 En nombre de la Asamblea General, en behalf de la Asamblea General, tengo la honor de bienvenido a las Naciones Unidas, a su excelencia, el señor Ronald Reagan, presidente de la América del Estado Unidos de América, de invitarlo a hacer uso de la palabra ante esta Asamblea. Mr. President, el secretario general, distinguido de las delegaciones, de la mitad del mundo de este lugar de paz, el fuego, el asambleo, el muerto en dos conflictos marcelos, han, por primera vez en la memoria reciente, disminuido, después de añadir nuevos nombres terribles para el llamado de la humanidad. Nombres como Halabja, Medusar, Inshaar y Spinbaldak, hay hoy la esperanza de paz en la gulf de la Persia y Afganistán. Así también en las islas y ciudades costales de Sudafrica, lugares de la guerra civil, lugares de ocupación por los truques extranjeros, la esperanza de paz es escuchada. Paz para la nación torturada de Angola. 6,500 metros de la izquierda asociación asociada de Cambodía, hay esperanza de un desplazamiento, el removo de las fuerzas ocupadas de Vietnam. Y, finalmente, en esta hemisferia, donde sólo 12 años atrás, una tercera de las personas de Latinoamérica vivieron en la regla democrática, some 90% do so today, and especially in Central America, nations such as El Salvador once threatened by the anarchy of the death squad and the specter of totalitarian rule, now know the hope of self-government and the prospect of economic growth. And another change, Mr. Secretary General, a change that if it endures may go down as one of the signal accomplishments of our history, a change that is a cause for shaking of the head in wonder is also upon us, a change going to the source of postwar tensions and to the once seemingly impossible dream of ending the twin threats of our time, totalitarianism and thermonuclear world war. For the first time, the differences between east and west, fundamental differences over important moral questions, dealing with the worth of the individual and whether governments shall control people or people control governments. For the first time, these differences have shown signs of easing, easing to the point where there are not just troop withdrawals from places like Afghanistan but also talk in the east of reform and greater freedom of press of assembly and of religion. Yes, fundamental differences remain but should talk of reform become more than that, should it become reality, there is the prospect of not only a new era in Soviet American relations but a new age of world peace. For such reform can bring peace. History teaches and my country is always believed that where the rights of the individual and the people are enshrined, war is a distant prospect. For it is not people who make war. Only governments do that. I stand at this podium then in a moment of hope. Hope not just for the peoples of the United States or the Soviet Union but for all the peoples of the world and hope too for the dream of peace among nations, the dream that began the United Nations. Precisely because of these changes, today the United Nations has the opportunity to live and breathe and work as never before. Already you, Mr. General, Secretary General, through your persistence, patience and unyielding will have shown in working toward peace in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf how valuable the United Nations can be and we salute you for these accomplishments. And in Geneva at this very hour there are numerous negotiations underway, multilateral negotiations at the Conference of Disarmament as well as bilateral negotiations on a range of issues between the Soviets and ourselves. And these negotiations, some of them under UN auspices involve a broad arms control agenda, strategic offensive weapons and space, nuclear testing and chemical warfare whose urgency we have witnessed anew in recent days. And Mr. Secretary General, the negotiators are busy and over the last few years they've been engaged in more than an academic exercise. There is movement, the log jam is broken. Only recently when the United States and the Soviet Union signed the INF agreement, an entire class of U.S. and Soviet nuclear missiles was eliminated for the first time in history. Progress continues on negotiations to reduce in massive number strategic weapons with effective verification and talks will begin soon on conventional reductions in Europe. Much of the reason for all of this goes back I believe to Geneva itself, to the small chateau along the lake where I and the General Secretary of the Soviet Union had the first of several fireside chats, exchanges characterized by frankness, but friendliness too. I said at the first meeting in Geneva that this was a unique encounter between two people who had the power to start World War III or to begin a new age of peace among nations. And I also said peace conferences, arms negotiations, proposals for treaties could make sense only if they were part of a wider context, a context that sought to explore and resolve the deeper underlying differences between us. I said to Mr. Gorbachev then, as I've said to you before, nations do not mistrust each other because they're armed, they're armed because they mistrust each other. And in that place, by that peaceful lake in neutral Switzerland, Mr. Gorbachev and I did begin a new relationship based not just on engagement over the single issue of arms control, but on a broader agenda about our deeper differences, an agenda of human rights, regional conflicts, and bilateral exchanges between our peoples. Even on the arms control issue itself, we agreed to go beyond the past, to seek not just treaties that permit building weapons to higher levels, but revolutionary agreements that actually reduced and even eliminated a whole class of nuclear weapons. What was begun that morning in Geneva