56th Anniversary of the Treaty of Tlatelolco

On February 14, 2023, the 56th Anniversary of the opening for signature of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, also known as the Treaty of Tlatelolco, was commemorated with a civic ceremony in which the joint communiqué of the 33 Member States of OPANAL, held in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, located in the historic neighborhood of Tlatelolco, which has high significance for OPANAL as it was the place where this important instrument was negotiated and put for consideration by the region.

The event, co-organized by the Cuauhtémoc Mayor's Office, the Government of Mexico in its capacity as Depositary State of the Treaty of Tlatelolco and the OPANAL Secretariat, included Sandra Cuevas, Mayor of Cuauhtémoc, Ambassador Flavio Roberto Bonzanini, Secretary General of OPANAL, Dr. Eduardo Jaramillo Navarrete, Director General for the United Nations, Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency. Mr. Fernando E. Lins de S. Coimbra, Ambassador of Brazil and current President of the Council of OPANAL, Mtro. Alejandro Alday González, General Director of the Matías Romero Institute and Mr. Nereo Ordaz, General Director of the Soka Gakkai of Mexico. Also present were the representations of the States Parties to the Treaty and its Additional Protocols I and II, representatives of the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Mexico, an international organization and other authorities of the Cuauhtémoc Mayor's Office, as well as the scholarship holders of the Matías Romero Institute.

As part of this commemoration, the historical photographic exhibition “The Treaty of Tlatelolco and its universalization in Latin America and the Caribbean” was installed, which has a selection of more than 20 photographs provided by the OPANAL Secretariat and the Historical Collection of the Chancellery. Mexicana and the archive of the OPANAL Secretariat and the exhibition “Everything you treasure – for a world free of nuclear weapons” of the Soka Gakkai and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

Likewise, the Member States of OPANAL, through their foreign ministries and representations abroad, joined this commemoration through virtual messages and wide dissemination on digital media and social networks.