Panama Foreign Minister, Dr. Illueca honoured, 1981 Feb 17

Filed under americas | Tributes and Expressions of appreciation

Two Panama Related Events Sep 1981

UN Diplomats Honour Panama Foreign Minister

17 February 1981. The international diplomatic community honoured Panamanian Foreign Minister Jorge Illueca at a U.N. ceremony sponsored by the peace meditation group

Shraddha

Dr. Illueca has been associated with the U.N. since the second General Assembly in 1947, serving most recently as Permanent Representative of Panama for six years until his appointment as Foreign Minister. During his term, the Panama Canal treaties were signed and his country was elected to a seat on the Security Council.

Ambassadors Rossides of Cyprus, Fonseka of Sri Lanka and Muwamba of Malawi and Sri Chinmoy spoke in honour of Illueca.

Below are excerpts from the 17 feb programme

Panama Reception in the Delegates Dining room

During February 1981 there was also a reception in the Delegates Dining Room hosted by the Panama Mission to the United Nations. On the invitation of Dr and Mrs. Illueca, Sri Chinmoy and some members of the Peace Meditation group at the UN joined guests for the occasion.

Shraddha

More photos from Delegates Dining Room Panama Reception are in Gallery 3 below:

Excerpts from 17 Feb Programme in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium at the UN.

Ambassador Zenon Rossides, Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations:

I am very pleased to be here on this occasion in order to express our congratulations to Ambassador Illueca for his worthy promotion to Foreign Minister of Panama. Ambassador Illueca is a distinguished figure, not only for his ability as a diplomat, but above all for his character. What we need today in the United Nations and in the world is character, the ability to stand for what is right and not for what is pleasant to others, the ability to do what is right and to do it with the grace, the good will and the kindness that Ambassador Illueca has shown in his work. 14

There is no doubt that the political abilities of Ambassador Illueca will be praised in the United Nations, where he is recognised by all for his dignity and his ability to bring forward what is right. What we need in the United Nations and in the world is a forthright spirit such as his, which says that the United Nations has to conform with the Charter if it is going to be what it is meant to be: the instrument of international security and peace. If we don’t conform with the Charter, we cannot expect the Unite d Nations to do any thing truly worthy in the world. It may do a lot of things incidentally and it has already achieved much. It is indeed indispensable. But it has failed to maintain international security and peace because chapter seven of the Charter has not been applied. This is the great problem of the world today. We are paying to day for that original sin of violating the Charter in its very pith and marrow and every day that passes brings us nearer to the danger of a conflagration.

Knowing Ambassador Illueca’s mind and his forthrightness, it is encouraging to know that he is going to be Foreign Minister of Panama. This will be to the service not only of his country, but also to the whole of Latin America and, by reflection, to the whole world. Ambassador Illueca is a man of the spirit. The intellect has developed space travel and the nuclear bomb, but the intellect can go wrong. It does not go wrong with Ambassador Illueca, however, because he is also a spiritual man. The spirit is our link with the universal mind and the moral flow of the universe.

We have to develop the spirit of man if we want to have the prospect of survival in our present predicament. Therefore, in congratulating Ambassador Illueca I am doing nothing more than expressing what is in the best interest of the entire world.

H.E. Mr. Ignatius Benedict Fonseka, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations,’

Sri Chinmoy, members of the meditation group, my dear colleagues, Foreign Minister Illueca, I need hardly say that it is a recognition of the great qualities, the performance and the acceptability of Foreign Minister Illueca to have been called by his government to head its Foreign Ministry.

I would like to refer to just two events which took place during Ambassador Illueca’s term of office here. The first was historical in that during his term of office his country resumed sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone. I need not tell this gathering how important an occasion this was, especially that this problem was settled bilaterally and in a spirit of peace and compromise, to which I am sure Ambassador Illueca contributed greatly. It was an indication of the state of relations between a great country, the United States, and another important country, Panama, that they were able to settle this. It happened during Ambassador Illueca’s time, and I think it is a great credit to him personally that it took place.

