Cuba reaffirms commitment to total elimination of weapons of mass destruction

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 25 (ACN) Cuba reaffirms its commitment to the total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla ratified today on Twitter.

According to the minister, the Cuban Council of State adopted the Decree Law updating the legislation on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.

The said decree-law, dated December 24, 1999, adds other toxic chemical substances to the list of the treaty approved at the 24th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Together with nuclear and biological weapons, chemical weapons belong to the category of weapons of mass extermination and share the cruel way in which they annihilate their victims and the damage they cause to the environment.

Cuba has repeatedly ratified the country's commitment to general and complete nuclear disarmament, and was the fifth country in the world to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, approved by 122 nations at the United Nations General Assembly in 2017.

Last January, Rodríguez Parrilla asserted that Cuba is proud to integrate the first Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in a densely populated area of the planet, and to belong to the first region in the world to proclaim itself a Zone of Peace.

He also stressed that Cuba is an active member of the Non-Aligned Movement, which promoted the commemoration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on September 26.