At UN General Assembly, Colombia's President Skips Debut as Bolivia, Ghana and Paraguay Make Their Cases

Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella passed up his first opportunity to address the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, keeping a campaign promise to forgo foreign travel and focus on domestic problems, particularly urban crime and violence linked to illegal armed groups.

Vice President Jose Manuel Restrepo delivered the speech in his president's place, saying he was presenting de la Espriella's own words. The address opened by praising Colombia's resilience after a powerful earthquake last month that killed at least 289 people, and went on to cover security and economic growth, with the leadership seeking to change the course of "a country that is well aware of its difficulties but also of its enormous potential."

"Believe in Colombia," de la Espriella said through Restrepo. "I don't promise you a perfect country, but I assure you that I am working tirelessly to build a nation that is safer, more prosperous and with more opportunities for its people."

Bolivia's Rodrigo Paz Pereira, ten months into a presidency marked by political ruptures, corruption scandals and street protests, struck a defiant note. Many of his originally appointed ministers have departed, an effort to shore up scarce fuel supplies backfired when contaminated gasoline damaged more than 10,000 vehicles, and the seat of his government was under siege for nearly eight weeks by protesters demanding his resignation.

Paz said the economy is improving, fuel shortages are being managed and people are looking ahead. Socialism "does not put food on the table," he said, adding that by electing him Bolivia "decided to engage in a change and a transformation and to not turn back to the past." He closed with what may be the assembly's most memorable line so far: "Long live the fatherland, damn it! Long live Bolivia."

Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama appeared to reference Donald Trump's speech on Tuesday, in which the U.S. president suggested he might "annihilate" Iran. "No human civilization deserves to be annihilated, and certainly not a member of the United Nations," Mahama said. He welcomed a resolution recognizing the crimes of the transatlantic slave trade, thanking the 123 nations that voted to affirm it. Ghana, once known as the Gold Coast, was a key slave trafficking port in the 1600s and 1700s. "No race is superior. No nation is inferior. No child's life is worth less because of the language they speak, the faith they profess, the color of their skin or the land of their birth," he said, calling it "the unyielding moral foundation upon which the United Nations must stand."

Paraguay's President Santiago Peña used his address to reiterate his country's support for Taiwan, the only South American nation to recognize the island and one of just 12 worldwide. Beijing considers Taiwan its own territory and has stepped up efforts to draw away its diplomatic allies while increasing military pressure around the island. Peña noted that Taiwan is the global hub of microchip manufacturing and said conflicts in the Indo-Pacific affect the chips that "drive industry, defense, and artificial intelligence." "What happens there is not merely a regional matter ... It affects Japan, all of East and Southeast Asia, and, above all, it affects the global economy," he said. "Anyone who pretends that this is far away or too distant simply has not understood the 21st century."

Inside the sprawling U.N. headquarters, a cost-saving measure by the secretary-general has kept temperatures warmer than some staff would like during the summer heat. With fall arriving and New York noticeably cooler on Thursday, complaints surfaced during a press conference on global education that the briefing room felt like an icebox. One correspondent went to fetch a shawl, others buttoned their jackets, and everyone left with cold hands. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, who moderated the event, laughed and described the room's temperature: "It's whatever the weather is like outside – and more."