[bestbits] Latin America Condemns US Espionage at United Nations Security Council

[parminder]

See in particular seeking of global standards for Internet regulation, 
and global means for prevention and sanctions regarding the the kind of 
things the NSA has been doing.... parminder

*http://www.globalresearch.ca/latin-america-condemns-us-espionage-at-united-nations-security-council/5346120

Global Research   August 17, 2013*


    Latin America Condemns US Espionage at United Nations Security Council

*The foreign ministers of Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, Bolivia and 
Ecuador fiercely condemned the United States plan for worldwide 
espionage, which posed a lethal threat to the democratically elected 
governments of these Latin American nations and jeopardized their survival.

By Carla Stea*

/ "The United States appears to be destined by Providence to plague 
America with misery in the name of liberty."/ Simon Bolivar

Throughout the day, on August 6, President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner 
of Argentina chaired a historic United Nations Security Council meeting 
that revealed a seismic shift in geopolitical consciousness and 
incipient strength.

The agenda of Security Council meeting 7015 was: /"Cooperation Between 
the United Nations and Regional and Sub-regional Organizations in 
Maintaining International Peace and Security."/

The prelude to this meeting was held, the prior day, August 5, at a 
press stakeout given by Elias Jaua Milano, Foreign Minister of 
Venezuela, Hector Timerman, Foreign Minister of Argentina,  Antonio de 
Aguiar Patriota, Foreign Minister of Brazil, Luis Almagro, Foreign 
Minister of Uruguay and David Choquehuanca Cespedes, Foreign Minister of 
Bolivia.

They spoke on behalf of Mercosur, the Southern Common Market, following 
their meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.  Their 
remarks focused on the expression of outrage contained in the "Annex to 
the note verbale dated 22 July from the Permanent Mission of the 
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United Nations addressed to the 
Secretary-General, which stated:

    "Decision rejecting the acts of espionage conducted by the United
    States in the countries of the region." "The President of the
    Argentine Republic, the President of the Plurinational State of
    Bolivia, the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the
    President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay and the President of
    the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, having met in Montevideo,
    Eastern Republic of Uruguay, on 12 July, 2013, within the framework
    of the presidential summit of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR),

    Condemning the acts of espionage carried out by intelligence
    agencies of the United States of America, which affect all countries
    in the region,

    Strongly rejecting the interception of telecommunications and the
    acts of espionage carried out in our countries, which constitute a
    violation of the human rights, the right to privacy and the right to
    information of our citizens, and which also constitute unacceptable
    behavior that violates our sovereignty and is detrimental  to the
    normal conduct of relations among nations,

    Considering the advisability of promoting a coordinated approach to
    this issue at the regional level,

    Decide to:

    Work together to guarantee the cybersecurity of the States members
    to MERCOSUR, which is essential to defending the sovereignty of our
    countries,

    Demand that those responsible immediately cease these activities and
    provide an explanation of the motives for and consequences of such
    activities,

    Stress that the prevention of crime and the suppression of
    transnational crimes, including terrorism, must be carried out in
    line with the rule of law and in strict observance of international law.

    Promote the adoption by the relevant multilateral institutions of
    standards for the regulation of the Internet which place a
    particular emphasis on cybersecurity issues, with a view to
    fostering the adoption of standards that guarantee the adequate
    protection of communications, in particular to safeguard the
    sovereignty of States and the privacy of individuals,

    Express our full solidarity with all countries, within and outside
    our region that have been victims of such actions,

    Promote the joint efforts of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs to
    inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations of these
    incidents and request prevention and sanction mechanisms on the
    issue at the multilateral level

    Instruct the delegations of the Member States participating in the
    upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly to jointly
    present a formal proposal to that end,

    Request the Argentine Republic to submit this matter to the Security
    Council for consideration,

    Agree to establish a working group to coordinate efforts, together
    with the South American Defence Council and the South American
    Infrastructure and Planning Council, aimed at carrying out
    activities that will render our telecommunications more secure and
    reduce our dependence on foreign technology."

