FORMER PRESIDENT OF CHILE RECEIVES 1998 FULBRIGHT PRIZE
USIA
09 October 1998
FORMER PRESIDENT OF CHILE RECEIVES 1998 FULBRIGHT PRIZE
(Honored for promoting democratic reforms and social justice) (1040)
By Lauren Monsen
USIA Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- Former President Patricio Aylwin Azocar of Chile is
widely admired as a statesman who steered his country away from a
totalitarian past during its "remarkable transition to democracy" in
the 1990s, says U.S. Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering.
Aylwin, honored by the Fulbright Association at an Oct. 9 State
Department ceremony, was recognized for his efforts to establish
democratic government and social justice in Chile, both as president
and as a private citizen. He becomes the first Latin American to
receive the J. William Fulbright Prize for International
Understanding.
In his introductory remarks, Pickering praised Aylwin as a man whose
life "embodies the principles" that the Fulbright educational exchange
program stands for: the advancement of cross-cultural amity, tolerance
and goodwill. The Fulbright program is administered by the United
States Information Agency, which offers qualifying graduate students
the opportunity to pursue their educations abroad.
Looking back on his own globe-trotting career -- whose highlights
include serving as U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, India, Algeria,
Jordan, Russia, and the United Nations -- Pickering pointed out that
the Fulbright program demonstrates that "genuine international
understanding depends not only on [interaction between] scientists and
politicians, but equally on writers, artists and musicians." He
recalled his days as a young Fulbright grantee, traveling in
Australia, where he learned first-hand about the benefits of student
exchanges. "As a former Fulbright scholar, I remain grateful for what
was, in essence, my first diplomatic assignment," he said.
Ronald J. Ross, M.D., president of the Fulbright Association board of
directors, and Timothy J. Haas, president of The Coca-Cola Company's
Latin America Group, jointly presented the Fulbright Prize, a $50,000
award from The Coca-Cola Foundation. Aylwin also received a bronze
statue entitled "Tribute."
Ross described Aylwin as "a man whose lifelong commitment to justice
led him to oppose tyranny with great courage, to act boldly to heal
the divisions in his country, and to work tirelessly to eliminate
poverty worldwide." Aylwin helped transform Chile's government into a
vigorous democracy, after nearly 16 years of repressive military
control under General Augusto Pinochet.
In accepting the award, Aylwin thanked the Fulbright Association for
the "important distinction conferred upon me," adding that the prize
"clearly shows support for [the Chilean] people who, through love of
freedom and defense of human dignity, were able to progress peacefully
from a dictatorship to a democracy, setting the things that unite us
above those that separate us."
In a powerful and passionate speech, Aylwin spoke of his country's
emergence from years of authoritarian rule implemented by those who
"despised democratic freedoms." Yet the downfall of totalitarian
regimes, in Latin America as well as in Eastern Europe, "meant that
liberty won out over tyranny," he declared, reminding his audience
that "the Latin American dictatorships all fell before the Berlin Wall
did."
But he argued that Chile's restoration of democracy was made possible
by a spirit of reconciliation which united different segments of
society, including former military officials from the Pinochet era,
even as the courts demanded accountability for human-rights abuses.
"The historical process to recover democracy in Chile, which began
exactly 10 years ago, [was successful] because those of us who had
been foes in the past were able to come together," Aylwin observed. It
was, he said, "a search for understanding in order to achieve the
common good."
Today, Chile is a free and prosperous country where human rights are
respected, he continued. "The violations of human rights [which took
place during the dictatorship] must be condemned in the strongest
terms; they are never justified, and are not forgivable," he asserted.
Yet Chile's return to democracy "had special characteristics," Aylwin
stated: "Chile's dictatorship was defeated in a plebiscite which the
dictatorship itself had established ... it was a peaceful process,
without any violence or bloodshed. [The transition] was achieved
through the mechanisms of constitutional reforms."
He expressed his belief in "solutions based on consensus," and noted
that the dynamic Chilean economy surged in conjunction with democratic
reforms. "We now have high rates of economic growth, an increase in
employment and productivity, and policies of social justice aimed at
improving living conditions in Chile," he said.
Of course, he conceded, many problems remain: "We try to achieve what
[economist Kenneth] Galbraith termed 'the culture of satisfaction,'
which has recently been affected by the Asian financial crisis."
Aylwin said that he worries, in particular, about "growing abstention
from elections, especially among young people." The reason for voter
apathy, he suggested, is that a nation's fate "is often in the hands
of the stock exchange, rather than in the hands of Congress ... thus,
people are sometimes not motivated to exercise their citizenship
rights," particularly the young.
He also remains deeply concerned about "the enormous inequalities that
divide human beings," warning that "the gap that separates the rich
from the poor, developed countries from developing ones, is widening."
He grimly noted that "a majority of the world's people go hungry every
day."
Poverty is acute in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean,
Aylwin said, a situation he termed "morally scandalous, incompatible
with democracy and a threat to social stability." He admitted that he
is apprehensive about "rising consumerism" among the affluent, which
may give rise to "indifference to others who are less fortunate."
Expanding on this theme, Aylwin cautioned that "an inequitable social
organization that denies goods to some which it offers abundantly to
others is a grave sin against justice." To help eradicate poverty in
this hemisphere, he urged the United States to "commit itself and do
everything in its power" to lead the region in implementing the goals
determined at the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami.
"I pray that [the United States] will do this, for the sake of
humanity," Aylwin concluded.
The Fulbright Prize, founded in 1993, has previously been awarded to
South African President Nelson Mandela, former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter, former Austrian Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, former
Philippines President Corazon Aquino and Czech Republic President
Vaclav Havel.