President Xiomara Castro demands ceasefire on Palestine

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Speech by the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, at the 79th Session of the UNGA. teleSUR

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00:00President of Honduras, as the representative of a people who have resisted oppression,

00:11exploitation and structural violence imposed against us for centuries, today I am threatened

00:24by the same forces of capital that 15 years ago perpetrated a coup d'etat against President

00:35Manuel Zelaya. I called out this new conspiracy in the streets during the huge gatherings

00:46of people that took place on the 14th and 15th of September, our country's Independence

00:56Day. I'm being threatened because I have brought in structural changes to the economic

01:09model and because I have called out the unfair taxation regime that perpetuates inequalities

01:20that gives to the most powerful and that exploits the poorest. Our sovereignty is the fundamental

01:36basis and undeniable principle of international relations. However, in Honduras, they continue

01:46to impose colonial practices, interference, economic, media and political domination against

02:01us. Supranational powers and some multinational corporations are the result of corrupt public

02:17private elites that have no other goal than to increase their capital. Globalization has

02:27failed in its mission to bring prosperity to people. Its results lay bare the concentration

02:40of wealth in the most rich countries and among the elites, whilst at the same time the working

02:50class is cast aside and forced to migrate in order to survive. At this assembly, the

03:02majority of leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean have called out global capitalism

03:09as the main factor responsible for the destruction of natural resources and as the oppressor

03:21of the conditions of life of humanity. Accumulation of economic gain prevails above human interest

03:34and the role of international financial bodies with their loans, with conditions attached

03:41to them and fiscal and financial income are things that only aggravate the situation of

03:49poverty and dependency of our countries. Neoliberal privatization policies continue to weaken

04:03people's access to services like services of water and energy, health services, education,

04:14work, social security. Free trade agreements imposed against our peoples undermine our

04:28sovereignty and remove the ability of our producers to compete on an equal footing,

04:43causing the cost of living to increase on a daily basis. Peace, justice, freedom and

04:54democracy remain fundamental values of our country. Therefore, we cannot accept them

05:06to be held hostage by the 10 most powerful families in Honduras, who are the ones who

05:14have seized our main economic resources and who refuse to accept the changes that I am

05:24bringing in. We need to strengthen our democratic system through popular consultations and through

05:33the real, direct and effective participation of our people. The International Model Cities

05:46project, the ZEDE project, that was selling off chunks of our country as a loot really

05:58for multinational capital and that was something that was supported by stakeholders in the

06:08previous narco regime, has been cancelled definitively by my social democratic government.

06:18Today I wish to express my gratitude to the Supreme Court of Justice for its historic

06:25ruling and also to the National Congress for their support. I have called out the International

06:43Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, the ICSID, because it is an unfair system

06:52of arbitration where private interests prevail over the interests of nation states. Over

07:03the last two years and eight months, I have brought in a structural reform to return to

07:10a single treasury account for our country, cancelling a scheme of corruption that was

07:17built around the setting up of trusts that were used to loot the resources of the state.

07:29Thanks to us dismantling the scheme of corruption, I am now able to help boys and girls, children

07:40in all of the schools of Honduras. Thanks to that, they receive a school lunch, free

07:51of charge school enrollment and we are also bringing new projects to communities that

07:59live in extreme poverty. We are increasing production of grain in the first and second

08:08sowing with more than 1.5 million technological grants being given to producers who now are

08:15receiving seeds and fertilizer free of charge. Furthermore, we are providing mortgages for

08:27homes and farming credits at the lowest interest rates we have ever seen in the history of

08:34Honduras. We are also setting up rural community banks. We are rescuing the National Electric

08:49Energy Company, the Honduran Agricultural Market Institute and the National Body for

08:59Basic Products, the Banasupro. All of these institutions I just mentioned were privatized

09:07and were abandoned for the 12 years of the narco-dictatorship. Today, we are benefiting

09:15more than 800,000 families who now receive free energy and we are subsidizing the cost

09:23of fuel in order to benefit all of the consumers of Honduras with the lowest prices in Central

09:32America. There is a reduction of 10 lempiras for each gallon of fuel sold. Investment in

09:46infrastructure is at its highest level in the history of our country. We have recovered

09:56the public sector with the historic approval of projects to build eight hospitals, to repair

10:04thousands of schools, three national airports, the building of motorways, bridges, intermunicipal

10:17paths, multi-sport centers for the whole of the country, and we have also refurbished

10:26the two largest national stadiums. I must also mention the biggest project and the most

10:33ambitious project in the history of Honduras, which is the plan to build a railway between

10:43the two oceans. It will go from Puerto Castilla on the Atlantic coast to Puerto de Amapala

10:51on the Pacific Ocean. Over the last two years and eight months, we have reduced poverty

11:02by 12%. And with the plan to deal with crime confirmed by the Secretary for Security with

11:16the cooperation of the armed forces, we are seeing a historic reduction of 15 points in

11:24the murder rate, which is the largest reduction that we have seen over the last 20 years.

11:33My zero deforestation program for 2013 has achieved historic results in the conservation

11:42of protected areas of Honduras' forests and rivers. The use of public funds in the state

11:56single account in an honest and patriotic way is being done in order to benefit the

12:05people of Honduras. People of the world, I wish to raise my voice to speak out regarding

12:22the murder of Juan López, a social leader and politician who constantly called out the

12:31exploitative extractive model. I absolutely condemn this vile murder. I have ordered the

12:44use of the full force of law enforcement and the justice system in order to investigate,

12:55to identify, capture, and to prosecute the intellectual and material perpetrators of this crime.

13:07I extend my solidarity to his family, to his colleagues, and to his friends.

13:18I am the pro tempore president of the community of Latin American and Caribbean states, CELAC,

13:26with 33 different countries there. As president of Honduras, my first action was to call out

13:40and condemn the genocide against the Palestinian people. Already, more than 40,000 innocent

13:50people have been murdered by bombing, and in response to that, some countries have remained

14:00silent. I also must raise my voice and call for an end to this genocide. Lebanon must

14:12not become another Gaza Strip. We demand an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon. The Haitian

14:24people are calling for our cooperation and solidarity as an organization of countries

14:35in Latin America and the Caribbean. Haiti is the first motherland to have been freed

14:46from colonialism, and it deserves our full attention. In the next few days, I will convene

14:55the presidents who make up CELAC to show our commitment to Haiti. This General Assembly,

15:07for more than 30 years, with an overwhelming majority, has rejected the inhumane embargo

15:17imposed against the people of Cuba. This terrible embargo began in 1960, and since 1992, this

15:32General Assembly has sent out more than 30 resolutions calling for the United States

15:41to put an end to this cruel embargo. I also call for an end to the unfair blockade imposed

15:53against the kindred peoples of Nicaragua and Venezuela. We also call for Cuba to be removed

16:01from the list of terrorist countries. Yesterday, I delivered to the Secretary General, Mr.

16:14Antonio Guterres, the agreement that formalizes the UN support to fight against corruption

16:25and impunity. I thank this General Assembly, who approved our request to create this mechanism

16:40in order to combat public and private corruption. As Berta Cáceres, our martyr, said, she was

16:54a brave woman and a defender of our natural resources and of our indigenous peoples. Let

17:09us wake up humanity. We still have time. May this be the appeal and the motto of our generation.

17:21Thank you very much.

17:24On behalf of the Assembly, I wish to thank the President of the Republic of Honduras.

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