The morning session of the August 6 Security Council meeting consisted 
primarily of technical diplomatic presentations.  Following 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's statement, Cuban Foreign Minister 
Rodriguez Parrella opened the meeting, as President of the Community of 
Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC):

    "The history of Latin American and the Caribbean has changed.  Two
    hundred years after our independence, the ideas of 'a Nation of
    Republics,' and of 'Our America' envisaged by Bolivar and Marti,
    respectively, are taking shape.  Thus, our Heads of State and
    Government decided in the Caracas Declaration that 'in accordance
    with the original mandate of our liberators, CELAC must move forward
    in the process of political, economic, social and cultural
    integration -- based on a wise equilibrium between the unity and
    diversity of our peoples ...Upon founding CELAC, our Heads of State
    and Government reiterated our commitment to the building of a more
    just, equitable and harmonious international order based on respect
    for international law and the Charter of the United Nations. ...They
    reaffirmed our commitment to the defense of sovereignty and the
    right of any state to establish its own political system, free from
    threats, aggression and unilateral coercive measures, and in an
    environment of peace, stability, justice, democracy and respect for
    human rights.  CELAC reiterates that there can be no lasting peace
    without development and the eradication of poverty, hunger and
    inequality ... CELAC has adopted a unanimous position with regard to
    some far-reaching topics on the international agenda, such as, for
    example, Argentina's legitimate claim in the dispute concerning the
    sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands,  and  -- today on the
    anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima -- on so-called nuclear
    disarmament."

The representatives of other regional organizations, and the members of 
the Security Council delivered their statements throughout the morning 
session of the meeting

When the Security Council resumed for the afternoon session, in a 
courageous and brilliant tour de force, the Argentine Presidency of the 
Security Council availed itself of the opportunity to publicly denounce 
espionage in the service of the resurgence of neo-liberal capitalist 
imperialism. In an unusual gesture of solidarity and support 
(considering that Heads of State chairing Security Council meetings 
seldom remain beyond a perfunctory appearance at the morning session), 
President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman 
and Ambassador Maria Cristina Perceval were present throughout the 
afternoon, as the succession of dazzling speeches, delivered by the 
Latin American Foreign Ministers of Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, 
Ecuador illuminated the global menace threatened by the United States 
National Security Agency programs of surveillance of phone records, 
e-mails, web-browsing, those very programs disclosed by former NSA 
contractor Edward Snowden.

The foreign ministers of Brazil , Venezuela , Uruguay , Bolivia and 
Ecuador fiercely condemned the United States plan for worldwide 
espionage, which posed a lethal threat to the democratically elected 
governments of these Latin American nations and jeopardized their survival.

It is not surprising that this expression of alarm was voiced by Latin 
America, from Argentina through Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, 
Venezuela -- in other words from the Southernmost tip of the huge 
southern continent to the Caribbean, for this continent, viewed 
imperialistically as the "backyard" of the United States, was for many 
tragic decades, crushed by military dictatorships inflicting state 
terror with impunity, following the blueprint of destabilization and 
overthrow, by the CIA and multinational corporate controlled entities, 
of their own democratically elected leaders.  The tragic destruction of 
Latin America's democratically elected governments included President 
Arbenz in Guatemala, 1954; President Goulart in Brazil, 1964; President 
Juan Bosch in the Dominican Republic, 1965;  President Torres in 
Bolivia, 1971;  President Allende in Chile, 1973, and more recently the 
destabilizations of the democratically elected governments of Honduras 
and Paraguay (this is not a complete list)

This more than half-century violation of the will of the people of Latin 
America, engineered by agencies of "the Colossus of the North" was a 
shattering trauma seared deeply into the consciousness of these leaders, 
whose recent triumph over fascist military dictatorships which were 
installed and supported by the United States, is a testament to their 
moral and intellectual strength and their passion for dignity and 
control over their own destinies.  The Latin American governments 
speaking at the August 6 Security Council are like the canary in the 
coal mine:  intensely alert and sensitive to imminent or potential 
threats of repetition of that horrific period they had endured and so 
recently overcome, these governments denounced widespread evidence of 
perilous subversive activity, the lethal consequences of which are 
predictable and terrifying.

