Caracas (Venezuela), December 3rd 2011 - Leaders from 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean formally established the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) as the new leading regional bloc. The newly formed group that intends to be the leading regional bloc called for nuclear disarmament in its "Special Communique on the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons", which includes preparing joint positions for the 2015 NPT Review Conference and a call for the convening of a high-level conference “to identify ways and methods to eliminate nuclear weapons as soon as possible” with a view to establishing a time-bound framework to “prohibit the development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer, use or threat of use, and also stipulate their destruction.”

Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign welcomes the intention of CELAC to call for a high-level conference to achieve total nuclear disarmament and is determined to actively support and encourage the Latin American leaders to effectively organize the proposed meeting as soon as possible.

While the regional political momentum favors actions for a nuclear-weapon-free-world, the organization continues the rapid development in Latin America. Mayors for Peace welcomed Marcos Alvarez Vargas, Mayor of San Borja (Peru), who became part of the international leadership of the network as Associate Member, joining a growing group of Latin American Mayors spearheading the 2020 Vision Campaign in the region. Today Mayors for Peace counts 7 leading Latin-American members with the Mayors of Florencio Varela (Argentina); Matagalpa (Nicaragua); Montes de Oro (Costa Rica); Montevideo (Uruguay); Mexico City (Mexico); Rio de Janeiro and Vitoria (Brazil). Three of these authorities also represent their national municipal association, namely: Federation of Argentinean Municipalities (Florencio Varela), Brazilian National Front of Mayors (Vitoria) and Association of Nicaraguan Municipalities (Matagalpa).

The next summit of the emerging Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will be held in January 2013 in Santiago de Chile.

Declaration in English
Declaration in Spanish

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