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181 2243rd meettng-c-zs September 1974

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248. The PRESIDENT (interpretation ji-OI11 French): The representative of Chile has asked to be allowed to exercise his right of reply. 249. Mr. DIEZ (Chile) (interpretation from Spanish): After the attack made yesterday [2240Ih meeting 1 on the Government of my country by the delegation of the Soviet Union, we were not at all surprised to hear what was said today by the Foreign Minister of the German Democratic Republic; we expected the obsequious followers of the Soviet Union to continue these attacks. 250. However, while the Government of Chile has left its doors open to international committees-the International Red Cross or other committees of the United Nations and the Organization of American 'States-to move about freely in Chile, as they themselves have recognized, to listen to the Chilean people and to place advertisements in the press stating that persons may come to them to make denunciations with absolute freedom, we wish to call the Assembly's attention to the fact that we are being asked to show respect for human rights by the representative of a country which, while it may have accepted the letter of the Charter that should be our guide, has never acted in accordance with the spirit of that Charter. a country that has never allowed international commissions to verify the application of human rights on its soil. 251. It seems to us paradoxical that while in our country, after the new Government has been in office only a few months, thousands of persons have obtained authorization to leave Chile and go wherever they wish, in spite of the fact that there is no international treaty between the receiving countries and the Government of my country that obliges us to act in this way, the Government that has built a wall of shame and opprobrium calls upon us to act in a libertarian way. 252. While the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recognizes that the Government of

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Chile has co-operated in solving the problem of 14,000 refugees expelled from their country of origin -the majority of them having fled from that country because of extremism-the Government that has built a wall of blood and shame and despair cannot come here and call us, Chileans, enemies of freedom. While the Government of my country, only a few months after having avoided a civil war, a real Viet Narn, as the ex-President called it, is prepared to commute sentences, except for some very specific cases, so that detainees may leave the country, under the control of the International Red Cross, the country that constitutes a blot on human history, a country that is a permanent monument to blood and shame, cannot recommend that Chileans respect human rights and liberty. 253. Neither the heights of the Andean range nor the width of the Pacific Ocean can hem us in, because freedom is a part of our history and is enshrined in our spirit.

The meeting rose at 6.50 p.m,

NOTES 1 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council. Flftvseventh Session, Supplement No. 2A. annex 11. z See Official Records of the General Assembly, Second Session, Plenary Meetings, vol. 11, 124th meeting. .1 See Official Records ofthe Security Council. Twentv-ntnth YeaI', Supplement for July, August and September 1974, document 8/11465.

United Nations publications, Sales Nos. E.74.Il.C.1 and 2. See Report ofthe United Nations World Population Conference, 1974 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.75.XIII.3). 6 See Official Records ofthe Economic and Social Cauncii, Fiftv.f(fih Session, Supplement No. BA, part 11, resolution 316 (AC.64). 7 Subsequently submitted as document A/C.I/L.686 and Corr.2. 4

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