The August 6, 2013 afternoon session of the UN Security Council began 
with Mr. Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Foreign Minister of Brazil, who 
stated, in English:

    "You, Madam President made my task easier by referring to the
    interception of communications and acts of espionage.  Such
    practices violate sovereignty, harm relations between nations and
    constitute a violation of human rights, in particular the right to
    privacy and the right of our citizens to information.  In that
    respect, you have complied with the decision of the States parties
    of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) who met in Montevideo
    last month.  Yesterday, the Foreign Minister of MERCOSUR conveyed to
    the Secretary-General the position of Argentina , Bolivia , Brazil ,
    Uruguay and Venezuela with respect to and in compliance with, that
    decision.  The matter will also be placed before various United
    Nations bodies, in accordance with the decision and the document
    circulated under the symbol A/67/946.  This is a very serious issue
    with a profound impact on the international system. Brazil is
    coordinating with countries that share similar concerns for the
    benefit of an international order that respects human rights and the
    sovereignty of states.

    I welcome the timely statement made on 12 July by the UN High
    Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay:  'surveillance
    programmes without adequate safeguards to protect the right to
    privacy actually risk impacting negatively on the enjoyment of human
    rights and fundamental freedoms.'  Pillay also mentioned Article 12
    of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 17 and 18
    of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which
    established, respectively, that 'No one shall be subjected to
    arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or
    correspondence,' and that 'Everyone has the right to protection of
    the law against such interference or attacks.'

    Brazil also associates itself with the repeated appeals by Ms.
    Pillay in various forums that efforts to combat terrorism must
    necessarily respect human rights and humanitarian law.  Her position
    was incorporated into the decision of the Heads of State of MERCOSUR
    as well as the Presidential Statement (S/PRST/2013/12) adopted by
    the Council this morning... Mention should be made of the North
    Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)... .a defense alliance that does
    not seem to frame its activities clearly under Chapter VIII of the
    Charter of the United Nations and has made use of concepts and
    strategies that raise problematic and sensitive issues in terms of
    the articulation between the regional level and the United Nations
    system.  We are concerned that, historically, leaders of NATO and
    member countries have considered that the organization does not
    necessarily require explicit authorization from the Security Council
    to resort to coercion.

    We are also concerned that NATO has loosely interpreted mandates for
    action aimed at promoting international peace and security
    authorized by the Security Council.  As Brazil has maintained,
    including through the Brazilian concept of 'responsibility while
    protecting,' (S/2011/701, annex), the Security Council should avail
    itself of the institutional means of monitoring the adequate
    fulfillment of its mandates.

    We are concerned, as well that NATO has been searching to establish
    partnerships out of its area, far beyond the North Atlantic,
    including in regions of peace, democracy and social inclusion, and
    that rule out the presence of weapons of mass destruction  in their
    territories.  It would be extremely grave for the future of the
    articulation between regional and global efforts at promoting peace,
    as prescribed by the United Nations, if groups of countries started
    to unilaterally define their sphere of action beyond the territory
    of their own members."

Next, Mr. David Choquehuanca Cespedes, Minister of Foreign Affairs of 
Bolivia spoke:

    "Preserving peace is not and will not be the result of the existence
    of international policemen, but rather as a result of the promotion
    of social justice, equity,  complementarity, solidarity and respect
    between states......I should like to express our rejection and
    condemnation of the practice of espionage on the part of the United
    States.  I should also like  to express the grief and indignation of
    my people and my Government over the act of aggression experienced
    by President Evo Morales Ayma, which has been described by the
    international community as offensive, humiliating, discriminatory,
    colonialistic, unfriendly and a violation of human rights and
    international standards.  Given the grave nature of these facts, we
    ask the United Nations to clarify these events and to take measures
    to guarantee human rights and international law so that no one will
    have to suffer such violations again."

