organization of am ica tates
'I
tenth inter-american conference
CARACAS. VENEZUELA
3
54 Original: Spanish
CIA HtSTORICAL,REVIEW ,:
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ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY GUILLEHKO TORTJiRIDO
MINISTER OF ^OREJ :
IN THE THIRDESSTON MARCH4
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Caracas,4
ADDRESS BY HIS SXCCLL2JCY CUILLERllORRIDOF FOREIGN afpar3 OF GyViTSKALA IN TH.'; THIRD PLENARY SESSION tiARCH4
Mr. President, Delegates:
Tho delegation of Guatemala has come to the Tenth Inter-American Conference with all the faith and the enthusiasm for democratic doctrines that motivated our Revolution ofholly in sympathy with tho aspirations Of-the* nations of thi3 hemisphere for integrated progress.
The delegation of Guatemala is here, its head high, to express theaspirations of our people and the Revolutionary Government, solidly united in tho desire and the effort to achieve an effective political and economicthrough the exercise of democracy, absolute respect for the political and social rights of man, and the development of an economic program in accordance with the present and future needs of the nation.
The peoples of America followed with interest from tho very beginning the events that have occurred in Guatemala since the heroic days of June and Throughout its history Guatemala has been ravaged by enslaving regimes that had their origin in the colonial period and by brutal tyrannies of both Spanish and native origin, all of then predominately feudal by nature. From the ruins of this tragic past, Guatemala has emerged with the unalterableto forge its own destiny without foreign interference, by ir.eansemocratic system of government, in accordance with the vital needs of its people, respecting the rules of international law and motivated by the firm desire to maintain cordial relations with friendly countries and to comply faithfully with its international obligations,
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The policy of ransoming the national wealth and resources, neglected for entire decades, is motivated by nothing else than tho wretchedness of our own people, resulting from the concentration of land and the backward structure of our economy. On the other hand, this policy conforms to the economicadopted by the United nations and its specialized agencies, by theLabour Organisation, and by the Organization of American States with regard to economic development, agrarian reform, capital investment, social policy, and the exploitation of natural wealth and resources in behalf of the people.
There is nothing novel or aliene purposes of this organisation of American states in tho program that is being carried out in behalf of the people of Guatemala. Tho whole policy of rjy Governmentconpasscd within the limits of representative democracy and hag three great and fundamental objectives: growth of and absolute rc-poct "or democratic liberties; raising of the standard of living of the Guatemalan people through the transformationemi-feudal,
Doc.Hhgliah)
olonial oconoayapitalistic cconoay; and tho defense of national sovereignty and independence.
rt ls for this reason that in Guatemala freedoms df expression of thought, or the press, of association, of labor organization, and of politicalas- well an the freedom, to profess any religious creed, aro not simply words contained in laws but tangible realities enjoyed to tho full by tho people. is dedicated to tho strengthening and the expansion of thoso freedoms andnotarty, donostically or internationally, to any compromise that injures tho rightsinglo on* of our compatriots,
c0nC"nlcial Policy i= based, fundamontai:Ly, on tho following
humanization of labor-management rolations in industrial sndenterprises, through the enactment of organic labor laws that, farviolent uprisings of workers made despcrato by poverty,laborMaanagmont rolationsystem of basic social justice and adminis-
' trativo and judicial decisions in conformity with tho law.
establishmentocial security system that covers onlyto workers, labor accidents,inimum maternal and child-careput into effect gradually and financed through tho cinosic andcontribution from management, workers, and the State.
organisationonetary and banking system adequate toand exchango noods and for the expansion and stability of our oconomy,with tho moot modern concepts of money and control bankinginternational
dovolopmontroad domestic markot through increases inpower and tho olevation of the standard of living of tho people,and the development of ths rural economy, which up to now hasand non-monetary.
o. Tho liberation of tho national economy through construction of means of communication to tho ports and the producing zones; the construction of national docks, the development of an electrification plan adequate for industrial needs and .or public consumption; and the subjection of foreign Monopolistic enterprises to existing lawson equal terns with domestic enterprise.
