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15. Luís Echeverría Alvarez
Dr. Luís Echeverría Alvarez, the President of Mexico, was born January 17, 1922, in Mexico City. He studied law at the University of Mexico. In 1946 he began a political career as assistant secretary to the chairman of the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional). In 1951 he joined the Ministry of National Education. In 1952 he accepted the general direction of the administration of the Mexican Navy. In 1960 he was nominated deputy secretary-general of the Ministry of the Interior. In 1964 he was appointed Minister of the Interior. He is generally held responsible for orders to the police to shoot, on October 2, 1968, at demonstrating students, which led to numerous deaths. On December 1, 1970, he became President and Head of State of Mexico. In 1974 President Alvarez attended a Club of Rome meeting in Salzburg, Austria, and invited this organization to hold its 1975 annual meeting in Mexico.
During the UNCTAD HI Conference in Santiago you put forward a proposal to arrive at a planetary formulation of human behavior, mainly in the sector of financial and economic transactions.
I proposed this in the name of Mexico at the Third General Meeting of the UNCTAD in 1971 for the drafting and approval of what we have so far called the Charter of the Economic Rights and Duties of the States. Most countries that were represented at this meeting expressed their sympathy with this proposal. A resolution was passed to set up a committee of thirty-one countries for the purpose of preparing a draft for such a code. Later on, the United Nations decided to extend the number of members of this committee to forty. Already, in Geneva, a number of meetings were held to work out a
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draft charter which will be submitted and discussed at the session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in the autumn of 1974. Its general outline, the basic idea, is the creation of a balance between the rich and poor countries; between the underdeveloped countries and the countries that have already begun to develop and the industrial countries which have achieved a very extensive sphere of influence as a result of their scientific and technological development which has gone on for many centuries. It is not only the principle of international, social justice that is involved here. Peace is also involved, for the essential principle is that when the differences in the world are becoming greater and more alarming, as we find today, it is here that the cause for the continuation of this unjust situation has to be looked for in the first place.
In the second place, the frightening differences between the rich and the poor are causing upsets in the balance, which may also extend - as happened during the oil crisis and may happen again whenever there are growing shortages of other essential raw materials - to countries with high standards of living. Suddenly the balance is undermined by inflation, which is no longer restricted to one country, and which, moreover, extends to the poor and raw-materials-producing countries.
The world will urgently have to find solutions for these surprising developments.
According to the UN Secretary-General, Kurt Waldheim, the United Nations will certainly give their approval to the draft which is being drawn up in Geneva and which will have to be completed by the end of 1974. Exactly how this charter will appear in detail depends on the countries which are now drafting it, but the essential part of it I have just told you.
What is also involved is the defense of the political sovereignty of the developing countries. As a result of the interest which is shown by foreign investors in raw materials, and owing to the social and political structure of the developing countries, the foreign investments are inseparably bound up with ideologies and commerical propaganda which affect the political life, causing a danger to the political autonomy of the developing countries in question. The original draft of this new charter therefore speaks of the correct use of natural resources, balance of trade, and free transfer of technological knowledge. That is to say, it presupposes the understanding that the world should get away from those ideas that have so far caused great differences and eternal discussions in many fields of international life and have even been the cause of wars. After all, war has never been a solution for these kinds of problems.
More than in 1971, when this charter was put forward by myself in
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Santiago, we have observed an increasing number of highly dangerous and alarming phenomena during the last two and a half years, even in countries which were not apparently facing any serious problems up to a few months ago and which have been prosperous up to now. It is essential that the Mexican proposal should not be looked upon as being exclusively a Mexican draft, but as a proposal which is backed by many countries, as a proposal in the United Nations, in fact, should be. Thus, our efforts to get it approved will not be looked upon as representing the interest of one particular country or one particular government, but as a heritage and an aim and a necessity for the international community as a whole. This idea did not, after all, happen to be born in Mexico. Economically and militarily speaking, we are not a powerful country. On the other hand we are not underdeveloped either. Mexico belongs to the countries showing a moderate development and influence. But we have witnessed a profound revolution, and what our government has again proved with its proposal is certainly of a daring nature. For these reasons we have put the proposal before the entire international community.
The visits I am paying to various countries take place in a period in which Mexico is far more active in the field of international politics than it used to be. In these visits we have urged, among other things, that this proposal be seriously studied and be approved as quickly as possible. This is briefly the idea behind a charter, a code of behavior in international trading, as we have proposed it.
What reactions to your proposal have come from the various power blocs such as North America, Europe, the socialist countries, and Japan?
