"I find hope in the work of long-established groups such as the Arms Control Association...[and] I find hope in younger anti-nuclear activists and the movement around the world to formally ban the bomb."
Cuba Accedes to NPT, Joins Tlatelolco
Cuba submitted its instrument of ratification to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) November 4 in Moscow, according to an IAEA spokesperson November 25. Russia is designated a depository government of the NPT. Cuba’s accession leaves India, Israel, and Pakistan as the only countries that are not parties to the treaty.
Cuba’s ambassador to Russia, Carlos Palmarola, stated in a ceremony marking the accession that Cuba’s participation in the NPT demonstrates its “political will” to support international arms control agreements. Palmarola reiterated Cuba’s opposition to the nuclear-weapon states’ failure to make progress toward their disarmament requirements under Article VI of the NPT and expressed irritation with Washington’s “hostile” Cuba policy, asserting that this policy included the potential for invading Cuba.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov participated in the ceremony. Russia praised Cuba’s decision, saying that it is “especially important and timely” because the nuclear nonproliferation regime is going “through a period of serious trial,” according to a Foreign Ministry report quoted by the Interfax News Agency November 4.
On October 23 in Mexico City, Cuba submitted its instrument of ratification for the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, also known as the Treaty of Tlatelolco, according to the IAEA spokesperson. Mexico is a depositary government for the treaty.
The treaty prohibits the development and acquisition of nuclear weapons by its signatories and establishes a nuclear-weapons-free zone in Latin America. Cuba signed the treaty in 1995 and is the last country in the region to ratify it.