Alfonso Garcia Robles and the Treaty of Tlatelolco: between the cold war and denuclearization in Latin America

Abstract

This paper argues that Mexican participation in the negotiation process for the signing of the Treaty of Tlatelolco can be explained by the characteristics of Mexican postwar foreign policy. Mexico worked hard to build an active foreign policy that expressed its recent political evolution, which emerged from the revolution of 1910-1920. The figure and thought of Ambassador Alfonso García Robles are taken as an example of a strategist of Mexican international relations. Through this guiding thread, we can see that Mexican foreign policy has a liberal doctrinal basis, but is anchored in Latin American history. This experience will be reflected in the period of the Cold War when it joined the Committee of the 18 Nations in Geneva and, later, when considering one of the most critical events of this period, the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962. This event would justify launching the denuclearization initiative as a joint call from the Latin American region, although Mexico and Brazil led the coordination in the negotiations. A detailed description is made of the XVIII session of the UN General Assembly where the will to denuclearize Latin America is made concrete.