Mexico’s Secretary
of Foreign Affairs, Angel Gurría, signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3
December 1997. As noted by the Foreign Relations Secretariat (SRE) Director
General for the United Nations Minister Luis Alfonso De Alba, “Mexico has
been one of the main promoters, along with Canada and other nations, of the
Ottawa Convention.”[1]
Mexico was a member of the Core Group of nations which led the Ottawa Process.
It was one of the first nations in the world to call for a total ban on
antipersonnel landmines and has been a diplomatic leader on the landmine issue
since the negotiations for the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons
(CCW).
Mexico ratified the ban treaty on 9 June 1998, the seventeenth country to do
so. During the Mexican Senate’s debate on ratification, Senator Jorge
Alfonso Calderón Salazar said the government "shall undertake vigorous
diplomatic actions to...promote the implementation of this instrument, its
ratification by legislatures and further realizations of positive
actions."[2]
Mexico has not enacted implementing legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty. But,
it is important to note that once the Mine Ban Treaty was promulgated and
published in the Official Federal Gazette (Diaro Oficial de la
Federación) on 21 August 1998, it became a part of domestic
law.[3]
The Mexican Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States (OAS),
on 7 February 1997, issued a "Declaration of Principles of the Government of
Mexico on the Production, Exportation and Use of Antipersonnel Landmines," which
detailed the steps taken by Mexico in regional and multilateral fora toward
banning antipersonnel mines and which declared the use of antipersonnel mines a
violation of international humanitarian
law.[4] Mexico has played a
leading role on this issue globally and in the Western Hemisphere. It has
supported, by consensus, key resolutions of the Organization of American States
on landmines. Mexico is one of the few OAS members that has submitted data to
the OAS Antipersonnel Landmines Registry. In January 1999, Mexico and Canada,
with the support of the OAS and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO),
convened the first Regional Seminar on Antipersonnel Landmines in Mexico City on
11-12 January 1999.
While Mexico ratified the CCW and its original Protocol II on landmines in
1982, it has not yet ratified the 1996 amended Protocol II. According to a
Foreign Ministry official, Mexico does not expect to ratify amended Protocol II
as it views it as being surpassed by the Mine Ban Treaty and too limited in
comparison with the ban
treaty.[5]
Mexico is a member of the Conference on Disarmament but does not support, and
in some instances has blocked, any effort to launch negotiations on a transfer
ban in this forum.[6] Mexican
officials have stated their opposition to any measures that might undermine the
comprehensive ban embodied in the Mine Ban Treaty.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling
The government states that it does not use,
produce, stockpile or transfer antipersonnel landmines, and has never possessed
mines. The February 1997 Declaration of Principles stated that “the
Government of Mexico neither manufactures nor imports antipersonnel landmines
and maintains a strict and constant vigilance over the enterprises of Mexican
corporations that utilize explosive materials and does not grant any permissions
for the manufacture of antipersonnel landmines.” The Declaration of
Principles also explicitly stated that there is no production, nor licensing for
production, of antipersonnel mines in Mexico and no
import.[7]
Additionally, a Press Bulletin issued by the SRE states that “Mexico
was the first country in Latin America to declare that it does not produce or
import antipersonnel landmines. In 1997, the OAS recognized Mexico as a
landmine-free
territory.”[8]
Use
There is no evidence of use of antipersonnel mines
in Mexico. During the Antipersonnel Landmines Regional Seminar, hosted in
Mexico City on 11-12 January 1999, Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Rosario
Green Macias declared that Mexico had never used landmines and that Mexico would
not do so in the future, not in the State of Chiapas nor elsewhere in the
country. If others have done so, "We would find them and expose them," Green
Macias said.[9]
In the past, a U.S. State Department report and a few media articles alleged
mine use by rebel forces in Chiapas, and mine use by drug traffickers in
Sinaloa, Chihuahua and
