UN General Assembly
1983

9. After three decades of continuous growth, Latin America and the Caribbean are probably immersed in the deepest depression of the century. Although the United Nations Development Decade has only recently come to an end, our peoples are not only still far from attaining its purpose, but are going through a process of social involution caused by a decline in their economies. Inflation, which in 1983 may well reach three figures, and the rising level of unemployment and underemployment are seriously affecting standards of living at the lower and intermediate levels. There are nations in which the scourge of hunger has appeared—something which was not believed possible in the region. Social conflicts are worsening and political stability is becoming increasingly vulnerable, with obvious consequences for the frequently proclaimed need for hemispheric security, which today is economic and social in nature, above all, and not military, as some believe.