The second is an event that demonstrated the standing that his country has in the international community, in the United Nations and certainly in the Latin American group. Here I refer to the somewhat protracted exercise we went through during the last General Assembly to elect a member of the Latin American group to the Security Council. That Panama and its representative provided an acceptable choice from the Latin American group to be a member of the Security Council is a tribute to Panama and to Ambassador Illueca. Thank you very much.

H.E. Mr. T IX. Muwamba, Permanent Representative of Malawi to the United Nations:

Your excellencies and friends, since my arrival at the U.N. more than five years ago, I have been one person who has admired Foreign Minister Illueca from the very day that I walked into the great edifice of the United Nations. And I would like to testify publicly, just as his government has acknowledged publicly, the effective and positive stewardship which he has displayed here. If we have had here at the United Nations a man whom you might brand as a silent diplomat, that man is Ambassador Illueca. We have had several explosive issues to contend with here, and wherever we involved Ambassador Illueca, we were sure of coming up with a compromise of some kind. The man worked tirelessly; the man worked silently, but very effectively. We came to love him ; we came to admire him.

When word reached me that, in fact, his own government had recognised his effectiveness and therefore had decided to appoint him as Foreign Minister, I thought to myself that the United Nations is once again on the move. For it is clear that Ambassador Illueca is a child of the United Nations who believes fully in what the United Nations stands for.

Therefore, I would like to salute you, sir, and your good lady, who sits beside you and will continue to sit beside you in your new job. There you will reflect the aspirations of the international community that you represented here. With the problems that we have in the developing world, I am certain that you will play your role as effectively, if not much more effectively, than you have done here, with the experience that you have obtained here. Your good lady will be there to remind you constantly that you are not working only f or yourself, you are not working only for Panama, but you are working for the family of man. We want to wish you very well and we will continue to give you our moral support, wherever we may be. We thank you for the excellent job that you have already done. Thank you.

H.E. Dr. Jorge Illueca, Foreign Minister of Panama:

Sri Chinmoy, Ambassador Rossides, Ambassador Fonseka, Ambassador Muwamba, friends and colleagues, my heart felt thanks to you all for your generous words. With all humility, I have accepted to participate in this programme with the understanding that the honour bestowed upon my country and my person would be, as it is, a spiritual bridge to honour Sri Chinmoy as the founder and inspiring force of Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations. As a human being, I am deeply indebted to Sri Chinmoy and to my friends of the meditation group. They have opened new horizons for my mind and they exercise, in the environment of the United Nations family, a positive influence on hum an and international relations as a whole. With them life is like the sky, since they put love, peace and justice in it, words that are bread and wine for our souls. When I said that I am today a spiritual bridge to honour Sri Chinmoy, it is because this eminent philosopher has given new dimensions to the ideas proclaimed in the United Nations Charter. He has moved the kind feelings of many men and women of all ages in a most constructive manner.

Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations is a magnificent evidence of his endeavours in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Perhaps the best way to say thank you to Sri Chinmoy and this meditation group is to realise that they serve as an organisation to promote the principles of friendship and cooperation that are essential to have peace and good neighbourliness between states and individuals.

The Constitution of UNESCO states that “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” To this noble idea, Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations has been committed. Its members have dedicated themselves to constantly promoting peace, tolerance, understanding, friendship and cooperation, without demanding any compensation in return. They are friends of humanity who have found a place in our hearts and in our minds and give us more than a single kindness, something that is impossible to define, but shall always be shining in our souls. Thank you.

Shraddha

Foreign Minister Illueca receives a trophy from Sri Chinmoy as Mrs. Illueca and Ambassadors Hepburn of the Bahamas and Muwamba of Malawi look on.

Panama Reception in Delegates Dining Room

During that sameFebrueay of 1981 there was a reception in the Delegates Dining Room hosted by the Panama Mission to the United Nations and Dr. and Mrs. Illueca.