Special Report LAST UPDATE August 8, 2010
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July 15, 2010 Peace Boat Hibakusha Delegation to Mexico and Guatemala
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Mayor Alvaro Arzu, former President of Guatemala, signing to make Guatemala City a member of “Mayors for Peace”.
As part of the third edition of the “Global Voyage for a Nuclear Free World – Peace Boat Hibakusha Project”, a Peace Boat delegation, including a group of 10 atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima visited Guatemala and Mexico for the first time in July 2010. There, Peace Boat organized a series of meetings with representatives from central and local governments and civil society organizations from both countries, aimed at raising awareness of the urgency of nuclear abolition. A series of press conferences and testimony sessions were also organized. Holding such events in Latin America is very important, as it was the first inhabited region on the planet to be proclaimed nuclear-free by the renowned “Tlatelolco Treaty,” signed in Mexico.

Peace Boat's ship “The Oceanic” docked at the Guatemalan port of Puerto Quetzal on July 5-6 of 2010, and the Hibakusha Project delegation visited the San Jose Port, Antigua Guatemala and Guatemala City to meet with the Guatemalan National Association of Municipalities Steering Committee (ANAM), the Municipal Council of Antigua Guatemala, and to attend a welcome ceremony presided by the Mayor of Guatemala City, Mr. Alvaro Arzu. At this ceremony, each of the participating survivors was declared a Special Guest of the city. As a direct result of these meetings, many Guatemalan cities, including the capital, newly joined the international network of “Mayors for Peace”, which promotes the participation of local governments as part of a global movement to achieve nuclear abolition by the year 2020.
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The 10 atomic bomb survivors after being declared Special Guests of Guatemala City.
A testimony event called “Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki for a Nuclear Free World” was also held, at the Francisco Marroquin University of Guatemala. This event was accompanied by an exhibition on the effects of the nuclear bombing on these two cities. Many students from different universities throughout the city attended the event. Furthermore, a group of 15 students and university professors from the San Carlos University of Guatemala, Francisco Marroquin University and Rafael Landivar University joined the 69th Voyage to participate in a disarmament education programme onboard the ship. This programme was held from July 6 – 12, 2010 between the ports of Puerto Quetzal (Guatemala) and Ensenada (Mexico).
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Hibakusha shared their experiences and wishes for nuclear abolition at events like this in Guatemala City, Mexico City and Ensenada.
The Guatemalan students participated in a series of exchange activities and workshops onboard with some of the atomic bomb survivors, while another group of survivors stayed on land and travelled to Mexico City. As the ship was sailing through the ocean, this delegation visited the capital of Mexico. A joint testimony event was held for the first time with the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations. This event was open to the public and featured a testimony by Hibakusha Kodama Mitsuo, and a keynote speech by Ambassador Pablo Macedo Riba, General Director for the Organization of the United Nations, who spoke about Mexico`s commitment to disarmament and nuclear abolition. Mexico is a leading country in the promotion of nuclear abolition and disarmament education at the United Nations. Peace Boat hopes that the achievement of this co-organized event will be a first step towards further and deeper collaboration with the Mexican Government in the near future.
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The delegation also met with local government representatives such as the Mayor of Ensenada pictured here.
Other activities in Mexico City, an active member of Mayors for Peace, included a meeting with the Mexico City Director for Asia and Africa, and events to share the testimonies of the atomic bomb survivors at the Mexico-Japan School and the Mexico-Japan Association. Meetings with local government representatives were also held as the ship was docked in the port cities of Manzanillo and Ensenada. As a concrete result of these activities, Mayor Pablo Alejo Lopez Nunez of Ensenada also joined the ranks of Mexican members of Mayors for Peace.