UN General Assembly
1997

﻿I would like to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty-second session. It is a principle of today’s world that political legitimacy and democracy constitute the most civilized form of government. The United Nations must reflect this increasingly universal principle by supporting the efforts being made by the Governments and peoples of the world that are struggling to democratize their countries. After a decade of totalitarianism and struggles of resistance, the Nicaraguan people have chosen democracy as our system of government. Proof of this is the elections that were successfully conducted in 1990 and in 1996, when I was elected President of Nicaragua and undertook to build a state of law and to lead my country along the path of democracy, reconciliation with justice and the institutionalization of the State. We know that this is a difficult challenge. The Government over which I preside has made the commitment to achieve economic and social development that will make it possible to meet the basic needs of the