Background to the OPANAL Meeting in Santiago, Chile
What is the Treaty of Tlatelolco?
The world’s first Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (NWFZ) Treaty was the response of the countries of the Latin American and Caribbean Region to the belligerent and fearful atmosphere after the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 1960s. The 1967 Treaty of Tlatelolco set the standard for all subsequent NWFZ treaties; predating and preparing the way for the most widely agreed treaty in the world: the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). opened for signature on 14 February 1967 and has been in force since April 1969.
In addition to this regional effort, all five nuclear powers have made a commitment to respect and ensure the enforcement of the Treaty of Tlatelolco. Other countries have joined Latin America and the Caribbean in the Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Movement. They include the countries of the South Pacific through the Treaty of Rarotonga (1985), those of Southeast Asia through the Treaty of Bangkok (1995), and all of the states of Africa through the Treaty of Pelindaba (1996). Consequently, today 110 countries throughout the world have taken the political and moral decision to never possess nuclear weapons by declaring Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones in densely populated areas.
What is OPANAL?
The Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) is an inter-governmental agency created by the Treaty of Tlatelolco to ensure that the obligations of the Treaty be met. OPANAL is responsible for convoking regular and special general conferences and consultation meetings related to the established purposes, means, and procedures of the Treaty. OPANAL also supervises the adherence to the Control System and the obligations stemming from the Treaty of Tlatelolco.
For more information on OPANAL, see http://www.opanal.org/welcome/Welcome.htm