This question is an extremely interesting one. There is, for instance, uncertainty concerning the reactions of the rich countries, the great industrial powers such as the United States, some European countries, and Japan with regard to the proposal which is now being discussed in the United Nations. Initially, it was thought that the charter was meant as a political and juridical instrument to defend those countries wishing to start their own development or which have already made a start and now wish to accelerate the rate of their development. As might have been foreseen, the large countries, which did not experience the same serious problems as the poor countries, reacted either by being indifferent or by openly opposing the plan. However, the situation is far more complicated and, consequently, also more promising. In the beginning there was indeed a lack of interest or else the proposal was looked upon as romantic or utopian. But even a few months after the proposal was formulated, we have seen an important change. The
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powerful countries have begun to see that tense situations caused by opposing interests in the small or poor countries gave rise to conflicts within their own countries. In addition, they prefer a well-organized world on account of the growing and increasingly perceptible mutual dependence of each country's economy and on account of their need for raw materials whose production can be stimulated. The result is that there is now, indeed, a very healthy and well-motivated desire for technological and economic collaboration. I do not think that there is anyone today, not even in the Third World, who holds to the point of view that an independent and spontaneous development is a serious possibility. All the countries, even the smallest and the most remote ones, know that they need the help of scientific research, of many modern instruments, and that they cannot change a primitive agrarian economy into an industrialized state overnight. Without overestimating the importance to mankind of the machines and equipment of our modern civilization, it is well understood today that the development of a country's own agriculture, cattle breeding, various other primary activities, and its industry, absolutely depends on being equipped with the most modern machines. Some agricultural countries thought, against all the rules of logic, that they could develop independently along the same process which the industrialized countries went through in the past. But they soon realized their mistake.
Even the most elementary agricultural production cannot be increased without disposing of the many instruments which have been developed by our modern civilization. It is therefore necessary to remove the prejudices now prevailing in the very rich and in the very backward countries, for everyone is bound to benefit from mutual collaboration. In the near future there will still be many problems to be solved: the problem of respecting the sovereignty of the weak countries, which will, in a world where there is more coordination, tend to show more mutual dependence, respecting each country's own cultural evolution and its own specific character, a development which allows for everyone's own education and artistic manifestations. For although these cultures are in the center of the world and receptive to all kinds of outside influences, yet it is desirable for all peoples, whether they are already one nation or becoming one nation, to go through a reasonably independent development on the basis of their own personality.
And then, finally, there is the problem of the supranational planning of many activities. In this field there have indeed been only a few incidental attempts undertaken. But the most foresighted thinkers have clearly seen the necessity of a collective and thorough discussion concerning the many aspects of universal planning, comprising countries of various ideologies,
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both capitalist and socialist. Many bilateral attempts have been made to arrive at a solution of certain problems, particularly of late. But we are living in a world with many universal relations, and undoubtedly the research workers, economists, sociologists, and politicians will have to start thinking more and more in terms of supranational dimensions about coordinated exchange and trading.
Aurelio Peccei, chairman of the Club of Rome, is partly motivated by the wish to contribute toward making a better world for his grandchildren. You attended the meeting of the Club of Rome in Salzburg in October, 1973, and in the local press I noticed a picture of your family with your children and grandchildren. I would therefore draw a parallel between Peccei and your own wish to do something for the young, as President of your country. How do you see their future?
Undoubtedly, the future generation will have to cope with far more serious problems than we are facing today. I do not believe there has been a thorough investigation as to the cause of the disquiet among adolescents and young people all over the world. Sometimes, explanations are given for this which are, in my opinion, of a superficial nature when there is talk, as has happened particularly during the last few months - but this has been almost forgotten now - of the need to change the social structure of many countries, to stimulate and accelerate the development process, and to give young people more chances, also at the executive level. The human psyche is undeniably far more complicated. Many young people and adolescents at the moment see a world full of uncertainties. This is undoubtedly the reason for their searching for a change in the social structures. They are often the cause of irregularities and rebellions which are sometimes considered unfounded but which, in my opinion, result from the fact that the future world lacks a reasonable amount of certainty, something which has to be visible to every man and which is necessary in order to lead a life with a logical meaning. Aurelio Peccei is right in this as he is in many other matters. He did admirable work in preparing the meeting in Salzburg. This work was crowned by him during the last few days when he used all his talents and skill to get the Club of Rome to change its course and aims rather quickly. When one has children and grandchildren this is the way one thinks. To continue with your question, we need to observe the social phenomena that are shared by many countries. We have done so for years. It is therefore easy to imagine that, in a world which goes through a never-ending process of development, many young people feel that their natural uncertainties, of which they have been aware from their early adolescence, are increasing in society. These
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uncertainties manifest themselves in the economy, in family life, in life in the big cities, and in the many constantly changing and ominous international problems. As a result, the young, particularly the most intelligent among them, get the feeling that no secure and certain future awaits them. I believe that this is a good explanation for the many worries which they experience. It also explains their search for and use of the wrong means and the unrealistic solutions they find, some of which border on self-annihilation. I therefore believe that everyone has to do his own duty. When even many adults are disappointed about life in our modern age, a combined effort will have to be made. This is the important development that is required. Not only government leaders but the entire world has to help in working on the problems in order to arrive at a combined attempt at building up a better life in our present society, which is going through a serious period of crisis.
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