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R. Shankar: Address to Latin America Summit 2018
Written by Rt. Hon. Ramsawak Shankar, President of Suriname (1988-1990)
Friday, August 3, 2018
Address to Latin America Summit 2018, São Paulo, Brazil, August 2–5, 2018
Mr. Chairman, excellencies, distinguished participants and fellow citizens of Latin America and the rest of the world.
I am deeply honored and grateful to be part of this distinguished gathering in this great city of Sao Paolo, Brazil, beautifully organized by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF). As you may know, Brazil is one of the neighboring countries of Suriname and we have a long-standing friendship. My relationship with Father and Mother Moon and the Unification family goes way back to 1995, when their daughter, Mrs. In-Jin Moon, visited my country Suriname for the True Family and I banquet which was held in Hotel Torarica in our capital, Paramaribo. It was a great honor and privilege back then to work side by side with brothers and sisters of the Unification family in Suriname under the direct guidance of The Hon. Mrs. Albertine Clarke-Bouterse, to prepare for and welcome In-Jin Moon to Suriname.
It is good that we come together, not only as people of faith but more so as responsible global citizens of this beautiful planet earth, to discuss such important issues as peace, interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values, pertaining to the well-being and welfare of humankind.
For decades Father and Mother Moon have tirelessly been advocating the need of establishing a peaceful world as one family under God, something that I personally greatly admire and applaud. They are truly God’s Champions of everlasting peace. Moreover, they have also constantly emphasized the fundamental cause for not having such a peaceful, ideal world today, including presenting the principles and solutions to arrive at such a world. We basically must have sound knowledge of who God is, His purpose of creation and how we can fulfill His providence to fully restore or regain His purpose of creation beyond national, ethnic, religious, political and cultural differences. In this aspect, UPF is a unique organization because it recognizes the fact that a peaceful, ideal world will never come about by human effort alone, but must without a doubt include God the Creator and True Parent of the universe, His ideal and purpose, circumstances and desire.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us therefore remind ourselves of the purpose with which Father and Mother Moon have inaugurated the Universal Peace Federation. The Universal Peace Federation serves as an Able-type UN to the existing UN to create an ideal, peaceful world which is God’s purpose and desire. Immediately after the inauguration of the Universal Peace Federation, Father Moon embarked on a speaking tour that took him to 120 nations. And inheriting the victory of that first tour, Mother Moon continued with a 180-nation tour, accompanied by their children, declaring God’s message in the capacity of the True Parents.
In order to strengthen the work of UPF and to hasten the realization of such noble efforts, Mother Moon has most recently inaugurated the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development (IAPD) and Youth and Students for Peace (YSP) in all continents, bearing remarkable results and inspiring world leaders to cooperate harmoniously with the work of UPF. For this reason we are gathered here today: to show our resolve to actively participate and work together with Father and Mother Moon, to foster and build a peaceful Latin American region through interdependence, mutual prosperity and universal values.
I would like to conclude with these important quotes from a speech entitled: God’s Ideal Family and the Kingdom of the Peaceful Ideal World 1, given by Reverend Sun Myung Moon at the founding rally of the UPF on September 12, 2005 and then by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon between October 3rd and 5th, 2005, during a speaking tour in Japan to mark the launch of the UPF:
Leaders from around the world, let me take the opportunity provided by today’s distinguished forum to reiterate the proposal my husband and I have made for a truly providential and revolutionary project. For the sake of peace and human welfare and to build God’s homeland and original hometown, we propose that we build a passage for transit across the Bering Strait, which is the last remnant of Satan’s historical division between east and west and north and south and where the North American and Eurasian landmasses are separated. This passage, which we call the World Peace King Bridge and Tunnel, will link an international highway system that will allow people to travel on land from Africa’s Cape of Good Hope to Santiago, Chile and from London to New York across the Bering Strait, connecting the world as a single community.
God is warning that separation and division will no longer be tolerated. Carrying out this project will bind the world together as one village. It will tear down the man-made walls of race, culture, religion and country and will help to establish the world of peace that has been God’s cherished desire. The United States and Russia can become as one. The European continent, China, India, Japan, Brazil and all nations along with all the world’s religions can combine their energies to succeed in this project. The success of this project will be decisive in establishing a peace kingdom where people will no longer make war with each other.
We need not go any further than right here within our own region to witness several border disputes between our nations, some of which are heating up. Starting with the border dispute between my own nation, Suriname, and our western neighbor Guyana, disputing a border issue for more than thirty years, and between Guyana and Venezuela, Peru and Chile, Brazil and Venezuela, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, just to mention a few. It would be good to settle these disputes by lobbying with the different governments and regional institutions such as UNASUR, MERCOSUR and CARICOM in order to propose Father and Mother Moon’s teaching on the true family ideal and the idea of building an international highway system for peace and mutual development. We must become active advocators of peace and mutual development and work tirelessly like Father and Mother Moon, until we have broken down all the barriers that divide and separate us and cause us to live as enemies rather than as true brothers and sisters, as one family under God. The vision of Father and Mother Moon to me is very clear and is the only choice we have if we are to build the peaceful, ideal world for endless future generations to come.
I thank you for your attention.
To go to the Latin America Summit 2018 Schedule page, click here.