Reply #15: Treaty of Tlatelolco [View All]

[ngant17]

The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (also known as the Treaty of Tlatelolco) has been signed and ratified by all 33 nations in the region. It was the first time such a ban was imposed in a densely populated area. The treaty was spearheaded by Alfonso García Robles, a Mexican diplomat and advocate of nuclear disarmament, and the co-recipient with Alva Myrdal of Sweden of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1982.

Under the Tlatelolco Treaty, the nations of Latin America have agreed to prohibit and prevent the "testing, use, manufacture, production or acquisition by any means whatsoever of any nuclear weapons" and the "receipt, storage, installation, deployment and any form of possession of any nuclear weapons."

Compliance with the Treaty obligations is overseen by the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL), based in Mexico City.

If the Columbia gov. charges have any iota of truth to them, which is highly doubtful given their track record in the truth department, they need to file a complaint directly to OPANAL, rather than try to create a source for more yellow journalism against FARC and by indirect implication, Venezuela and Chavez.

I'm sure OPANAL and the government of Mexico would be the first to investigate and denouce FARC if any of this BS story was true. The fact is that there has been no independent confirmation of this, and moreover, the fact the FARC has a track record of using fairly primitive weapons in its guerrilla warfare strategies, i.e., using propane gas cylinders for improvised PRGs, this would tend to make those charges seem rather implausible.