Industrialization of the country through the organisation ofbanking institutions and through an economic and legislative policy ofdevelopment followed bytate for the purpose of increasingincoee and domestic and foreign commerce.
liberation of the farmers through the abolition off work.
The development of our agrarian economy through the.redistribution oflatifundia, furthering of land ownership in small holdings, theincrease of the sources of capital, and the organization of easy credit available to the farmers benefited by the democratic agrarian reform that has been carried out in tho country by legal means
Among the measures for the economic liberation of the country should be cited, because of its special importance, the enactment of the Agrarian Reform Law
The agricultural census0 revealed this frightful truth: in tho country small farmers with holdings of lessectares (the majority of them simple tenants) madef tha agricultural producers, although theyotal off the total land area. On the other hand, at the other extreme we find thatf the farm ownersotalf the land: and that among them twenty-two owners of latifundia with more than nine thousand hectares each, heldf all the land.
This dramatic and unjust situation is being abolished with determination and courageystem whose worth must bo rocognized by oven the roost recalcitrant reactionaries.
Byh of February of thisarmers hadectares, but the amount of land in process of distribution in accordance with tho law up to the prosent time is moreectaresf the total registered in0 agricultural census cited above. Thus, in only onealf years of the application of the law, distribution of one fourth of the af- fected land has been authorized without causing any important economic disturbance, un the.contrary, production has improved in some items,ore proper and equitable distribution of the national income has been achieved, with the result that the standard of living of tho people has begun to improve substantially.
This is our program and these1 aro our purposes: wo believe in democracy and we are exercising it to the fullest.
It would appear that all of these efforts, carried out with our ownand with no assistance from without, would merit spiritual encouragement and moral aid... However, such has not been the casoj "Never in America haamall country been subjected to such groat pressure."
The people of Guatemala are.enormously disturbed to findespected people, freed of brutal tyrannies, eager to progress and to put in practice the most noble postulates of democracy; determined to put an end to the abuses of the past, trying to wipe out feudalism and colonial procedures and the iniquitousof its most humble citizens, finds itself faced with the dismaying reality that those who boast of encouraging other peoples to travel the road to economic and political liberty decide to bring thornalt, only because the decisions and tho efforts of these peoples injure unjust interests and because the highest interest of these peoples is incompatible with the maintenance of pnvilogos granted by tyrants in evil timeseans of achieving impunity
English)
uarantee tbat they not bo roved from the throne of thoir despotism. And those privileges arc so important for the satisfaction of intemperate ambitions and the privileged ones are so powerful that, despito tho noble postulates of Pan Americanism, they have unleashed against Guatemala the moat iniquitous cam-^palgn, and have Seeno rfavc recourse to the moot cowardl^weapons to doTane, too discredit ono of the purest movoraentE that this hemisphere has ever witnessed. They havo resortod to tlio onomous nachlnery of tho ho means of communicationerected to spread tho truth to all tho ends of tho worldand have prostituted then by raking then instruments of lies and of calumny and have pinned to Guatemala's back tho epithet of nCoenunismn* It is indood sad to give.abol'to^any nationalistic or independence movement, or to any anti-imperialistic or anti-monopolistic action o? tho countries which have for so long borne ths yoke of economic exploitation. Tho most serious aspect of this is that those who describe democracy thus do.it to destroy democracy itself. Those samo privelap,od ones have also resorted-to tlRfduvolopment and support of plots and subversive acts to destroy byovernment that has the real backing of its people and has no noed of foroign sod parents to maintain itself in power. They have counselod boycott and economic aggression against Guatemala in the pross and oven from norlianontrry tribunes. Still notnd sooing tho failuro of all thoir efforts, now again invoking the sacred word, democracy, and repeating the absurd pretext that Guatemalabeachhead of Coccunisa innd that the small republichreat to tho security of an entirehey daro to commit the ultimate attempt, now no longer against Guatemala alone, but against the rx>st solid structure of Parr /jncricanism, inactive Intervention against tha Guatemalan Government.