has shown results. In the INF Treaty, my recent visit to Moscow, in my opportunity to meet there with Soviet citizens and dissidents and speak of human rights, and to speak too in the Lenin Hills of Moscow to the young people of the Soviet Union about the wonder and splendor of human freedom. The results of that morning in Geneva are seen in peace conferences now underway around the world on regional conflicts. And in the work of the UN here in New York, as well as in Geneva. But, Mr. Secretary General, history teaches caution. Indeed, that very building in Geneva where important negotiations have taken place, the Geneva Accords on Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq negotiations, for example. We see it today as stone-like testimony to a failed dream of peace in another time. The Palais de Nacion was the headquarters of the League of Nations, an institution that was to symbolize an end to all war. And yet today, that institution and its noble purpose ended with the Second World War. Ended because the chance for peace was not seized in the 1930s by the nations of the world. Ended because humanity did not find the courage to isolate the aggressors, to reject schemes of government that serve the state, not the people. We're here today, Mr. Secretary General, determined that no such fate shall befall the United Nations. We're determined that the UN should succeed and serve the cause of peace for humankind. So, Mr. Secretary General, we realize that even in this time of hope, the chance of failure is real, but this knowledge does not discourage us. It spurs us on, for the stakes are high. Do we falter and fail now, and bring down upon ourselves the just anger of future generations? Or do we continue the work of the founders of this institution, and see to it that at last, freedom is enshrined and humanity knows war no longer? And that this place, this floor, shall be truly the world's last battlefield. We are determined, it shall be so. So, we turn now to the agenda of peace. Let us begin by addressing a concern that was much on my mind when I met with Mr. Gorbachev in the Kremlin, as well as on the minds of Soviet citizens that I met in Moscow. It is also an issue that I know is of immediate importance to the delegates of this assembly who this fall commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That declaration says plainly, what those who seek peace can forget only at the greatest peril, that peace rests on one foundation, observing the inalienable rights of all members of the human family. In a century where human rights have been denied by totalitarian governments on a scale never before seen in history, with so many millions deliberately starved or eliminated as a matter of state policy, a history it has been said of blood, stupidity and barbed wire, few can wonder why peace has proved so elusive. Well, let us understand, if we would have peace, we must acknowledge the elementary rights of our fellow human beings. In our own land and in other lands, if we would have peace, the trampling of the human spirit must cease. Human rights is not for some, some of the time. Human rights as the universal declaration of this assembly adopted in 1948, proclaims is for all people and all nations and for all time. This regard for human rights as the foundation of peace is at the heart of the UN. Those who starve in Ethiopia, those who die among the Kurds, those who face racial injustice in South Africa, those who still cannot write or speak freely in the Soviet Union, those who cannot worship in the Ukraine, and those who struggle for life and freedom on boats in the South China Sea, those who cannot publish or assemble in Managua, all of this is more than just an agenda item on your calendar. It must be a first concern and issue above others, for when human rights concerns are not paramount of the United Nations, when the universal declaration of human rights is not honored in these halls and meeting rooms, then the very credibility of this organization is at stake. The very purpose of its existence in question, and that's why when human rights progress is made, the United Nations grows stronger and the United States is glad of it. Following a two year effort led by the United States, for example, the UN Human Rights Commission took a major step toward ending the double standards and cynicism that had characterized too much of its past. For years Cuba, a blatant violator of its citizens human rights, has escaped UN censure or even scrutiny. This year Cuba has responded to pressure generated by the Human Rights Commission by accepting an investigation into which human rights abuses. Fidel Castro has already begun to free some political prisoners, improve prison conditions, and tolerate the existence of a small independent national human rights group. More must be done. The United Nations must be relentless and unyielding in seeking change in Cuba and elsewhere. And we must also see to it that the universal declaration itself should not be debased with episodes like the Zionism is racism resolution. Respect for human rights is the first and fundamental mission of this body, the most elementary obligation of its members. Indeed, wherever one turns in the world today, there is new awareness, a growing passion for human rights. The people of the world grow united. New groups, new coalitions form. Coalitions that monitor government, that work against discrimination, that fight religious or political repression, un awful imprisonment, torture or execution. As those I spoke to at Spazohaus said to me last June, such movements make a difference. Turning now to regional conflicts we feel again the uplift of hope. In the Gulf War between Iran and Iraq, one of the bloodiest conflicts since World War II, we have a ceasefire. The