UN General Assembly
1985

In recent years our region has seen exceptional political change. Almost all our countries have put authoritarian regimes behind them and, after a prolonged struggle for freedom and dignity, democracy is now flourishing in our part of the Americas. But if this experience of ours shows that the people are mobilizing in the name of liberty to achieve democracy, history teaches us that they are also mobilizing in the name of well being to maintain democracy. In other words, growth is directly linked with the stability of this hard won democracy. The truth is that this growth is seriously jeopardized by our capacity to generate resources. This is particularly .true if a large proportion of those resources are swallowed up precisely by payment of the interest on the debt.