Cuba clarifies

I read with great interest a well-written article by the political analyst Soedjati Djiwandono. I just want to make a small clarification regarding an inexact piece of information given in the article, which states that Cuba is not a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Cuba joined the NPT and subsequently ratified the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) on Sept. 14, 2002, during the 57th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Until that moment, and despite the fact that it had never developed and had no intention of ever developing nuclear weapons, Cuba had not been a party to the NPT as we considered it an insufficient and discriminatory instrument allowing the establishment of a club of nuclear powers without any concrete disarmament-oriented commitments.

However, as a signal of the political will of the Cuban government and its commitment to an effective disarmament process that ensures world peace, our country decided to join the NPT.

In addition, and despite the fact that the only nuclear power in the Americas continues to pursue a policy of hostility towards Cuba that does not rule out the use of force, Cuba has also ratified the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, known as the Treaty of Tlatelolco, that was signed by our country in 1995.

Cuba was the 188th country to joining the NPT, with only Israel and two other countries not having acceded to it.

MIGUEL RAMIREZ Cuban Ambassador Jakarta

Note: Thank you for your information.

-- Editor