resolution and the firmness of the allied nations in keeping the Persian Gulf open to international shipping not only upheld the rule of law, it helped prevent further spread of the conflict and laid the basis for peace. So too, the Security Council's decisive resolution in July a year ago has become the blueprint for a peaceful Gulf. Let this war, a war in which there's been no victor of vanquished, only victims, let this war end now. Let both Iran and Iraq cooperate with the Secretary General and the Security Council in implementing resolution 598. Let peace come. Moving on to a second region, when I first addressed the UN General Assembly in 1983, world attention was focused on the brutal invasion and illegal occupation of Afghanistan. After nearly nine long years of war the courage and determination of the Afghan people and the Afghan freedom fighters have held sway and today an end to the occupation is in sight. On April 14th, the USSR signed the Geneva Accords which were negotiated under UN auspices by Pakistan and the Kabul regime. We encourage the Soviet Union to complete its troop withdrawal at the earliest possible date so that the Afghan people can freely determine their future without further outside interference. In Southern Africa, too, years of patient diplomacy and support for those in Angola who seek self-determination are having their effect. We look forward to an accord between the governments of Angola, Cuba and South Africa that will bring about a complete withdrawal of all foreign troops, including Cuba, from Angola. We look forward as well to full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 435 and our long-standing goal of independence for Namibia. We continue to support a growing consensus among African leaders who also believe there can be no end to conflict in the region until there is national reconciliation en Angola. Mr. Secretary General, there are new hopes for Cambodia, a nation whose freedom and independence we seek just as avidly as we sought the freedom and independence of Afghanistan. We urge the rapid with removal of all Vietnamese troops and a settlement that will prevent the return of the Khmer Rouge to power, permitting instead the establishment of a genuinely representative government, a government that will at last respect fully the rights of the people of Cambodia and end the hideous suffering they have so bravely and needlessly born. In other critical areas, we applaud the Secretary General's efforts to structure a referendum on the western Sahara and in the Mediterranean direct talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities hold much promise for accord in that divided island nation. And finally, we look to a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. So too the unnatural division of Europe remains a critical obstacle to Soviet-American relations. In most of these areas then we see progress and again we are glad of it. Only a few years ago all of these and other conflicts were burning dangerously out of control. Indeed the invasion of Afghanistan and the apparent will of will among democratic and peace-loving nations to deter such events seemed to cause a climate where aggression by nations large and small was epidemic. A climate the world has not seen since the 1930s. Only this time larger war was avoided. Avoided because the free and peaceful nations of the world cover their strength of purpose and will. And now the United Nations is providing valuable assistance in helping this epidemic to recede. And because we are resolved to keep it so I would be remiss in my duty if I did not now take note here of the one exception to progress in regional conflicts. I refer here to the continuing deterioration of human rights in Nicaragua and the refusal of the tiny elite now ruling that nation to honor promises of democracy made to their own people and to the international community. This elite in calling itself revolutionary seeks no real revolution. The use of the term is sub-diffuse. Deception for hiding the oldest, most corrupt vice of all, man's age-old will to power. Is lust to control the lives and steal the freedom of others. And that's why as president I will continue to urge the Congress and the American public to stand behind those who resist this attempt to impose a totalitarian regime on the people of Nicaragua. That the United States will continue to stand with those who are threatened by this regime's aggression against its neighbors in Central America. Today I also call on the Soviet Union to show in Central America the same spirit of constructive realism it has shown in other regional conflicts to assist in bringing conflict in Central America to a close by halting the flow of billions of dollars worth of arms and ammunition to the Sandinista regime. A regime whose goals of regional domination while ultimately doomed can continue to cause great suffering to the people of that area and risk to Soviet-American relations unless action is taken now. Moving now to the arms reduction agenda I have mentioned already the importance of the INF treaty and the momentum developed in the start negotiations. The draft start treaty is a lengthy document filled with bracketed language designating sections of disagreement between the two sides but through this summer in Geneva those brackets have diminished there's every reason to believe this process can continue. I can tell this assembly that it is highly doubtful such a treaty can be accomplished in a few months but I can tell you a year from now is a possibility more than a possibility but we have no deadline no agreement is better than a bad agreement the United States remains hopeful and we acknowledge the spirit of cooperation shown by the Soviet Union in these negotiations we also look for that spirit to be applied