.'mother grave accusation that international reactionist has launched against Guatemala ls that our republic "menaces continental solidarity".
What i? the reason for this campaign of defamation? What is the real and effective reason for describing our Government as communist? From what sourco comofl tho accuaation thzt iio threaten continental solidarity and security? Why do they wish to intervene in Guatemala?
The answers aro simple and evident. Tho plan of national liberation boing carriod out with firmness by inyas noceo-arily affected tlio privileges of the foreign cntorprisos that an impeding the progress and the economicent of the country. The highway totlantic, besides connecting theproductive zones it traverses, is destroying the oonoply of internalto tho ports now hold by the Ferrocorriles Internacionalos do Centre America (an cntorpriso controlled by the Unitod Fruitn ordor toforeign trade free of grievous and di3Criiainaiory charges. Withof nationald cocks, we zrc putting an end to the monopoly of tho United Fruit Company, and vie will thus ucke it possible for the nation to increase and to divorsify its foreign trc.de through tho use of maritimeother than theFleet, also belonging to tho United Fruit Company, which nov: controls this essential instrument of our internetlcnal commercial relations.
With tha realization of tha plan of national electrification, we shall put and end to foreign monopoly of electric power, indispensable to our industrial development, which has been delayed by the lack, the scarcity, or thefailures of that important raeunn of production.
With our Agrarian Reform, ve aro abolishing the latifundia, including those of the United Pruit Company itself. ignified policy, we have refused to broaden the concessions of that company. We have insisted that foreign investment bo in accordance with our laws, and we have recovered and maintained absolute independence in our foreign policy.
All this ia being done in Guatemala, and yet the American nations are not aware of it. The news that reaches them through the news agencies that serve the cause of tho monopolies is distorted news, almost always defamatory. All these modest efforts to bring about changes in the interest of progress aro called Communism.
These bases and purposes of the Guatemalan revolution cannot be cataloguedoaasunist ideology or policyi olitical-economic platform like that put forward by the government of Guatemala, which is settling in rural areas thousands of individual landowners, individual farmers, can never be conceived ofocBRunist plan. Far from that, we believe that raising the standard of living and the income of rural and urban workers alone stimulates theeconomic dovolopmsnt of the country and the sociological basesenuinely Guatemalan functional democracy.
The pretext that wehroat to continental solidarity is repeated daily, and is disseminatedogma, which needs no proof, and almost no one has bothered to analyze it. The truth is that, during tho Ust few years, Guatemala can be considered as one of the countries that havo contributed tho most to continental solidarity, if we take into account tho fact thatd) of the Chartor states that "the solidarity of the American States and the high aims which are sought through lt requiro tho political organization of those States on the basis of the effective exercise of representative democracy".
From tho wording of this article lt may obviously bo infhat the solidarity of tho hemisphere cannot bo threatenedountry that has exerted all its efforts toward making representative democracy effective within its borders and enforcing to the utmost tho fundamental rights of man as formally asserted universally and regionally, at Paris and atothnd categorically affirmed in5 Constitution of Guatemala.
In our opinion those who do threaten continental solidarity arc those who oppose or hamper the full development of the American peoples, since such development shouldbased on tangible acts that are translated into the raising of standards of living and of production of peoplesystem of equitable and humane economic intercourse.
International reaction, at the samo llmo lt is pointing out Guatemalathreat to continentala preparing vast interventionist plans.