Next, His Excellency, Mr. Elias Jaua Milano, Minister of the People's 
Power for Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and 
Pro-Tempore President of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) stated:

    "Today we join in the pleasure of the Bolivian people on its
    national holiday, and recall the commemoration of the 200 years of
    the triumphant entry of the liberator Simon Bolivar after having
    carried out a successful campaign that began in December of 1812 in
    New Grenada.  We must always remember that, when united, we South
    Americans will achieve independence, equality and democracy for our
    peoples....Peace cannot be achieved in the world without social
    justice and without eradicating once and for all hunger, poverty,
    illiteracy, malnutrition and the wide technological divides, in
    other words, without guaranteeing to all the resources necessary for
    their full development in equal conditions....The instruments,
    declarations, decisions and resolutions of MERCOSUR have sought
    democracy and peace in the region, including by preventing coups and
    other attempts to frustrate the democratic will of our peoples,
    promoted by fascistic movements represented by political and
    economic leaders that are found particularly in media corporations. 
    These movements attack democratic governments and peoples that have
    chosen the path of independence, social inclusion and the
    grass-roots democratization of our societies.....

    The timely and firm action of MERCOSUR along with other regional and
    subregional organizations, managed to stop attempted coups in
    Paraguay in 1996 and 1999, thereby guaranteeing democratic order. 
    Similarly, in 2006 and 2007 MERCOSUR condemned and took action to
    prevent attempts to divide Bolivia as a way of weakening the
    democratic government of President Evo Morales.  Likewise, the
    Foreign Ministers of the countries members of MERCOSUR condemned the
    attempted coup against President Rafael Correa in Ecuador on 30
    September 2010, joining with other regional blocs to issue a joint
    warning to the world and prevent that crime from taking place. 
    Although it could not be prevented, MERCOSUR acted decisively in the
    parliamentary coup against President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay in
    June, 2012.  On that occasion the foreign ministers of MERCOSUR and
    UNASUR traveled to Asuncion with the intention of starting a
    dialogue and preventing the interruption of the constitutional
    order.  That was not achieved, and the bloc had to temporarily
    suspend the Republic of Paraguay until its political, institutional
    and democratic situation was normalized through the holding of
    elections.  More recently, MERCOSUR has been able to circumvent
    those situations with peaceful and democratic mechanisms, without
    economic blocades, military intervention, indiscriminate bombing or
    armed intervention of any kind.  We believe that the only way to
    defeat violence is with greater democracy and peaceful means.
    Mercosur has also participated in issues that affect international
    peace and security, such as the coup in Honduras against President
    Zelaya...

    Unfortunately in recent times we have been concerned to see that
    some countries have continued to assert their political, military
    and economic power and distorted the very essence of cooperation
    between the United Nations and regional and subregional
    organizations.  They have gone so far as to use the Security Council
    as a platform to encourage armed interventions against sovereign
    states and peoples with a view to promoting the poorly named regime
    change, in contravention of all principles of International Law...
    as Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and as
    Pro-Tempore President of MERCOSUR I take this opportunity to
    reiterate our firm condemnation of the insult to the office of the
    President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, President Evo
    Morales, when some European Governments did not permit the
    overflight or landing of the aircraft transporting him.  That was
    not only a hostile, unfounded, discriminatory and arbitrary action,
    but also a flagrant violation of the precepts of international law."

       "Similarly, we reject the actions of global espionage carried out
    by the government of the United States , which undermine the
    sovereignty of States and which we have become familiar with through
    the revelations of the former security contractor, Edward Snowden. 
    Given the seriousness of these reports of computer espionage on a
    global scale, recognized by the Secretary-General of the
    International Telecommunication Union himself, the United Nations
    must initiate a broad multilateral discussion that would make it
    possible to design agreements to safeguard the sovereignty and
    security of States in the light of such illegal practices.  MERCOSUR
    has begun action to promote a discussion on this matter so that we
    can open an appropriate investigation within the United Nations and
    punish and condemn this violation of international law."