to our concerns about compliance with existing agreements so too our discussions on nuclear testing and defense and space have been useful but let me hear stress to this general assembly that much of the momentum in nuclear arms control negotiations is due to technological progress itself especially in the potential for space based defensive systems I believe that the United States determination to research and develop and when ready deploy such defensive systems systems targeted to destroy missiles not people accounts for a large share of the progress in years in Geneva with such systems for the first time in case of accidental launch or the act of a madman somewhere major powers will not be faced with the single option of massive retaliation but will instead have the chance of a saner choice to shield against an attack instead of avenging it so too as defensive systems grow in effectiveness the threat and the value of greater and greater offensive arsenals only recently briefings I have received in the oval office indicate that progress towards such systems may be even more rapid and less costly than we had at first thought today the United States reaffirms its commitment to its strategic defense initiative and our offer to share the benefits of strategic defenses with others and yet even as diplomatic and technological progress holds out the hope of at last diminishing the awful cloud of nuclear terror we've lived under in the post war era even at this moment another ominous terror is loose once again in the world a terror we thought the world had put behind a terror that looms at us now from the long buried past from ghostly scarring trenches and the haunting Juan faces of millions dead in one of the most inhumane conflicts of all time poison gas chemical warfare Mr. Secretary General distinguished delegates the terror of it the horror of it we condemn it the use of chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war beyond its tragic human toll jeopardizes the moral and legal strictures that have held those weapons in check since World War I let this tragedy spark reaffirmation of the Geneva Protocol outlawing the use of chemical weapons I call upon the signatories to that protocol as well as other concerned states to convene a conference to consider actions that we can take together to reverse the serious erosion of this treaty and we urge all nations to cooperate in negotiating a verifiable truly global ban on chemical weapons at the conference on disarmament in Geneva it is incumbent upon all civilized nations to ban once and for all and on a verifiable and global basis the use of chemical and gas warfare finally Mr. Secretary General we must redouble our efforts to stop further proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world likewise proliferation and other high technology weapons such as ballistic missiles is reaching global proportions exacerbating regional rivalries in ways that can have global implications the number of potential suppliers is growing at an alarming rate and more must be done to halt the spread of these weapons this was a matter of discussion last week between Secretary Shultz and Foreign Minister Shevardanze talks between American and Soviet experts begin on this today and we hope to see a multilateral effort to avoid having areas of tension like the Middle East become even more deadly battlegrounds than they already are but in most of these areas we see not only progress but also the potential for an increasingly vital role for multilateral efforts and institutions like the United Nations that is why now more than ever the United Nations must continue to increase its effectiveness through budget and program reform the UN already is enacting sweeping measures affecting personnel reductions budgeting by consensus and the establishment of program priorities these actions are extremely important the progress on reforms has allowed me to release funds withheld under congressional restrictions I expect the reform program will continue and that further funds will be released in our new fiscal year and let me say here we congratulate the United Nations on the work it has done in three areas of special concern first our struggle against the scourge of terrorism and state sponsored terrorism must continue and we must also end the scourge taking second the work of the World Health Organization in coordinating and advancing research on AIDS is vital all international efforts in this area must be redoubled the AIDS crisis is a grave one we must move as one to meet it and so too is the drug crisis we are moving now toward a new anti drug trafficking convention this important treaty has been completed in December I am confident other strong UN drug control programs will also follow the American people are profoundly concerned and deeply angered we will not tolerate the drug traffickers we mean to make war on them and we believe this is one war the United Nations can endorse and participate in yes the United Nations is a better place than it was eight years ago and so too is the world but the real issue of reform in the United Nations is not limited just a fiscal and administrative improvements but also to a higher sort of reform an intellectual and philosophical reform a reform of old views about the relationship between the individual and the state few developments for example have been more encouraging to the United States and the special session this body held on Africa two and a half years ago a session in which the United Nations joined as one in a call for free market incentives and a lessening of state controls to spur economic development at one of the first international assemblies of my presidency in Cancun, Mexico I said history demonstrates that time and again in place after place and human