drugs transiting through Honduras and

Central America destroy the lives and peace of our

people, our youth, our children and our women. From

those who orchestrate and organize the transnational

activity within our territory to ordinary citizens and the

children involved as pawns in drug dealing and addicts,

all are affected. They are all embarking on the path of

no return, which will tear apart our society, destroy

families, corrupt officials and destroy institutions. I

invite members to ask themselves: Who are the real

culprits in this cycle of death, misfortune, mourning,

struggle, blood and pain? It is not Hondurans, I can

assure the Assembly of that.

In forums such as this, we need to agree on the

basic contours of the issue and the facts. We cannot,

in the midst of crisis and without coming to useful or

concrete conclusions, put forward proposals based on

legalizing production and consumption, on the one

hand, and on waging a merciless war on trafficking and

illegal drug use, on all fronts and regardless of cost,

on the other. I ask myself, and I invite members to ask

themselves: Who are the true victims of this tragedy?

All those who cannot live in peace in modern society

are victims, as are those who cannot live in society

without using drugs. Society itself is a victim, as it is

unable to organize its efforts and manage its resources

in a rational manner so as to create new opportunities.

Honduras produces and consumes practically no

drugs. We are a transit country. Unfortunately, we

provide only the battlefield and the dead. We provide

the resources to combat drugs’ transit through our

territory, and those are resources that we are prevented

from investing in meeting our development problems

and challenges. I repeat: we are not responsible for the

war.

I think it is time to do what we have to do: respect

human rights; follow what experts and our common

sense are telling us; attack the problem at its root,

once and for all; and do it together and throughout the

affected region. We must create a multinational force

capable of dealing successfully with a phenomenon

that is transnational in terms of its organization, its

market, its projections and its financing. This morning,

President Obama called for such unity in fighting radical

fundamentalists. I would ask: What is the difference

between the effects of terrorist acts perpetrated by

radical fundamentalists and the effects of the terrorist

acts perpetrated by those who traffic in drugs? What is

the difference?

Today the international community is discussing

what happens in other regions of the world when

children, young people and families are displaced by

war, violence and radical extremists. Those are all

situations that we as a nation also condemn. Of course

we do. However, little is being said and about the

thousands of families living in the northern triangle

of Central America. I do not want to believe that this

issue will simply be forgotten. As human beings, we

cannot allow that to happen. I would once again ask

the Assembly: What is the difference between those

displaced by violence in other regions and those

displaced by the violence committed by drug traffickers

and transnational criminals? What is the difference?

One difference is that those displaced — those

thousands of families and individual children — come

knocking on the doors of the United States of America.

As a region, we cannot continue to ignore this human

drama, which affects thousands of Central Americans,

especially unaccompanied migrant minors who, on

their way to the United States, have been the victims of

violence, transnational crime, rape, human trafficking

and the organ trade. Many have died or disappeared

in the desert. We cannot forget that. Those children

deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. They

are innocent victims. We are talking about innocent

children just like our children and grandchildren. They

are vulnerable human beings.

I would like to inform the Assembly that yesterday,

the Secretary-General kindly agreed to have me, along

with the ministers of Guatemala and El Salvador,

present to him the Plan of the Alliance for Prosperity in

the Northern Triangle, which maps out an initiative to

support and create opportunities so that our countrymen

are able to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity

with everyone in our region — and I repeat, everyone,

because this cause is our common responsibility.

An important part of the solution to the child

migration problem is to create job opportunities for

their parents there, in Central America, and to improve

security for young people there, in Central America.

Both issues are closely linked to the trade policies

of the United States. We are not asking for financial

assistance or charity. What we are asking for is just and

equitable trade treatment, as is already given to other

countries in the world. What we want is to jobs, to create

those opportunities. Honduras supports efforts to unite

the world in peace and prosperity through just trade

and better access to major world markets. Within that

vision, and in the context of the current negotiations,

we demand that Honduras and Central America receive

the same commercial treatment as Asian countries do,

in order to enable us to compete.