    "We reiterate our condemnation of actions that could undermine the
    power of States to fully implement the right of humanitarian asylum.
    In this respect, we reject any attempt to pressure, harass or
    criminalize a state or third party over the sovereign decision of
    any nation to grant asylum, which is enshrined in all international
    conventions.  Likewise, we express our solidarity with the
    Governments of Bolivia and Nicaragua , which, like Venezuela , have
    offered asylum to Mr. Snowden, as expressed by the Heads of State of
    MERCOSUR in the decision concerning the universal recognition of the
    right of political asylum, issued in Montevideo on 12 July.  These
    three matters were discussed yesterday with the Secretary-General of
    the United Nations"

In her remarkable work, entitled "The Shock Doctrine, The Rise of 
Disaster Capitalism," (published in 2007) journalist Naomi Klein states, 
page 573:

    "Though clearly drawing on a long militant history, Latin America 's
    contemporary movements are not direct replicas of their
    predecessors.  Of all the differences, the most striking is an acute
    awareness of the need for protection from the shocks of the past --
    the coups, the foreign shock therapists, the U.S. trained torturers,
    as well as the debt shocks and currency collapses of the eighties
    and nineties. Latin America 's mass movements, which have powered
    the wave of election victories for left-wing candidates, are
    learning how to build shock absorbers into their organizing models. ...

    Latin America's new leaders are also taking bold measures to block
    any future U.S. backed coups that could attempt to undermine their
    democratic victories.  The governments of Venezuela, Costa Rica,
    Argentina and Uruguay have all announced they will no longer send
    students to the School of Americas, the infamous police and military
    training center in Fort Benning, Georgia, where so many of the
    continent's notorious killers learned the latest I
    "counterterrorism" (torture) techniques, then promptly directed them
    against farmers in El Salvador and auto workers in Argentina....If
    the U.S. military does not have bases or training programs, its
    power to inflict shocks will be greatly eroded...

    Latin America's most significant protection from future shocks (and
    therefore the shock doctrine) flows from the continent's emerging
    independence from Washington's financial institutions, the result of
    greater integration among regional governments. The Bolivarian
    Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) is the continent's retort to the
    Free Trade Area of the Americas , the now buried corporatist dream
    of a free-trade zone from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego....

    Thanks to high oil prices, Venezuela has emerged as a major lender
    to other developing countries, allowing them to do an end run around
    Washington, and even Argentina, Washington's former 'model pupil'
    has been part of the trend.  In his 2007 State of the Union Address
    (the late) President Nestor Kirchner said that the country's foreign
    creditors had told him, 'You must have an agreement with the
    International Fund to be able to pay the debt.  We say to them,
    'Sirs, we are sovereign.  We want to pay the debt, but no way in
    hell are we going to make an agreement again with the IMF.'  As a
    result the IMF, supremely powerful in the eighties, is no longer a
    force on the continent.  In 2005 Latin America made up 80 percent of
    the IMF's total lending portfolio, in 2007 the continent represented
    just 1 percent -- a sea change in only two years. 'There is life
    after the IMF,' Kirchner declared, 'and it is a good life.'"

Having resisted foreign (and domestic) military control, and foreign 
(and neoliberal) economic control, the new peril confronting Latin 
America's independent governments emanates from the United States' 
National Security Agency's electronic surveillance programs, an 
insidious new cyber-age method of total social control of the most 
private and intimate spaces of their lives -- and identities, their 
minds,  destroying their capacity to forge networks of solidarity and 
obtain the information crucial to their understanding and critical 
thinking, without which they are vulnerable to being reduced to the 
condition of the "zombies" (so popular in Hollywood's movie narrative), 
rendering them confused, docile, easily herded,  subjugated, ultimately 
exploited and enslaved.  This surveillance is tantamount to imposing 
total individual and societal control, which is a stealthy form of 
isolation, a form of psychological and intellectual solitary 
confinement, one of the cruelest forms of torture, which ultimately 
leads to the disintegration of the human personality, within an 
invisible prison.

