Latin America's Nuclear Weapons

Free Zone After 21 Years

Gregory Bergman
At a meeting on July 10 in Venezuela the Presidents of Mexico and Venezuela
reached an accord to strengthen the Treaty of Tlatelolco which makes all of
Latin America a nuclear weapons free zone extending from the Rio Grande to
the tip of South America, embracing twenty three nations with a population of 400
million. Mexico's Carlos Salinas de Gotari and Venezuela's Carlos Andres Peres
also proposed to limit conventional arms in the same territory.
Virtually unknown by the rest of the
U.N.'s Secretary General; the United
Nations must be notified immediately of
world, the twenty one year old Tlatelolco
a violation.
Treaty is the only arms agreement
currently in place that is recognized by
Treaty members also deal with the
the United States, the Soviet Union,
International Atomic Energy Agency
France, China and Britain the nuclear
(IAEA) regarding nuclear activities.
arsenal states. All have agreed not to
IAEA safeguards are based on the 1968
introduce nuclear weapons into treaty
Non-Proliferation Treaty on Nuclear
boundaries, nor to use them against
Weapons, which has been ratified by
treaty nations.
130 nations.
In Mexico City in 1963 I heard MexThe Treaty of Tlatelolco has some notico's President Alfonso Lopez Mateos
able weaknesses. While Brazil has
initially propose this Treaty. "Ninguna
signed and ratified it, it has hedged on
bomba en America Latina" came the
full commitment through a provision
president's message on the taxicab radio
that the treaty will be in full force only
as I ferried between appointments. The
when every Latin American country has
proposal received a go-ahead from the
ratified it. Argentina has signed but not
United Nations later that year, and in
ratified; Cuba has declared a commit-:
1967 a conference in the Mexico City
ment to military denuclearization, and
suburb of Tlatelolco created OPANAL,
said it favours the treaty, but will sign
an agency set up to insure compliance
only when the United States ceases its
with treaty obligations.
unfriendly attitude and military presence at the Guantdnamo base in Cuba.
The Treaty expressly prohibits the
manufacture, use, testing, acquisition,
Most nations of Latin America lack
installation, storage or deployment of
the infrastructure to make nuclear
nuclear weapons in all the signatory
weapons in any case. However, the piccountries. Meeting in Montevideo.
ture may change as several Latin
Uruguay, in 1967 on the treaty's 20th
American nations, including Brazil and
anniversary, member nations asked:
Argentina, become more knowledgeable
How has the treaty fared? Has it been
and sophisticated. Although, says Mexenforceable? What are its limitations?
ico's Correa. "No danger appears at present," such weaponry may become a
Up to now all provisions of the treaty
matter of national policy in the future.
"have been carried out in a normal and
Brazil and Argentina now possess some
correct manner. There has been no proof the technical and scientific skills
blem of enforcement," Franciso Correa
needed to produce nuclear weapons.
of Mexico's Foreign Ministry office
However, both countries signed a
informed me recently. He noted that
Nuclear Safety Protocol in November,
some treaties in the past have been inef1985. Additionally, Argentina joined
fective by failing to provide adequate
with Mexico, India, Greece, Sweden and
means of enforcement, but the
Tanzania in October 1986 to form the Six
"Tlatelolco Treaty is practical, with clear
Nations Initiative for Peace and
enforcement provisions."
Disarmament.
OPANAL, the Treaty's enforcement
agency, is composed of a general conference of all member nations, and a council
of five members elected by the general
conference. All areas of Latin America
have representation on the council.
OPANAL is closely tied to the United
Nations. Its initiative was first approved
by the General Assembly in November,
1963. Reports are regularly sent to the
64 SOCIAL ALTERNATIVES Vol, 8 No. 4 1990

. Brazil and Argentina now

possess some of the technical
and scientific skills needed to
produce nuclear weapons.
A 1985 joint report of the U.S. congressional committees on foreign affairs

and on nuclear proliferation stated that

these nations "appear to lack the political and military incentives to produce
nuclear weapons."
Although almost unknown in the U.S.,
the example of the Tlatelolco Treaty has
had great international infiuence. In
1986 the South Pacific Nuclear Free
Zone Treaty came into being, modelled
to a great degree on Tlatelolco. It
includes Australia. New Zealand, Fiji,
Papua New Guinea and others.
Other treaties, international and
regional, have evolved over the years;
Antarctica. Outer Space, and International Seabed, to be specific. And
there are more than 4000 nuclear-free
zones, large and small, throughout the
world, including the greater part of
Canada and Japan.
Some arms control experts see
regional treaties as more effective against
the spread of nuclear weapons than the
International Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The
U.N. General Assembly has repeatedly
expressed its encouragement and support of such regional plans. The
Tlatelolco Treaty has been one of the
first, and best, examples of that policy.
Mexico's role in initiating the treaty,
and the significant part it now plays as a
member of the Six Nations Initiative for
Peace and Disarmament the Group
first met in Ixtapa, Mexico, in October,
1986 make Mexico an international
leader in the movement to end the
arms race.
The new accord of Mexico's president
in Venezuela is "of interest to all
humanity in this period of mankind's
journey characterised by the end of the
Cold War." says Mexico City's El Universal in an editorial on July 11. Mexico
advocates policies expressing economic
and geographic interests rather than
military and strategic ones, says the
editorial, and "Not to take this forward
step now would represent a turning back,
a submission to a policy of individual
national interest". For their part Latin
American nations must actively follow
policies that strengthen international
well-being. As El Universal sees it, it is
very much in their interest to do so.
Gregory Bergman is a widely respected freelance
American journalist.