Sovereignty, the claim of the presidents of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras before the UN

Challenging the traditional discourse, the presidents of the three countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America: El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras advocated, before the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations Organization (UN), the urgency that the nations they govern function in sovereignty and independence.

Without mentioning specific countries, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, used the figure of the “very, very rich neighbor, whose house is a gigantic palace” who, in addition to governing that palace, seeks to influence the house of his “neighbor poor”.

“It is an essential requirement that the powerful respect our freedom. (…) I come from a town where our destiny was always controlled by others. What (the neighbors) cannot do is come to order our house and not only because it is ours but because it would not make sense to undo what we are achieving in a very short time, “said Bukele, in a 15-minute speech.

Both in El Salvador and abroad, the policy of fighting gangs has been criticized. Since March of this year, the Central American country maintains an exceptional regime that adds 52,000 prisoners and at least 73 prisoners who have died in state power.

But what resonates with some human rights organizations is the capture of people who have no connection to gangs. Something that the government of El Salvador has justified as “collateral damage”, in the midst of a security phenomenon that has been stalking the Central American country for more than two decades.

“If the powerful countries help us or at least if they don’t want to help us, let them not get in the way, each people should find their own path and each people will find friends in the search for that path,” added the 41-year-old president, who left Bitcoin asideapproved as law a year ago and the announcement of his candidacy for president at the end of his term.

The president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, was somewhat more concise in his speech on sovereignty. He still argued before the UN that “no country, organization or multilateral entity can and should not intervene in the internal affairs of other countries.”

“State sovereignty is fundamental in bilateral and multilateral relations. No matter how big or small the countries are, relationships must be based on respectful treatment,” he said.

He called on the UN to be “more active” in avoiding confrontation between countries, and appealed for the freedom of Israel and Ukraine, and the recognition of China Taiwan as a nation.

Giammattei, like Bukele, spoke of the “transformation” of the international organization, and called for “profound” changes in the Security Council which guarantee “respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination of peoples…” .

While Bukele, from El Salvador, said “he does not believe” in the format in which the Assembly is held, he does share one of the principles with which the UN was founded: “the self-determination of peoples.”

However, Guatemala did not speak only of sovereignty. In his speech, Giammattei said that there are “culprits” for food insecurity, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change that stalks the world; and he asked that those “authentic responsible for the catastrophe, respond with solutions to what they have caused.”

Regarding migration, which, like Honduras and El Salvador, sends thousands of migrants to the United States, Guatemala asked neighboring governments to work on the necessary legislation to address it.

The United States has been facing constant waves of migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras for years, who in an effort to improve their economy or just flee from violence, decide to migrate to the North American country.

In August, the border patrol apprehended 157,921 migrants, a 2.2% increase in the number of “unique encounters” compared to the previous month.

Honduras spoke of Cuba and Venezuela

Xiomara Castro, who assumed the presidency of Honduras on January 27, 2022, said that insecurity, migrant caravans and other problems in Honduras are the responsibility of the thirteen years of “dictatorship” that the Central American country went through under the tutelage of ” the international community”.

“We want to live in peace,” he spoke, “don’t keep trying to destabilize Honduras and dictate your measures or choose who we should relate to. The people (of Honduras) are sovereign”, Castro pointed out without mentioning countries or organizations to whom he addressed his speech.

Paraphrasing the indigenous leader Berta Cáceres, in the last part of his speech, Castro added the phrase: “Peoples of the world, we still have time”, referring to what he considers an “infamous and brutal blockade” of Cuba and a “ aggression” about what is happening in Venezuela.

“… we are invaded countries, we proclaim a return to respect, to the self-determination of the peoples, rejecting the infamous and brutal blockade of the people of the sister republic of Cuba. It is time to seriously discuss the multipolarity of the world”, he said.

Castro advocates a “democratic socialism” that seeks to decriminalize abortion, reduce the fees charged by banks on remittances and create a commission against corruption. The latter, raised before the UN.

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