To be frank, the United States giving preferential

tariffs and rules of origin to other countries and leaving

Honduras and Central America out of that would lead

to thousands of jobs being lost in our region and would

lead more children to illegally cross the border. I say to

President Obama, Congress, the North American people

and the people of the world: Honduras is committed to

solving the child migration issue and to fighting drug

trafficking. Many of them know this, clearly, given our

determination. But if there is not a reasonable degree of

coherence in our countries’ trade policies, as partners,

what is the real message to our people in Central

America? What should Honduran children and their

parents expect, in Central America?

Given the many problems we face as Hondurans,

we have learned to see every crisis as an opportunity,

and my Government follows the Christian principles of

solidarity and the common good. We are promoting a

very ambitious programme called A Better Life, through

which we are making small changes and solving big

problems. I am pleased to note that, now, some of those

with the biggest fortunes are also promoting solidarity.

I invite us all to ask: How much money is enough for a

human being to feel fulfilled?

(spoke in English)

How much money is good enough?

(spoke in Spanish)

A few days ago we read about the humanitarian

action being undertaken by one of the world’s richest

men, Mr. Bill Gates, who, through his foundation, is

seeking A Better Life in terms of health for thousands of

poor families by promoting scientific research into new

designs for basic sanitation systems. I think Mr. Bill

Gates found the answer to the question.

(spoke in English)

How much money is good enough?

(spoke in Spanish)

As we are working on the same issue, I take this

opportunity, with the Assembly’s permission, to invite

Mr. Bill Gates, a citizen of the world, to my country to

work on this common endeavour.

It is very encouraging that some of the wealthiest

people in the world are not seeking the secret of eternal

youth, or trying to send expeditions to other planets

while our brothers are dying on this one. On the

contrary, they are aware of the problems of their poorer

brethren. This is going on in many countries, including

Honduras, where many good businesspeople have

signed on to work with our A Better Life programme

and are demonstrating social responsibility by creating

jobs. And that is what this is all about — solidarity

and social responsibility, but not romantic social

responsibility. In that regard, I would like to quote Pope

Francis, a citizen of the world, whose words I hope will

ring in our ears.

“I have never seen a moving van following a funeral

procession, but there is a treasure we can take with

us, a treasure that no one can take away — not

those things we have kept for ourselves, but what

we have given to others”.

We should think about that and consider those

words. Honduras is a country where 43 per cent of the

population lives on less than a dollar a day, which is not

enough to pay for a person’s basic nutritional needs.

That is why we are making a major effort to respond to

these people’s needs through the Better Life programme,

thus enabling them to live with dignity. The Better

Life programme is designed to respond to the needs of

835,000 families, who are getting help in improving

their homes, including providing access to drinking

water and basic sanitation, decent roofs overhead and

floors underfoot, family gardens and monetary support

to ensure that children attend school, have improved

health care and change their living conditions so as to

achieve a better life.

Our housing improvements include the use of

clean stoves, reducing wood consumption and smoke,

which is harmful to women and children’s health and

which, according to the World Health Organization,

kills 500,000 women around the world every year. In

Central America alone, about 35,000 people die from

the wood smoke emitted from dirty cooking stoves

every year. With every eco or clean stove installed, we

make a contribution to the rest of humankind by saving

15 medium-sized trees every year, thus helping to

protect the environment. In that regard, I would like to

highlight the work of former United States Secretary of

State Hillary Clinton for her Global Alliance for Clean

Cookstoves initiative, whose goal is to put clean stoves

in 100 million households by 2020. On this subject we

share Mrs. Clinton’s vision and are working hard to

achieve it.

When presidents come to the General Assembly of

the United Nations, they often prepare speeches they

deem most appropriate and specific to the lofty heights

of this great forum, but beyond the words themselves,

the message I want to convey is that the most important

thing is for all of us to be accepted as citizens of the

world, with the same duty to fight and defend our

territory, our families and our planet, with the same

right to aspire to a better life, and that what is vital is

the support of those who have the most to those who

have the least. If my message today can reach and move

a few to act, I think it will have been worth coming. I

would like to remind the Assembly that if we are part of

the largest forum in the world, it is because we consider

ourselves to be citizens of the world, human beings

with the same dignity, and therefore all of us, everyone

of us, equal. Honduras is making progress; Honduras is

changing; Honduras sends its greetings to all.