On February 14, 15 and 16, 2019, the Member States of OPANAL celebrated the 52nd Anniversary of the adoption and opening for signature of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco). .
Communiqué from the 33 Member States of OPANAL
Like every year, on February 14, 2019, the 33 Member States of OPANAL issued a joint statement in which, in addition to commemorating the 52nd Anniversary of the Treaty of Tlatelolco and the 50th Anniversary of the Organization, the following stood out:
Its concern regarding the international situation which, among other aspects, is characterized by the continuity of nuclear arsenal modernization programs, by the possible creation of new types of nuclear weapons vectors and by the growing threat of the use of nuclear weapons in a scenario of tensions and armed conflicts and threats of terrorism. This happens in a context in which there are still states with nuclear weapons, many of them on alert.
As creators of the first nuclear weapons-free zone in a densely populated territory on the planet, the OPANAL Member States also highlighted in their statement the importance of promoting cooperation with the Parties and Signatories of the Treaties that established Nuclear Weapons Free Zones in the South Pacific, in Southeast Asia, in Africa and in Central Asia and also with Mongolia whose nuclear weapons-free status is recognized by the United Nations. In that sense, they stated:
Your commitment to contributing to the success of the Fourth Conference of Nuclear Weapon Free Zones and Mongolia, in 2020, summoned through the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 73/71, on December 5, 2018, and, in that sense, urge all Parties and Signatories of the Treaties establishing Nuclear Weapon Free Zones to actively participate in the preparation of the Fourth Conference, supporting Mongolia, the State designated as coordinator of the Fourth Conference.
Commemoration in the Plaza of the Three Cultures, Tlatelolco
At the initiative of the Congress of Mexico City, in collaboration with the Government of Mexico City, the Mayor's Office of Cuauhtémoc (Mexico City), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and OPANAL, the Cultural Days were held in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, in the Tlatelolco neighborhood, to commemorate the 52nd Anniversary of the Treaty of Tlatelolco.
On February 14, a flag-raising ceremony of the 33 OPANAL Member States was held in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. The event was attended by Ambassadors and Representatives of the States of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as congressmen, authorities from Mexico City and the Mayor's Office of Cuauhtémoc.
At the opening of the ceremony, Representative Marco Antonio Temístocles Villanueva Ramos, President of the Human Rights Commission of the Congress of Mexico City, spoke a few words; Representative Jannete Elizabeth Guerrero Maya, President of the International Affairs Committee of the Congress of Mexico City; Mr. Maximiliano Reyes Zúñiga, Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Master Néstor Núñez López, Mayor of Cuauhtémoc; Dr. José Alfonso Suárez del Real y Aguilera, Secretary of Culture of the Government of Mexico City; and the Hon. Mr. Mauricio Carvalho Lyrio, Ambassador of Brazil in Mexico and President of the Council of OPANAL.
In his speech, Ambassador Carvalho Lyrio mentioned that:
The Treaty of Tlatelolco is the work of the political will of the States of the region that decided to replace the security dilemma with security and cooperation. In fact, the Treaty of Tlatelolco is one of the elements that explains that over the years the relations between our States have been characterized above all by friendship. By declaring Latin America and the Caribbean as a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, our countries demonstrated their determination to break with the perverse logic that dominated Cold War thinking. That initiative inspired other regions to follow the same path. After Tlatelolco, the Treaties of Rarotonga, Bangkok, Pelindaba and Semipalatinsk followed.
In the presence of special guests and the residents of Tlatelolco, OPANAL also inaugurated in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas the photographic exhibition "52nd Anniversary of the Treaty of Tlatelolco – a historical look", which has a selection of more than 20 photographs provided by the OPANAL Secretariat and by the Historical Collection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.
On February 15 and 16, thanks to the collaboration of Embassies of OPANAL Member States, the residents of Tlatelolco were able to enjoy a musical program from Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Uruguay, as well as a gastronomic and artisan exhibition from Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.
Conference forum on the Treaty of Tlatelolco
On February 15, 2019, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted the forum of conferences commemorating the 52nd Anniversary of the Treaty of Tlatelolco.
Ambassador Luiz Filipe de Macedo Soares, Secretary General of OPANAL, and Ambassador Emeritus of Mexico Sergio González Gálvez, former Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, participated in the panel on "The background of the Treaty of Tlatelolco."
For his part, the His Excellency participated in the second panel. Mr. Mauricio Carvalho Lyrio, Ambassador of Brazil in Mexico and President of the Council of OPANAL, as well as Dr. Athanasios Hristoulas, Research Professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico.
During his conference, the Secretary General of OPANAL He presented his vision on the importance of the Treaty of Tlatelolco and OPANAL:
It is always interesting to remember that the Treaty of Tlatelolco was the first legal instrument that prohibited nuclear weapons. However, the text of the Treaty of Tlatelolco made it clear that the ultimate objective is to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.
The Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL), which this year is commemorating its golden jubilee, continues to carry out the work of guaranteeing that throughout the area of application of the Treaty of Tlatelolco there are no weapons nuclear. For this reason, OPANAL is not an intergovernmental organization focused on the region. It continues to be, and I would say increasingly, an institution that helps the expression of all countries in the region outwardly in terms of the issues of nuclear weapons disarmament and non-proliferation.
Yesterday, February 14, 2019, as we have done for years, the 33 States Parties to the Treaty of Tlatelolco and Members of OPANAL issued a release. This statement contains our position on a number of points and problems that are not restricted to our region.
Regarding the work of OPANAL as a regional forum for the articulation of joint positions, the Secretary General stated:
This exercise of expression has been, since 2014, repeated every September 26proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
No other region in the world does this type of joint demonstration. That puts OPANAL at the forefront of the discussion on nuclear weapons. OPANAL is thus a very important element in Latin American and Caribbean relations.
Finally, the Secretary General referred to the current international situation:
International tension is growing. A current example is the fact that in six months the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by the United States of America and the Russian Federation, will cease to be in force. That will most likely mean the provision of medium-range missile barriers not only in Europe but also in Asia.
The States of Latin America and the Caribbean should not be oblivious to this negative event under the pretext that it is a bilateral Treaty. So much so that on several occasions we have expressed our approval of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as “New START”, signed in 2010.
Latin America and the Caribbean has authority and experience. We concluded the Treaty of Tlatelolco in the worst phase of the Cold War, but we did it without fear, without timidity. On that occasion we even achieved the participation of the States possessing nuclear weapons in the Additional Protocols to the Treaty. We made the Treaty of Tlatelolco with skill, with fine diplomatic technique and we did it with independence. For this reason, I believe that we must openly criticize the establishment of a new cold war and a new arms race that is clearly shown in the ambitious programs to modernize nuclear arsenals by nuclear-armed States.
This moment is one of commemoration, but it must also be one of renewal of our firm position against nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.