This condition is described by the American Civil Liberties Union, and 
quoted in Charles Savage's August 8 report to The New York Times:

    "Hints of the surveillance appeared in a set of rules, leaked by Mr.
    Snowden, for how the NSA may carry out the 2008 FISA law.  One
    paragraph mentions that the agency 'seeks to acquire communications
    about the target that are not to or from the target.'  The pages
    were posted online by the newspaper The Guardian on June 20, but the
    telltale paragraph, the only rule marked 'Top Secret' amid 18 pages
    of restrictions, went largely overlooked amid other
    disclosures....While the paragraph hinting at the surveillance has
    attracted little attention, the American Civil Liberties Union did
    take note of the 'about the target' language in a June 21 post
    analyzing the larger set of rules, arguing that the language could
    be interpreted as allowing 'bulk collection of international
    communications, including those of Americans'....Jameel Jaffer, a
    senior lawyer at the ACLU said Wednesday that such 'dragnet
    surveillance will be poisonous to the freedoms of inquiry and
    association' because people who know that their communications will
    be searched will change their behavior.  'They'll hesitate before
    visiting controversial web sites, discussing controversial topics or
    investigating politically sensitive questions.  Individually, these
    hesitations might appear to be inconsequential, but the accumulation
    of them over time will change citizens' relationship to one another
    and to the government.'"

The infrastructure for de facto fascist police state and military 
control is being established under the guise of counterterrorism, (as, 
earlier, similar fascist states were established under the guise of 
fighting communism) a phenomena Latin America recognizes and knows from 
horrific historic experience.  And their historic memory of this has not 
yet been expunged: indeed, many of the leaders of Latin America today 
were earlier imprisoned and tortured only a few decades ago under such 
fascist police and military states (established ostensibly in the name 
of anti-communism), including Chile's former, and possibly future 
President Michelle Bachelet, Brazil's President Dilma Roussef, 
Argentina's late President Nestor Kirchner, and the world famous father 
of Argentina's  Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, the late Jacobo 
Timerman, imprisoned and tortured for two years during the Argentine 
military dictatorship's "dirty war."  No doubt, Uruguay 's President 
Jose Mujica well remembers those horrors, and Chile 's former President 
Ricardo Lago spent considerable time in prison during the Pinochet 
dictatorship.

Patino Aroca, Foreign Minister of Ecuador, next delivered, at the August 
6 Security Council meeting, one of the great speeches in United Nations 
history.

      "During the recent summit of the Common Market of the South
    (MERCOSUR) that took place on 12 July in Montevideo, the States
    convened resolved to 'request Argentina to submit the matter of the
    massive espionage case uncovered by Edward Snowden for consideration
    by the Security Council.'  They also resolved to 'demand that those
    responsible for those actions immediately cease therefrom and
    provide explanations of their motivations and their consequences.' 
    In similar terms, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our
    America spoke at the last Guayaquil summit which was held just five
    days ago, when it was decided to 'warn the international community
    about the seriousness of these actions, which imply a threat to the
    security and peaceful coexistence among our States"...

    "Just a few weeks ago the world saw a sequence of events more akin
    to a Cold War spy novel than to modern times.  On 5 June, leaks
    began to appear in publications in major global media outlets, leaks
    that were mixed with almost deathly intent and unspooled as a
    reality show before global public opinion.  The leaks came from a
    former 29-year-old American analyst who sought to escape deportation
    to his country, where he would be tried for those leaks.  After a
    journey that began in Hong Kong and was supposed to end in Latin
    America, today, it seems to have stopped, but it may not have
    completely run its course, despite the granting of asylum by Russia ."

    "During those few days in June we saw the size and the discretional
    nature of a massive surveillance apparatus that suddenly brought all
    the inhabitants of the planet closer than ever to an Orwellian
    nightmare.  Although at first it appeared to be a simple matter of
    wiretapping, it was later discovered that there was discretionary
    monitoring of e-mails. While it seemed initially that the apparatus
    was being used in operations against organized crime, later we
    learned that it was also being used to gain advantage in trade
    negotiations with other countries.  If we once thought that they
    were simply looking at unaffected States, we now know that everyone
    --- absolutely everyone, debtors and creditors, friends and enemies,
    South and North -- is considered a usual suspect by the authorities
    of the United States of America .  Now we know that our
    communications are permanently monitored by them."

