ACCESSION NUMBER:274892

FILE ID:LEF220

DATE:03/30/93

TITLE:ARGENTINE SENATE APPROVES TLATELOLCO TREATY (03/30/93)

TEXT:*93033020.LDP

*LEF220   03/30/93



ARGENTINE SENATE APPROVES TLATELOLCO TREATY

(Treaty establishes regional nuclear-free zone) dc (390)

(With Lsi212 and Lsf212 of 03/30/93)

BUENOS AIRES -- The Senate has ratified the Treaty of Tlatelolco, moving

Argentina one step closer to becoming the 25th country to join the 1967

agreement calling for a nuclear-free zone in Latin America and the

Caribbean.



Although the treaty has been in force since 1968, only Cuba, Brazil, Chile,

Belize, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Guyana, and Saint Kitts and Nevis are not

parties to the agreement.  Cuba has said that it intends to sign the

agreement.



Enrique De La Torre, Argentina's director for international security,

nuclear, and space affairs, said he was "very pleased" with the Senate's

March 24 vote, which now goes to the Chamber of Deputies for approval.



During the military regime of the 1970s, Argentina was rumored to be

developing nuclear weapons.  But earlier this year, Argentina's government

decided to hand over most of the components of a secretive ballistic

missile project known as Condor II to the United States for destruction.



Had the project been completed, the medium-range missiles could have been

used to deliver biological, chemical, or nuclear warheads to targets within

an 800-kilometer range.



Under the terms of the Tlatelolco treaty, Latin American and Caribbean

countries agree not to acquire or possess nuclear arms, nor to permit the

storage or deployment of atomic weapons in their countries by other

governments.



The treaty only applies to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

But several nuclear powers, including the United States, have agreed to

respect a regional nuclear-free zone by ratifying protocols, or side

agreements, to the treaty.



The United States, France, Britain, and other Western democracies have

agreed to respect the "denuclearized" status of the region, and "not to use

or threaten to use nuclear weapons" against Latin America and the

Caribbean.

1

The United States, along with Russia, China, and other countries, has also

ratified another protocol that calls on nations outside the treaty zone to

apply the agreement's denuclearization provisions to territories in Latin

America and the Caribbean "for which `de jure' or `de facto' they are

internationally responsible."



The Treaty of Tlatelolco was signed Feb. 14, 1967, in Mexico City, and

entered into force April 22, 1968.



NNNN



.