UN General Assembly
1968

80. We are called upon to face paradoxical situations. On the one hand, we Latin American countries are embarked on a process of integration through the Latin American Free Trade Association, which we feel is not always making satisfactory progress; we therefore want to organize the Andean sub-region, which would consist of six countries anxious to achieve practical results within the shortest possible time. We also intend to resolve important infrastructural problems affecting five nations, through agreements between the countries of the River Plate basin. This whole process of integration naturally presupposes broad co-operation among the countries concerned, on a completely equal footing. Otherwise, these projects would be doomed to certain failure. And yet we are confronted with a lack of understanding and difficulties which seem small when viewed from afar but which in fact, in addition to causing economic harm to sizeable segments of our population, are fostering a climate of suspicion and resistance to the cause of integration.