UN General Assembly
1993

rather the wisdom, ingenuity and vision of men of initiative. Political activity, with its great capacity to transform reality, has in a few short years generated far-reaching changes in the former Soviet Union, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and my own region, Latin America. Never before have so many millions of people around the world enjoyed freedom. We Colombians, for example, have in just a few years achieved significant political, economic and social changes aimed at developing a new democratic century that is more open, more participatory, more pluralistic, more decentralized and more just. Our new Constitution was conceived with the participation of all sectors of public opinion, including ex-guerrillas, indigenous people, industrialists, human-rights activists, environmentalists and millions of ordinary citizens. Our 1991 Constitution is the navigational chart of a new Colombia heading for the next millennium. On the economic front, we have replaced our old model of a closed economy with an open one, in which external markets have to become, increasingly, the engines of growth. We are integrating our economy with the world and are