UN General Assembly
1996

﻿Allow me to begin by congratulating the President on his election to preside over the Assembly this session. We are convinced that he will guide our work successfully. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Diogo Freitas do Amaral for his work. In 1990, when Mrs. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro became President of Nicaragua, the country was in a state of war. Negotiating the demobilization of more than 20,000 people who had taken up arms and reducing an army of over 90,000 soldiers were key tasks in ending a civil war that had lasted almost 10 years. This 19 complicated pacification process was just the beginning of a process of peace, reconciliation, democracy and development in Nicaragua aimed at bringing the country into line with the new situation in the region and the globalization of international relations. As part of this process, we began to modernize the State, curbed hyper-inflation, liberalized the pricing system and did away with the State monopoly in the areas of foreign trade and finance, where we have managed to