UN General Assembly
1985

Colombia, which has always honored its debt, has already reached a complete agreement with its creditors, guaranteed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which enables it to obtain fresh resources destined for major productive projects, such as the exploitation of our large fields of coal, oil and ferro-nickel, and for the reactivation of our foreign trade. We have adopted a process of self-discipline, monitored by the Fund, which has already begun to reactivate our economy. We are fully aware that the problem of the Latin American foreign debt remains and that the arrangements made so far through tremendous effort on the part of some countries cure just temporary solutions. As indicated by the President of Colombia, Belisario Betancur, the debt bomb has not yet been deactivated. The countries of the region cannot consult their income from exports beyond the levels required for their productive activity and for the gradual improvement of the living standards of their peoples.