MEDIA REACTION ON THE UN, SEPTEMBER 19, 2005

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001948 SIPDIS FOR IIP/G/WHA AND IIP/T/ES, FOR WHA/PDA, WHA/USOAS, IO/UNP, AND WHA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP PREL AORC KPAO PGOV KDEM HO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON THE UN, SEPTEMBER 19, 2005 ¶1. On 9/18 the San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily "La Prensa" published an editorial entitled "Poor results." "The few results of the UN's General Assembly in its sixtieth anniversary is an obvious example of the disagreements, product of complex organization, to which we can apply the contradiction of our time: the (UN) has become indispensable before being effective." "The UN, political forum and space of civilized coexistence between nations, is at a crossroad. The international community recognizes that reforms are necessary, the rules of the game between nations are completely different from those that existed during the second postwar period when the international body was born." "The recent report on corruption in the `Petroleum for Food' program weakened the position of the organization's director who took responsibility by not having used his authority. The UN is pressured by those in the Security Council who vote and veto and of those who aspire to renew it (UN) in order to improve the organizational scheme that was developed by those who won the war fifty years ago." "The negotiations around the document generated ample spaces on which the present international situation weighed a lot towards the unilateralism of the U.S. power. The concrete references and the obligatory commitments were eliminated, transformed into insipid good intentions." "The subsidies in agriculture are the greatest obstacle of the rich countries in order to obtain a less unjust agreement for the poorest nations. While the UN does not show its will in concrete facts with pragmatic and real solutions, we will continue listening to remote grandiloquent speeches of the tragic daily life of millions of people." Williard