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INSULZA CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO FOLLOW, IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THE EXAMPLE SET IN THE AMERICAS TO BAR NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, said today in Mexico City that the Tlatelolco Treaty, which made Latin America and the Caribbean a nuclear weapon-free zone, is an apt expression of “the vocation for unity and peace in the Americas, which stands out powerfully in today’s turbulent international environment.”

During a ceremony to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the adoption and opening for signature of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, as it is formally known, Insulza said that notwithstanding “periodic moments of conflict, our region has enjoyed conditions of peace and stability that are practically unique in the international arena of the last 150 years.”

In a commemoration that included the participation of Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, Insulza called on the international community to follow the example set by the Tlatelolco Treaty in safeguarding the region from nuclear weapons, and stressed “the importance of establishing a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East.” This initiative, he said, aims to help further peace efforts in that part of the world, at a time when such endeavors “are more relevant than ever, due to recent cases of the increase or illicit use of nuclear material.”

Referring to the situation in the Americas today, 40 years after the Tlatelolco Treaty was adopted, Insulza underscored positive developments in 2006 from a political and economic perspective. He cited statistics on economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the electoral processes that reflected a degree of democratic stability he said had not been seen in the region for several decades. In celebrating the anniversary of the Tlatelolco accord, Insulza said, “we can affirm that the Americas have grown democratically, and that is without a doubt good news.”

The Secretary General argued that based on the statistics, Latin Americans can feel optimistic about the future, but he cautioned that it is necessary to be prudent and prevent situations that could challenge or threaten “the democracy that we have achieved, or weaken and even destroy the foundations of the capacity for growth and economic prosperity that we have established.” In this regard, Insulza talked about the need to increase and revise policies related to the energy supply, noting that nuclear energy is a valid alternative to which, “preserving the autonomy and sovereignty of the decisions of each of our states, all of us have the right to aspire.”

Thanking Mexico for the proposal it put forth four decades ago, which led to the Tlatelolco Treaty, Insulza said this instrument has become a model to establish other nuclear weapon-free zones, citing as examples the Treaty of Rarotonga, of Bangkok, of Palindaba and of Central Asia.

Insulza met today with Mexican President Felipe Calderón and tomorrow will participate in a seminar organized by Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Affairs to mark the Tlatelolco Treaty anniversary.

Reference: E-046/07