such as the one recently denounced by the Guatemalan government. The published documentswhich tho thpnrtraent of State at Washington hastened to call Moscowropagandaunquestionably show that the foreign conspirators and monopolistic oj interests ihat inspired and financed then sought to permit armed interventionagainst our country, asoble undertaking against communism". Let usbefore this Conference the gravity of these events. Non-intervention is one of the most priceless triumphs cf Pan Americanism snd the essential basis of inter-American unity, solidarity, and cooperation. It has been fully supported in various In tor-American instruments, and specifically in Articlef theof the Organization of American States. The Secretary General of theDr. Alberto Llama Camargo, in his report on the Ninth Internationalof American Status, in commenting on this article, states categorically that with it "the doubt that seemed to arise recently, as to whether intervention carried out collectively would be so considered, has thus been dispelled"'. to the Bogota Conferencfa. it has been alleged that "Communism"ood pretext to intervene collectively and to defeat the principle of non-intervention, and those interested havo not failed to help in this defeat, regarding so-called "communist infiltration"fifth column". The samu Secretary General of the Organization of amerlcan States, in tho report mentioned, refutes this aasumption and shows that there is absolutely no basis for it. Let me quote sone of the ideas expressed by that authority. Mr. Lleras Camargo says: "Who is the arbiter that can decide when intervention is Just and is being conducted upon acceptable moral and Juridical principles and when, on the contrary, it is pursuingends? The only Judges would necessarily be the interested partiesand every effective set of interventionorld power would always find means of justification. In that way the icost solid foundation of theand independence of weak nations would be consumedingle burnt offering to transitory circumstances, and the strong and imperialistic countries would have regained, with no effort, the most powerful of those arms of oppresion that the progress of international law had wrenched from then.
"Obviously the effort toistinction between collective andintervention, so an to justify tho first and still condemn the second,angerous flaw in the principle of non-intervention. The factajority of nationsiven group combine to intervene ininternal affairstate, by no means guarantees the goodness and uprightness of theirNo law apart from the individual or collective interest of the States would be applicable in tbat er1 cy. roup of democratic nations might combine to destroy,ivi. country and by means or 'joint action andorm of antidemocratic government. But who is to guarantoo that the coalitionroup of antidemocratic governments might not proceed in an identical mannerovernment rulod by the most righteous laws and thedemocratic institutions, if the only thing that mokes the act legal is the fact that it is collective, that is, the number of partioa that undertake
Up to this point, tht very clear words of the Secretary General of thobesides containing objective criteriary of alarm against anymaneuver, constitute an authoritative and authentic explanation of the scope ofndf the Charter of the Organization of .'jaer-ican States.
of dociilon 7* .cecome tne subject of discussion, much less
2ll neveremational body. If by sane absurdity, which we are suret^litHf ^ric^ States, setting asidear as6 theirom national interests,reaC^any decislon contrary to the principles of the Charter of thef the hemisphere would,ong time toorcodUo renounce all possibility of economic and social progress.
tWrepeatedly denounced before tho United Na-
lLi campaign of defamation that foreign interests, unitedzlvi^^irepublic, as well as the'whole series
deigned to destroy the social advances of the Guatemalan Rev-
h"at!1tta5the most receS cal
intervention to destroy the democrat-
*h-'^lains the reasons why Guateraala:opposed,aii^ion, the inclusion-
w^ the Unit0don'"the intorVentioh: u_ .international Conciunisra in the American Reoublics". k> faitthat
munistd *aliciously accused of being Com-
eachhead ofhreat to the Panamaad^
affairfretext for ^tervening in our internal?SProposal Pan Americanism would become anweapon of coercion to
l ArSft* SlltlC^of tho oppressed peo-
^3rica;eady expedient to inaLtain theican RepubUcs andsuppless the legitimate desires
3ao
in hindering good rolations and sincere cooperation between the republics of this hemisphere.
Allow me to analyze briofly the United States proposal, so that you may cloarly see the danger it contains: First, it opoako of "International Communism" as an interventionist powor, but, have we as yot roached an agreement on tho moaning of this torn? What is International Communism? Is it perhapshilosophy? Is it an economic theory? Is it perhaos merely aparty, or is it supposed to be an instrument in the hands of tho Soviet Union?
Because, Gentlemen, if Ccasamisraoliticalhilosophy, or an economic theory, no one needs to be conccmod with the fact that it isin character, since no doctrine, no philosophy, not even anytheory can be limitodingle nationality. All these concepts arouniversal, as aro all ideas; and it is not posaible to assert that idoas are interventionist, nor accuse them of intervening in tho internal affairstea.
