Bolivian president says World War III imminent

Friday, September 26th 2025 - 21:02 UTC

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It was Arce's last speech as president to the General Assembly, as he will be leaving office in November

Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora told the 80th United Nations General Assembly that mankind was on the brink of World War III, which would be notably different from all previous conflicts. Arce focused on an urgent call for peace amid clashing economic systems.

“The risk that the peace that still exists will disappear and that a new type of third world war will plunge the planet into mourning is very real if we do not react in time,” Arce warned. Hence, the international community needs to act against armed conflicts, interventionism, and inequality.

He also called for an end to the suffering in Gaza, explicitly denouncing Israel's actions as “massacres” and stating that this violence had the complicity of the US, which sought to accelerate the displacement of Palestinians. “The threat of death also looms in the Middle East. The pain of millions of families over the death of dozens of Palestinians finds no comfort or no end,” the South American leader also pointed out.

Arce also denounced the “savage domination of the capitalist system” as the root cause of global divisions, rising inequality, and injustice. He also warned that uncontrolled capitalist development and misuse of artificial intelligence could destroy the planet and aggravate the climate crisis, and render the majority of the population “unnecessary.”

Additionally, Arce argued that 80 years after its creation, the UN's founding objectives have not been fulfilled, with the world being “as divided and confrontational as it was in the period after World War II.”

Thus, he proposed the creation of an international UN commission to establish mechanisms for reparations for the damage caused by colonialism, neocolonialism, slavery, and genocide to the peoples of the Global South. This body would seek economic and historical reparations, official apologies, and the restitution of cultural property.

The Bolivian president proposed the creation of an international UN commission to establish mechanisms for reparations for the damage caused by colonialism, neocolonialism, slavery, and genocide to the peoples of the Global South.

It was Arce's last speech as president to the General Assembly, as he will be leaving office in November.