Argentina and weapons of mass destruction

Argentina has a history with the development of weapons of mass destruction. Under the National Reorganization Process, Argentina began a nuclear weapons program in the early 1980s, and was abolished when democracy was restored in 1983. As of February 2009, Argentina is the only Spanish-speaking country in the world to have ever started a nuclear weapons program.

Missile systems

During the 1980s, the Alacrán (English: Scorpion) and Cóndor 2 (English: Condor) missiles were developed. While the Cóndor 2, with a range of around 1,000 kilometres, was officially scrapped during the Menem administration under pressure from the United States government, the current status of the Alacrán remains unknown.

Chemical weapons

Argentina acceded to the Geneva Protocol on May 12, 1969 and has been active in non-proliferation efforts, ratified the Biological Weapons Convention in 1979 and the Chemical Weapons Convention on October 2, 1995.

In September 1991 Argentina, together with Brazil and Chile, signed the Mendoza Declaration, which commits signatories not to use, develop, produce, acquire, stock, or transfer—directly or indirectly—chemical or biological weapons.

Nuclear weapons

See also: National Atomic Energy Commission and INVAP

Argentina conducted a nuclear weapon research program during the National Reorganization Process regime. Government officials at the time confirmed, in November 1983, that research carried out at the Balseiro Institute's research reactor had yielded the capacity for weapons-grade uranium enrichment.^[1] The program was abandoned, however, shortly after the return of democracy, on December 10, 1983. In 1991 the parliaments of Argentina and Brazil ratified a bilateral inspection agreement that created theBrazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC) to verify both countries' pledges to use nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes. On February 10, 1995, Argentina acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state. Argentina continues to use nuclear power in non-military roles, and is noted as an exporter of civilian use nuclear technology.

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