For if it is affirmed that ideas could bo interventionet, it could also bo logically asserted that the vehicle of ir.torvention is man's thought, andthe basis would be laid for tha persecution of idoas and discrimination for political reasons, ar. extreme condemned by th* principles of constitutional and International law.
Now then if what tho United States means is that the Soviet Union is intor-voning in the Internal affairs of the American States, it would be desirable for them to say so.
"As fors President Arbens stated in his message to the Congress of the Republic on the first of this month, "it is obvious even to tho most por-npicacious that tho Soviet Union has not intervened nor is it intervening in the internal affairs of our country, nor does it threaten us with any intervention contrary to what has happened to us from dominant interests in othersides, Guatemala is not disposed to pcrnit intervention hy any foreign powor".
In Resolutions XXXII of Bogota snd VIII of Washington, Coraunismrevious definition, assnd asnd at the same timo, recommendations woro mado to strengthen democracy in America.
In tho years since tho Bogota Conference, howovor, democracy has not boen strengthened in America. On tho contrary, it has sufforod serious setbacks in jiovoral countries of this hemisphere, and it is particularly worth pointing out that many antidemocratic end unlawful measures have been taken againstliberties, supposedly justified as being in compliance with resolutions taken against Communism.
The situation in Guatemala during these same years has been very difforent: democracy has become strong in our country, with tho peculiarity that in
mala it is precisely so-called "anti-Communism" thet has engaged in anti-democratic and subversive activities and incessantly clamored for foreign intervention on our soil.
And, in speaking here oft must be pointed out that under this negative banner have gathered the most heterogeneous elements, with no doc-trinary or political connection, and with no other common denominator than their hatred of the social and economic gains of tho Guatemalan Revolution. In that group, as opportunists, are fighting the old, ousted politicians, who made up the court and were the support of dicta*orships; the enemies of the Labor Code; the feudal landholders and foreign companies, whose unworthy interestswere affeetod by labor legislation and the Agrarian Reform Law. Soee individuals, acting in good faith, led astray by the campaign of calumny being waged against Guatemala, have also Joined that group.
All this clearly shows that Resolutions XXXII of Bogota and VIII ofhave served in practice to injure democracy, and they havo been takenretext to infringe upon the sovereignty and independence of countries like Guatemala, which are struggling for their social and economic recovery.
While democracy, as we havo already said, has lost ground in theeo-Fascism has arisen, violent and aggressivo. To no avail in fighting it has been the condemnation that appears in those resolutions on "totalitarianism"vaguewhich was meant to be interpreted in Bogota as defining the dictatorial systems of Naziom, Fascism, and Falangism, to oradicate whioh ooblood was shed in the second world war.
Ho one should wonder, therefore, that Guatemala now considers the aforesaid resolutions of Bogota and Washington to be null and void, because experience has shown that they in no wise promote the legitimate interests of tho peoples ofand they do constitute an instrument of coercion. For, according to thethat has been given to them and the broader scope it is desired to give them, any latin American Government that exerts itself to bringrulyprogram which affects the interests of tho powerful foreign companies, in whose hands the wealth and the basic resources in large part repose in Latinwill be pointed out as Communist; it will bo accused .ofhreat tosecurity andreach in continental solidarity, and so will be throatoned with foreign intervention.
Having assumed this attitude, the delegation of Guatemala will categorically oppose any resolution or declaration that under the pretext of Communism violates tho fundamental principles of democracy, postulates the violation of the rights of man, or attacks tho principle of non-intervention, aimed at converting Paninto an instrument to koop the peoples of Latin Americaemi-colonial istatus, for the benefit of the powerful interests of foreign monopolies. We are fllalso emphatically opposed to the internationalization of McCarthyism, the burning of books, and the imposition of stereotyped thought.
And we denounce before this Conference and the conscience of America theaggresion and threats of economic aggreslon and intervention or which the Republic of Guatemalaictim.
We believe that the Organization of American States,egionalof the United Nations, ought to support.pirit of sincerecooperation, the political and economic independence of all the States, as Juridically equal entities and master* of their own fate, as well aa totbe rights of peoples and individuals to live in dignity and to ennoble life, by releasing It from hunger, ignorance, fear, and poverty.