progress make their greatest strides in countries that encourage economic freedom that individual farmers laborers, owners, traders and managers are the heart and soul of development trust them because where they're allowed to create and build where they're given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success then societies become dynamic, prosperous progressive and free we believe in freedom we know it works and this Mr. Secretary General and distinguished delegates is the immutable lesson of the post war era that freedom works even more that freedom and peace work together every year that passes everywhere in the world from the people's republic of China to Cameroon from Bolivia to Botswana and yes in the citadel of Marxism Leninism itself no my country did not invent this synergy of peace and freedom but believe me we impose no restrictions on the free export of our more than two centuries of experience with it free people blessed by economic opportunity protected by laws that respect the dignity of the individual are not driven toward war or the domination of others here then is the way to world peace and yet we Americans champion freedom not only because it's practical and beneficial but because it is also just morally right and here Mr. Secretary General I hope you'll permit me to note that I have addressed this assemblage more than any of my predecessors and that this will be the last occasion I do so so I hope too I may be permitted now some closing reflections the world is currently witnessing another celebration of international cooperation at the Olympics we see nations joining together in the competition of sports and we see young people who know precious little of the resentment de la vida de nuestros elders coming together as one one of our young athletes from a home of modest means said that she drew the strength for her achievement from another source of wealth we were rich as a family she said about the love she was given and the values she was taught Mr. Secretary General I dare to hope that in the sentiment of that young athlete we see a generation of the rediscovery of old and tested values values such as family the first and most important unit of society where all values and learning begin an institution to be cherished and protected values too such as work, community freedom and faith for it's here we find the deeper rationale for the cause of human rights and world peace and our own experience on this continent the American experience though brief has had one unmistakable encounter an insistence on the preservation of one sacred truth it is a truth that our first president our founding father passed on in the first farewell address made to the American people it is a truth that I hope now you'll permit me to mention in these remarks of farewell a truth embodied in our declaration of independence that the case for inalienable rights that the idea of human dignity that the notion of conscience above compulsion can be made only in the context of higher law only in the context of what one of the founders of this organization secretary general has called devotion to something which is greater and higher than we are ourselves this is the endless cycle the final truth to which humankind seems always to return that religion and morality that faith in something higher our prerequisites for freedom and the justice and peace within ourselves is the first step toward justice and peace in the world and for the ages yes this is a place of great debate and grave discussion and yet I cannot help but note here that one of our founding fathers the host the most worldly of men an internationalist Benjamin Franklin interrupted the proceedings of our own constitutional convention to make much the same point and I can't help think help but think this morning of other beginnings of where and when I first read those words and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams this morning my thoughts go to her who gave me many things in life but where most important gift was the knowledge of happiness and solace to be gained in prayer it's the greatest help I've had in my presidency and I recall here Lincoln's words only the most foolish of men would think he could confront the duties of the office I now hold without turning to someone stronger a power above all others I think then of her and others like her in that small town in Illinois gentle people who possessed something that those who hold positions of power sometimes forget to prize no one of them could ever have imagined a boy from the banks of the rock river would come to this moment and have this opportunity but had they been told it would happen I think they would have been a bit disappointed if I had not spoken here for what they knew so well that when we grow weary of the world and it troubles when our faith in humanity falters it is then that we must seek comfort and refreshment of spirit our source of wisdom one greater than ourselves and so future generations do say of us that in our time peace came closer that we did bring about new seasons of truth and justice it will be cause for pride but it will be a cause of greater pride still if it is also said that we were wise enough to know the deliberations of great leaders and great bodies are but overture that the truly majestic music the music of freedom of justice and peace is the music made in forgetting self and seeking in silence the will of him who made us thank you for your hospitality over the years I bid you now farewell and God bless you General deseo agradecer al señor presidente wish to thank the president of the United States of America for the important statement he has just made may I request representatives to remain seated while the secretary general and I escort his excellency the president