105. Letter From the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Foster) to the Chairman of the Negotiating Committee of the Preparatory Commission for the Denuclearization of Latin America (Garcia Robles)1
Dear Mr. Chairman:
In response to the Negotiating Committee’s request to me on October 26, the following points reflect the attitude of the United States towards the establishment of a nuclear free zone in Latin America.
The United States supports the creation of nuclear free zones such as a Latin American nuclear free zone, where the initiative for such zones originates within the area concerned; where the zone includes all states in the area whose participation is deemed important; where the creation of a zone would not disturb necessary security arrangements; and where provisions are included for following up on alleged violations in order to give reasonable assurance of compliance with the zone. An effective agreement based on these principals, which were presented by US representatives at the Eighteenth Session of the General Assembly and reaffirmed by the United States at the United Nations Disarmament Commission earlier this year, would complement efforts to achieve the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
As recently as November 22, 1965, Secretary of State Rusk stated before the Second Special Inter-American Conference at Rio de Janeiro the following:
“The United States has followed with keen and sympathetic interest the efforts of Latin American countries to work out agreed arrangements for excluding the proliferation, the stationing, or storage of nuclear weapons within the territory of Latin American States. We have noted the encouraging progress toward this end which was made during the current year at discussions in Mexico City. The United States believes the project of a nuclear free zone in Latin America is constructive statesmanship in the best tradition of the Hemisphere. We welcome the effort and would be glad to see it reach a successful conclusion.”2
We are aware that the governments of Latin America are now considering certain aspects of the proposed zone in preparation for additional meetings of the Preparatory Commission and its committees. Our [Page 273] final position, of course, will have to await decisions on the nature and scope of the zone.
We do not wish to have included in the proposed nuclear free zone the Virgin Islands, since it is United States territory, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, because of its integral relationship with the United States. In the case of both these areas, the United States must deal with disarmament policies affecting other nuclear powers. From the US point of view, we would be agreeable to inclusion of the Panama Canal Zone, although of course the well-established transit rights would not be affected by the establishment of the proposed nuclear free zone. We could also agree to include Guantanamo if Cuba participates.3
The United States believes it important that all states in the area should participate. The refusal of certain states to participate would lead us to consider whether their exclusion might render the agreement ineffective or meaningless, or whether the agreement would still be worthwhile.
The United States heartily approves the proposal of the Preparatory Commission to apply IAEA safeguards to all Latin American nuclear activities, which would permit verification against the diversion of peaceful activities to weapons development. For verification against the introduction of nuclear weapons, we believe that other procedures would have to be considered. The United States understands that such other procedures are under consideration by Governments participating in the Preparatory Commission.
In the hope that the governments of Latin America can successfully achieve a viable and workable nuclear free zone, the United States welcomes opportunities to exchange views with the representatives of the Preparatory Commission and the governments of Latin America.
Sincerely,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 18. Confidential. Also printed in Documents on Disarmament, 1965, pp. 626-627. The source text is an attachment to a memorandum of conversation between Gerard Gaussen, Counselor of the French Embassy in Washington, and Samuel De Palma, Deputy Assistant Director, ACDA/IR, December 15.↩
- For complete text, see Department of State Bulletin, December 20, 1965, pp. 985-994.↩
- See footnote 1, Document 103.↩