Guatemala will warmly support any proposal to that end.
Ayone who looks at the chapters of the Charter of the Organization ofStates willplendid code of guarantee of the integrity, sovereignty, and independence of the Member States, as wellowerful obstacle to any kind of abuses by the powerful nations that have Infringed upon those rights.
However, it is deplorable to observe that the peoples of America have shewn little enthusiasm for the Organization and have little faith in the efficacy of its work. And the worst of it is that we must confess that such an attitude is reasonable and Justifiable.
If we ask ourselves what Pan Amerionnism has done for tho peoples of America, and we want to be sincere in our reply, wo shall have to admit that those peoples have often been deceived. Pan Americanism can do nothing for the effective of man in America so long as it does not face the real problems of theand the tremendous factajority of nations with an underdeveloped economy, the peoples of which are prlslonere of ignorance and poverty, inwith other highly industrialized nations, in relation to which they are keptemi-colonial dependent situation as suppliers of row materials and cheap food, and as certain markets for their manufactured goods.
Pan Americanism has not been able toalance In this situation, and it has not oven been able to obtain en adequate correlation between the prices paid for raw materials and foodstuffs, and the price charged for manufactured goods.
On the contrary, some of Its actions have served to perpetuate that situation, and many times even agreements reached in good faith have resulted in tying the hands of these countries and favoring tho political and economic hegemony of tho strongest.
Guatemala is andoace-icving, hard-working, honest nation that desires, for itself as well as for ail sister""nations of this hemisphere, that its territorial integrity be sacred and untouchable; that its sovereignty be respected; and that its independenceeality within the family of American nations, based on icutual respect. Therefore, because Guctewala trusts tbat the true spirit of Pan Americanise, as lt waa conceived by Bolivar and dreamed of by ao many other illustriouswill be rediscovered, end thet It will never
bo an instrument of oppression or coercion, and especially, that it will never be usee in the service of other interests. Guatemala brings its contribution ol collaboration, good faith, and hope, as well as its baggage of troubles, to thia 3olemn assembly.
Here, as in the United Nations, we wish to reiterate thatike any one oleo, is jealous of its independence, its sovereignty, and its dignity, and so it is not, nor can itatellite of the Soviet Union, the United otatos, nor any other power. Ny country is allergic to all servitude andinternational a; well as domestic slavery. The foreign policy ofIpe its domestic policy, is not subject to the policy of any foreign power. Gur.teaila .ias demanded tooice in its affairs and has succeeded inand will always maintain, the most complete independence of Judgement in expressing Its opinion in international organizations, its only criterion being respect for democratic principles and lovo of justice.
'rhe Republic of Guatemala is not opposed to tho investment of foreign capital in Its territory. It only requires of foreign investors loyalwith the laws of the country, on an equal basis with the Guatemalans But it categorically rejects any colonial-type investment, as well as the claim that foreign capital should enjoy privileges that the law does not accord to nationals.
Investment of foreign capital has repeatedly been cited no the panacea for the ills of underdeveloped countries. Hut little attention has been given to the method of such invostment, and frequently It is forgotten that somecompanies are the principal oause of the backward condition of certain countries. Monopolistic Investments have strangled, in many cases, the very oasic development of some countries.
It is apparent that, when the United Nations recommended the encouragement of investment of foreign capital for the economic development of underdeveloped countries, it did not nave in mind taking as employers investors suoh as the United Fruit Covpany, which haveave of indignation in numerousof Latin America, and tho wealth of whioh has been obtained for the sole benefit of the stockholders, leaving to the country concerned noha-soover. The history of investment In Latin America in bananas, petro-leuo, copper, tin, and other products that arc vital to the economy of some countries resembles very closely the painful and primitive story of colonial exploitation. Companies of this type take everything for themselves- they drain off completely the wealth of the soil; they pay high taxes to the country from which vhey come; and they accumulate millionsew stockholders who never know that their fat dividends are the fruit of the sweat and poverty of thousands of workers oppressed by Ignorance, disease, and hunger.