    "No one knows yet if Mr. Snowden will once again manage to leak
    information that he claims to possess. Of course, it seems that he
    will not do it when he is in Russia .  In any case, the wounds
    opened by those events should be assessed within the main
    multilateral forums.  They deserve to be so because not only do they
    reflect an unacceptable imbalance in the global governance system,
    which in no case would help to build a climate of trust and
    cooperation between countries, and, in the final analysis, a climate
    of peace among nations.  They deserve to be assessed because we have
    also moved dangerously close to the limits set out by the Universal
    Declaration of Human Rights."

    "The imbalances to which I refer are clear -- the United States,
    like any other countries, has the need to deal with demands related
    to its national security, it goes without saying, but those
    legitimate demands must be dealt with in a way that does not affect
    the rights of individuals or indeed the sovereignty of other
    nations.  That is to say, limits must be set. However, we are now
    faced with the fact that any limits there may have been have
    vanished.  The national security of the United States has been
    placed above all universal moral values."

    "Such a drive has meant that the principles of equality and
    non-interference in the affairs of States, established in the
    Westphalia peace agreement, have now vanished into thin air.  The
    1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been violated.  The
    rights to the privacy of correspondence -- article 12 -- and to
    freedom of expression and opinion -- article 19 -- the rights of all
    citizens of the world, including United States citizens, have been
    trampled in the name of a greater goal, that is, national security
    -- or rather, for the sake of the profits of the national security
    industry."

    "What are the limits, really?  Has the time not come for the Council
    to take up this question again and discuss it?  In the end, does
    this not pose a threat to global peace?  What mutual trust could
    possibly exist among nations under such circumstances?  We believe
    that the time has come for the United Nations to face up to this
    matter responsibly."

    "As we have seen with the disappearance of such limits, this
    situation threatens to build walls between our countries.  If it has
    not done so already, it could also affect international cooperation
    against organized crime;  strangely enough, there is even the
    possibility that trade negotiations could be disrupted. 
    Paradoxically, even the very national security of the United States
    will suffer from the increase in global mistrust generated by
    massive espionage."

    "The events to which I have referred have also revealed other very
    disturbing realities.  To start off with, it has re-ignited the
    debate on the right of asylum, which all human beings have, as
    enshrined in international law, as well as the ability of any
    sovereign state to grant it.  This is a right that is granted to
    avoid fear of political persecution;  its legitimacy can only be
    determined by the country granting it.  Let us also remember its
    peaceful and humanitarian nature, which cannot in any case be
    described as unfriendly towards any other State, as established in
    General Assembly resolution 2312 (XXII) on territorial asylum.  I
    should also quote Ms. Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner
    for Human Rights, on the case at hand:  'Snowden's case has shown
    the need to protect persons disclosing information on matters that
    have implications for human rights, as well as the importance of
    ensuring respect for the right to privacy.'"

    "Leaders who should be giving explanations and facing up to the
    debate on the limits of what we are discussing, have instead
    launched a crusade against the right to asylum -- a full-on
    diplomatic offensive against countries that have taken to the global
    stage to show interest in such an important case.  States in the
    Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) have been
    under pressure, simply because they are considering a request for
    asylum.  All those countries have signed the 1954 Caracas Convention
    on Territorial Asylum, which is perhaps one of the most important
    instruments of the Inter-American human rights system."

    "The day the United States signs that treaty -- even the day it
    ratifies the San Jose pact, one of the foundations of the
    Inter-American system of human rights -- we will be closer to seeing
    that country adhere to the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties,
    and it will become a part of a group of equal nations, committed to
    complying with international law."

