Distinguished Attendees:

I am deeply grateful, on behalf of my Government, to receive the high distinction that is Prince of Asturias Award, and to have this splendid ceremony celebrated in a brother nation with which we are linked by history, and whose mountainous geography reminds us so much of our own.

I express my gratitude to the members of the Jury for the generosity of their verdict, and I do this, in the first place, on behalf of the people of my nation who suffered through the rigors of the confrontation and made the transition to democracy possible, which constituted the basis for achieving peace.

Likewise, I believe it to be very fortunate that this Award has been granted to my Government, considering that peace has been made possible through the effort of the whole, through teamwork, within which the contribution of the Armed Forces of Guatemala was exceptional, rather than through individual leadership.

With respect to the URNG, I want to reiterate that which I have suggested on other occasions: we had a vigorous interlocutor filled with a democratic spirit and convinced of the necessity of peace, which enabled a satisfying conclusion of the process to be reached and the main difficulties to be overcome. Today, the URNG is a developing political party that has integrated itself into the country's political mainstream.

To have granted both of us the Award for International Cooperation represents, in my estimation, a generous evaluation of what the Guatemalan peace process contributes and can contribute to the harmonious co-existence among nations and peoples. Likewise, the peace in Guatemala is the concrete outcome of the new era of international relations that is taking shape at this close of the millennium and of the international solidarity which is one of its characteristics. For we Guatemalans, it is cause for extreme satisfaction to know that our internal peace has corresponded in some way to the contribution of so many brothers all over the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Although we still have much to do, Guatemala is today very different from what it was. Political violence has vanished from our land, and in its place flourishes a non-exclusionary democracy which liberates the creative potential of the Guatemalan people and widens the roads of tolerance and plurality, opening up the way toward the new and the diverse.

Liberty reigns in our country and the old wounds are healing as the impunity granted by the complicity or tolerance of authority disappears; as opportunities for development come to a long-suffering and hard-working population that is evolving from the depths of its ancient cultural roots to join the train of modern times.

Peace does not mean an absence of conflict, but rather the presence of peaceful, legal and democratic means to solve that conflict. Firm and lasting peace requires social and cultural equality, and that is the path followed by the Peace Treaties. The struggle against poverty, privileges and discrimination is and should continue to be a permanent national priority, since the expansion and consolidation of the unity of the Guatemalan people depends on it, and it is the main resource for the construction of present and future.

It is still early days to evaluate the period we have been through, and still earlier to assess the new values that have emerged in our society. The urgent need to satisfy both the delay and the longing for such evaluations prevents us from justly estimating our progress, and especially the foundations for the future we have gradually built.

We do not yet enjoy the historical distance required to recognise the rich sediment created by the tragedy itself, and ten months of peace after four hundred months of war are not enough for us to realise that we have, opening up before us, the wide paths that our forefathers demanded of the heart of heaven and earth at the dawn of all peoples. Whether we advance along those paths or are lead astray can only depend on us.

In our efforts towards peace and development we have enjoyed the generous contributions of the Spanish people and its authorities. They accompanied us throughout the process of negotiation, from positions of commitment within the Group of Friendly Nations, and have spared no effort to support us in building peace. We know that the Spanish people have followed the incidents of our peace process, expressing their solidarity with its difficulties and rejoicing in the achieved successes.

At this critical and luminous point of our national history, the historic and cultural links with this noble people have been widened and become enriched. We have seen a specific expression of this in the approval and the human warmth with which the Guatemalan people recently welcomed Her Majesty Queen Sofía, who adorned our soil and exalted us with her expressions of love for Guatemala and its inhabitants.

Spain has suffered like few countries the rigours of war, and is familiar with the difficulties and invaluable conquests of the transition towards democracy. Upon its soil, different peoples coexist and different languages are spoken, within a context of unity which respects and propitiates the wealth of diversity. We have much to learn and to share, since our Guatemala is a rich natural and social mosaic which must extract its strength and identity from the unity of its very diversity, and this is only possible under democracy.

While reiterating our satisfaction for receiving this Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, we wish to remember that cooperation is the sign of the times, as humanity faces challenges that may not be solved without a joint effort by us all, and because mutual solidarity is the highest expression of fraternity among human beings.

Thank you very much.