7 and 8 November 2005
Atomic Mirror Breaks New Ground with Citizen Delegation to OPANAL Meeting in Santiago, Chile
A Ventura County delegation of citizens went to Santiago, Chile in November 2005 to take seats at the diplomatic table of the world’s first nuclear weapons free zone: the biannual meeting of the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which includes all of Latin America and the Caribbean from the US-Mexico border south. Dr. Gabino Aguirre (Santa Paula City Council member and former mayor) joined Carmen Ramirez (Oxnard attorney and recently elected member of the California State Bar Board of Governors) and Dr. Debbie DeVries (co-director of the KEYS Academy, Oxnard Youth Leadership Program, and owner of Oxnard’s Café on A) in carrying the hopes and concerns of our central California coastal region for a nuclear free world.
This effort, coordinated by the Atomic Mirror (www.atomicmirror.org), is part of a year-long effort to strengthen the ability of our local citizens to engage in this important issue. This initiative aims to increase and enhance the global citizen identity of Ventura County citizens, giving them tools and opportunities to communicate their US policy objectives both to US elected and appointed officials, and to diplomatic officials of other nations. Upon the return of the delegation from the Santiago meeting, the Atomic Mirror will host a series of Citizen Diplomacy summits in the county focused on the topic: What can Ventura County citizens do to create a nuclear free world?
The Atomic Mirror delegation to the OPANAL (Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean) meeting was:
Dr. Gabino Aguirre, is the former Mayor of Santa Paula, California and current City Councillor. Dr. Aguirre was the only US mayor to participate in the international mayoral delegation of Mayors for Peace to the NPT Preparatory Committee Meeting in April 2004. He co-chaired the Civil Society Forum at the Conference of States Parties to Nuclear Weapons Free Zones in Mexico City in April 2005, and was part of the Atomic Mirror delegation to the NPT Review Conference in May 2005.
Carmen Ramirez, esq. is a practicing attorney in Ventura County, and has recently been elected to the Board of Governors of the State Bar Association of California. She represented the mayor of Oxnard, California on both Mayors for Peace delegations to the UN in 2004 and 2005.
Dr. Deborah DeVries is a local educator, co-director of the KEYS Academy, Oxnard Youth Leadership Program, and owner of Oxnard’s Café on A, a community cultural gathering place.
Read the delegates' speeches and reflections after their trip to Chile:
Speeches:
- Carmen Ramirez - Spanish
Version - Spanish
Version as a PDF (28kb)
- Gabino Aguirre - Spanish
Version as a PDF (37kb)
Reflections:
- Carmen Ramirez
- Gabino Aguirre
- Debbie DeVries
Official Documents:
Santiago de Chile
Declaration-English (pdf 37kb)
Santiago de Chile Declaration-Espanol
(pdf 40kb)
adopted 8 November 2005 at the Chamber of Deputies (formerly the National
Congress Building) Santiago, Chile
For all conference documents, please see:
http://www.opanal.org/Conference/Confer-i.htm
(English)