Sonora.[10] In response to
questions on this matter, Foreign Relations Secretary Rosario Green
Macías stated in an interview that “there is no evidence to prove
an opinion of that nature, I assure you that the Mexican government is not
involved at all.” Green stated that if there were individuals responsible
for the use of landmines in Mexico, "we would exhibit them because Mexico
repudiates and opposes this type of
devices."[11] Also on this
matter, Mexico’s Permanent Representative to the OAS, Ambassador Claude
Heller said, “We also know that there has not been any incidents in
Chiapas resulting from a landmine
explosion.”[12]
Allegations of mine use in Chiapas appeared on 11 October 1994 in the El
Norte newspaper, in a letter to the editor signed by Daniel Pensamiento,
which said "...the Zapatista Army for National Liberation [EZLN] determined to
break the dialogue with the Mexican Government and proceeded to mine all
terrestrial accesses...on the rebel
territory.”[13] Another
letter from Pensamiento, dated 10 February 1995, stated that “EZLN First
Captain Lucio, informed that the armed group decreed a state of alert and
initiated the works for reinstalling mines on the accesses to the jungle to
avoid a possible night incursion of the Mexican
army.”[14]
In a telephone interview, Head of Correspondents for the Proceso
magazine, Mr. Salvador Corro, said that the letters "may have been a figurative
declaration” and added that “there is no evidence of any
antipersonnel mine incidents or antipersonnel mine-related casualties in
Chiapas."[15]
Mine Action
While Mexico is not mine-affected, and there are no
known mine casualties in Mexico, according Minister Luis Alfonso De Alba,
“Mexico was the main promoter of the initiative which ended with the
signature of the ‘Memorandum of Understanding on a Joint-Program for
Rehabilitation of Victims of Landmines in Central America,’ between
Mexico, Canada and the Pan-American Health Organization” at the Regional
Seminar on Antipersonnel Landmines in January
1999.[16]
Mexico has not contributed to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in
Mine Clearance, and is not known to have contributed bilaterally to mine
clearance operations in affected nations.
[1]Letter dated 3 February
1999 from Minister Luis Alfonso De Alba, SRE´s General Director for the
United Nations to Claudio Torres Nachón, Landmine Monitor researcher,
Document Number: DNU-1202990, p.1.
[2]Diario de los Debates de
la Cámara de Senadores del Congreso de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos,
AÑO 1, Segundo Período Ordinario, LVII Legislatura, NUM.9,
p.12.
[3]Diario Oficial de la
Federación, 21 August 1998, p.2-9.
[4]"Declaración de
Principios del Gobierno de México sobre la Producción,
Exportación y Uso de Minas Terrestres Antipersonales," Misión
Permante de México ante la OEA. CP02954.S, México, D.F. a 7 de
Febrero de 1997.
[5] Telephone Interview with
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Mexico City, Mexico, 23 March
1999.
[6] See for example, Reuters
(Geneva), “Mexico blocks conclave on world land-mine ban,” 12 June
1997.
[8]"Establecen Compromisos
los Paises Americanos para Erradicar las Minas Antipersonales en la
Región" (Countries from the Americas Establish Compromises to Eradicate
Antipersonnel Landmines in the Region),Press Communique: B-012, Secretariat of
Foreign Relations, Tlatelolco, D.F., 12 January 1999.
[9]Mónica
Martín, "México Nunca ha Usado ni Fabricado Minas Terrestres:
Rosario Green Macías (México has Never Used or Produced
Landmines: Rosario Green Macías)," Excelsior Newspaper, 13 January
1999.
[10] U.S. Department of
State, Hidden Killers: The Global Landmine Crisis, December 1994, p.
23.
[11]Isidro Chávez,
"Acuerdan Redoblar Esfuerzos contra Minas Antipersonales (Announcement to Double
Efforts against Antipersonnel Landmines)," Novedades Newspaper, 13
January 1999.
[12]José Luis Ruiz,
"Rechazan que haya Areas ´sembradas’ con Minas Antipersonales en
Chiapas (Rejection to the Version of Existing Antipersonnel Landmines Seeded
Areas in Chiapas)," El Universal Newspaper, 13 January 1999.
[13]Daniel Pensamiento,
"Rompe EZLN Diálogo. Pone Grupo Rebelde Minas a Accesos a su Territorio y
Coloca Unidades ntiaéreas," El Norte-Chiapas Newspaper, 11 October
1994.
[14]Daniel Pensamiento, "Se
Prepara PGR para Ejecutar Ordenes (PGR Prepares to Execute Orders)," Reforma
Newspaper, 10 February 1995.
[15]Telephone Interview with
Salvador Corro, Head of Correspondents for PROCESO Magazine, 24 February
1999.
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