We arc certain that the interests of such monopolies are alien to the legitimate, true interests of the country from which they come and its Government, and it is clear that they merely provide grounds for unnecessary and dangerous friction between friendly states, when they not only have irregular recourse to diplomatic protection but even require officials and official
iigiiah)
orgairixetions to involve their government in the defense of their untoruble cause*
Guatemalaincere friend of the people of the United States of America and, therefore, deplores that tho interference and maneuvers of the monopolistic enterprises and of some officials connected therewith are maliciously straining the cordial relations that ought to exist between our governments in tho spirit of mutual respect Droper between sovereign states,
Guatemala has always been concornod over the serious problem of colonialism in America, as well as the' existence of i'sieriean territoriea that arc illegally occupiedower from outside the hemisphere. Tho government and people of Guatemala are fully convinced that the colonial erahing of the past, and that the continuation of such systems is an anachronism, contrary to the dignity of Ameiica, and incompatible with tho principles of liberty and democracy.
Guatemala has always expressed its conviction that colonial systems ought to disappear from the ,'jnorican hemisphere, since all peoples have the right to rule their own destinies, and that will not be possible so long as they arc not permitted to attain political independence and their complete sovereignty is not recognized. The fallacy that colonialism ia an instrument of protection of defonselossivilizing of savage peoples,chool of oolf-government,yth that has been completely exploded throughout the world, and especially in tho Americaninco it can no longer admit conditions cf dependency that aro incompatible with the degree of maturity of its pooplos and tho political and juridical progress of the inter-American system.
It is our hope that the action of tho free countries of this hami sphere will bring about the definitive liberation of all American peoples still in the humiliating status- of colonies, ana America will then be, completely, tho hemisphere of freedom.
Guatemala is especially interested in seoing an end to the illogal occupation of American territories by powers outside the hemisphoro, because tho continuation of this situation is on affront to the wholo hemisphereos' light of tho rights that Amoricnn nations have been justifiably demanding, Guatemala has never accoptod, nor can it ever accept, tho mutilation of its territory in tho case of Belize which, for hisVrical, Juridical, economic, geographic, and moral reasons is an integral part oferritoiy, wrongfully occupiedower outside the hemisphere. Such an occupation by Grsat Britain has no other basis than that of might makes right.
Guatemala trusts that hemispheric solidarity and the principles thatericon brotherhood will be able to operate efficaciouslyust, peaceful, and early solution of tho problems of colonialism inso that situations such as those that prevaillise and the Falkland Islands may definitively como to an end.
Mr. President, Dolcgatos:
Guatemala has Tilth in the future of America, becauso the great rigor and the conscience of Its peoples arc affiraing their rights and dutiesiew to obtaining their economic liberation and guiding their own destinies.
It likewise trusts that Pan Americanism (which, in no wise should scorn the action of the United Nations) will steer toward its true objectives and be converted into an instrument of progress and cooperation, contributing to international peace and socurity.
Me havo not come to this Conference to defend principlos alion to the principles of the San Francisco Charter and the Charter of tho Organization of American Statos, Wo defend the sovereign rights of tho peoples to govern their own dootiny and toemocracy within which' tho most diverse ideas are frooly manifested and evory freedom is practiced.
The otrugglo that Guatemala is making for economic recovery and in tho defense of its sovereigntyhe struggle of millions of latin Americans who aspiro to sec the Bolivarian dream fully realized, for which tho cxist-jneoorld peace based on justice, the true- practice of democracy,incere and loyal economic cooperation is essential.
Over tho immense lands, seas, and skies of America tho breath of the liberators keeps the banners of freedom flying. Hero we aro. Bolivar, and in coming to this lAnd that had the privilege of giving you birth, we, aware of our destiny, present ourselves before you, without the chains of tyranny that for centuries bound us and that you. Liberator, taught us to break, Guatemala is worthy of you. Captain of tho dignity of America.
Original document.
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