    "Instead of joining this group, we find ourselves with a country
    that prefers to lunge forwards and blame the messenger in order to
    cloud the message. The final result was that a group of countries
    decided to endanger the life of the President of the Plurinational
    State of Bolivia , forcing him and his entourage to make an
    emergency landing in violation of international norms governing
    respectful relations among nations."

    "It is not the revelation of the offence that threatens the climate
    of understanding among nations, it is the offence itself.  In a
    fragile world where armed conflicts are barely affected by
    international pressure, such actions do not help generate trust but
    tension."

    "I would like to conclude with two comments."

    "First, the Government of Ecuador fully supports the request of the
    Bolivian Government that the Office of the United Nations High
    Commissioner for Human Rights conduct an exhaustive investigation
    into the unjustifiable treatment suffered by President Evo Morales
    Ayma during his trip from Moscow to La Paz."

    "Secondly, massive global, discretionary and unlimited surveillance
    must stop.  It is for the Security Council to urgently make that
    demand of one of its permanent members, since, theoretically, it is
    up to this body to maintain peace on our planet. That, too, is the
    demand of Latin America , a zone of peace that, through
    organizations such as MERCOSUR and ALBA, has demanded an end to
    those practices.  It is also required by the spirit of coexistence,
    which inspired the drafting of the Charter of the United Nations. 
    It is also the appeal of billions of people in the world who
    understand that any action that aims to ensure the security of a
    country has its limits, which are the human rights of everyone on
    the planet."

   The representative of the United States, Mr. DeLaurentis replied:

    "Let me address an issue unrelated to our debate that was raised
    earlier today, namely, the United States efforts to prevent
    terrorism and the recent disclosure of classified information about
    techniques we use to do that.  All Governments do things that are
    secret: it is a fact of modern governing and a necessity in the
    light of the threats all our citizens face.  Our counter-Terrorism
    policy is ultimately about saving people's lives, which is why the
    United States works with other countries to protect our citizens and
    those of other nations from many threats.  All nations should be
    concerned about the damage these disclosures can cause to our
    ability to collectively defend against those threats."

Contradicting this assertion, a senior United States intelligence 
official said, regarding the 'about the target' surveillance that it 
"was difficult to point to any particular terrorist plot that would have 
been carried out if the surveillance had not taken place." He said it 
was one tool among many used to assemble a 'mosaic' of information in 
such investigations.  "The surveillance was used for other types of 
foreign-intelligence collection, not just terrorism investigations," the 
official said.  This admission that this surveillance is not limited to 
preventing terrorism is the most damning indictment of the secrecy of 
the program.

The American people, whose taxes pay for these programs, have an 
inalienable right to know what are the "other" uses to which these 
surveillance programs are being put, in their name.  Powerfully refuting 
any contention that these surveillance activities are for the purpose of 
preventing terrorism is the testimony of United States Senator, Patrick 
J. Leahy of Vermont, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, 
who said he had been shown a classified list of "terrorist events" 
detected through surveillance, and  it did not show that 'dozens or even 
several terrorist plots' had been thwarted by the domestic program.  "If 
this program if not effective, it has to end.  So far I'm not convinced 
by what I've seen," Senator Leahy said, denouncing ' the massive privacy 
implications' of keeping records of every American's domestic calls.

What really is the purpose of this NSA program of global surveillance?  
Failing to significantly thwart terrorist activity, it must have an 
ultimate purpose. The possibilities are terrifying.  The hysterical, 
desperate and deadly determination to arrest Snowden suggests that he 
may have uncovered something further, something so illegal that the 
authors of such crimes will not hesitate to endanger the very lives they 
claim to be protecting, in order to prevent exposure.  The frantic 
orchestration of the actions endangering the life of the President of 
Bolivia makes this conclusion unavoidable.

The August 6 Security Council meeting under the Presidency of Argentina 
re-enforced the credibility of the United Nations.  The Government of 
Argentina and her courageous sister nations of Latin America have thrown 
down the gauntlet on behalf of the majority of the citizens of this planet.

*/Carla Stea i/*/s Global Research's accredited correspondent at the 
United Nations headquarters, New York./

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