Rich Nations Must Aid Poor--De la Madrid

Mexico’s president today said developed countries are responsible for the plight of poor nations and indirectly criticized the United States for its support of rebels in Nicaragua.

President Miguel de la Madrid, addressing the 41st U.N. General Assembly, also called for lower interest rates to ease the debt burden of developing countries, higher prices for their commodities and a lowering of trade barriers by developed countries.

“It is necessary that the international economic order be restructured, so that North and South have equitable shares in its benefits and hardships alike,” he said.

De la Madrid said wealthy countries have imposed economic terms disadvantageous to developing countries and that as a result, “our countries have contributed to the well-being--and even, upon occasion, to the extravagance--of the more advanced countries.”

“It is time for the powerful to realize, in an act of historical consciousness, that their own future and security also depend upon their flexibility toward the demands of the weak, in making real contributions to their development and thus to the common good,” De la Madrid said.

Mexico’s international debt is near $100 billion.

‘Beyond the . . . Law’

In an apparent swipe at U.S. support for Nicaraguan rebels, De la Madrid said, “One state’s dissension with another’s political process does not justify, under any circumstances, the perpetration of acts beyond the bounds of international law.”

The U.S. Congress recently approved $100 million in aid for the rebels fighting to overthrow Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government.

De la Madrid said a draft treaty prepared by Mexico and three other Latin American nations of the Contadora group was a valid basis for establishing peace in Central America.

In an apparent reference to U.S. cuts in financial support for the United Nations, De la Madrid said the international community “well knows that our contributions to the United Nations represent a juridical obligation that no one can repudiate unilaterally.”

Assessed contributions to the U.N. budget are a treaty obligation under the U.N. Charter, to which the United States is a signatory. The U.S. Congress has approved cuts of at least 20% in the U.S. assessed share of $210 million this year, causing an economic crisis in the world body.