ALFONSO GARCÍA ROBLES: BIOGRAPHIES, CONTRIBUTIONS, AWARDS - ARTE - 2024

Alfonso García Robles (1911-1991) was a Mexican lawyer and diplomat recognized for his work in the search for peace and nuclear disarmament in the world. He was an influential figure of the 20th century with an active presence in prominent moments in history.

His key participation in the signing of international antinuclear treaties earned him the 1982 Nobel Peace Prize, the first Mexican to obtain this important distinction.

Alfonso García Robles Source: Marcel Antonisse, via Wikimedia Commons

In addition, he helped lay the foundations for the constitution of the United Nations and did similar work in the creation of the Organization of American States.

Biography

Early years and education

José Alfonso Eufemio Nicolás de Jesús García Robles was born on March 20, 1911 in Zamora, State of Michoacán, Mexico. His parents were Quirino García and Teresa Robles.

García Robles completed his primary studies in Zamora, but the violence of the Mexican Revolution prompted his family to move to Guadalajara, Jalisco state.

In that city, he attended the Institute of Sciences as part of his secondary studies and later moved to the capital of the country and studied Law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Historians affirm that García Robles originally wanted to train as a priest and that he even entered a seminary where he learned Latin and French, but then he changed his mind, finally deciding on a career as a lawyer.

His postgraduate studies were carried out in Europe, initially at the Institute of Higher International Studies from where he graduated in 1936 with his thesis El Panamericanismo y la Política de Buena Vecindad, a work for which he received the Extraordinary Prize distinction and which was published two years later..

He continued his academic training in 1938, completing a postgraduate degree at the Academy of International Law in The Hague, Holland, as well as other higher studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Diplomatic career start

García Robles was attending a peace congress held in Norway when World War II broke out. At that time of conflict, he was called by his country to be part of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, thus beginning his diplomatic career by being assigned as Third Secretary of the Mexican Embassy in Sweden.

He returned to his native country in 1941 to serve as Deputy Director of Political Affairs of the Diplomatic Service of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Mexico.

Chapultepec Conference

Shortly before World War II came to an end, the Mexican government ordered the creation of a Special Commission for War and Peace Studies, whose General Secretariat was assigned to García Robles.

From this commission the International Peace Conference was born, which brought together countries from all over the Americas, with the exception of Argentina and Canada, between February 21 and March 8, 1945 at the Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City.

His work as Secretary of this summit was praised by the Secretary of State of the United States, Edward Stettinius Jr (1944-1945) through a letter of thanks sent after the event concluded.

Present at the birth of the UN and the OAS

His largest international diplomatic challenge came that same year with the United Nations Conference on International Organization held in San Francisco, United States. There he participated as Secretary of International Affairs of the National Planning Commission for Peace.

This meeting laid the foundations for the formation of the United Nations (UN) created after the culmination of World War II with the aim of avoiding the emergence of a similar conflict.

García Robles worked for the organization he helped form by serving as Head of the Political Division of the Department of UN Security Council Affairs.

In 1948 he continued to represent this international organization at the IX Pan American Conference held in Bogotá, where the Organization of American States was created with the presentation of a treaty with the same name.

This summit, also known as the Pact of Bogotá, was also the scene for the signing of the American Treaty of Peaceful Solutions and the Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.

Back to mexico

He returned to Mexico in 1958 to work at the Ministry of Foreign Relations as Chief Director for European, Asian and International Affairs.

He left once again abroad in 1962 after being assigned as Ambassador of Mexico in Brazil, a commitment in which he remained until 1964 when he was called home again to occupy the position of Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, in which it remained until 1970.

Treaty of Tlatelolco

The Cuban missile crisis of 1962, generated after the discovery of the presence of Soviet medium-range missiles on the island, caused alarm not only in the United States but in the Latin American region, whose leaders felt that they were on the threshold of a nuclear war in their own territory.

García Robles served as President of the Preparatory Commission for the Denuclearization of Latin America, directing the negotiations that led to the signing of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America, known as the Treaty of Tlatelolco.

García Robles is known as the father of this agreement signed on February 14, 1967 with the participation of 14 Latin American countries and that prohibits the development, acquisition, testing and placement of nuclear weapons in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

Return to service abroad

In 1971 he was appointed Mexico's ambassador to the UN and presided over the Group of 77. A short time later, in 1975, he was appointed Secretary of Foreign Relations of Mexico.

Since 1977 he served as Permanent Representative of Mexico in the UN Disarmament Committee in Geneva. His arduous work on this committee led to his appointment as President of the Mexican Delegation in the First Special Session for Disarmament, organized by the UN.

Nobel Peace Prize

His work in the disarmament negotiations of the United Nations Organization earned him the 1982 Nobel Peace Prize, a distinction he received in conjunction with the Swedish diplomat and writer Alva Reimer Myrdal.

During his acceptance speech, García Robles expressed his willingness to continue fighting for nuclear disarmament throughout the world.

García Robles receives his Nobel Peace Prize. Source: Genaro Estrada Historical Archive. Secretariat of Foreign Relations of Mexico

Group of Six Promoter

As promised after receiving his Nobel Prize, García Robles reinforced his campaign for nuclear disarmament. In 1986 he convinced the President of Mexico, Miguel de la Madrid (1982-1988) to create the Group of Six, made up of Mexico, Sweden, Greece, Argentina, Tanzania and India.

These countries would form a pacifist bloc to demand nuclear disarmament from the world powers.

Internationalists affirm that the pressure of this bloc influenced so that that same year the first meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States, world powers in conflict and protagonists of the Cold War, was held.

Other recognitions

1972. Enters the National College, an institution that brings together the most prominent scientists, artists and writers in Mexico.

1981. He is appointed Ambassador Emeritus by the President of Mexico, Adolfo López Mateos (1958-1964)

1982. Receives decoration from the Foreign Service of Mexico.

2003. Their name is written in gold letters on a wall of the San Isidro Linguistic Center, seat of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico.

2017. Her bust is unveiled at La Salle University in Mexico during the celebration of 50 years of its Law School.

2017. They write a book about his life: Alfonso García Robles. Nobel Peace Prize; father of Nuclear Disarmament in Latin America. Author of the Mexican Rafael Medina.

Published works

García Robles' negotiating experience was reflected in more than a dozen publications dedicated to international diplomacy. These include:

- Pan-Americanism and the Good Neighbor Policy (1938)

- The Question of Petroleum in Mexico and International Law (1939)

- The Calvo Clause before international law (1939)

- The Postwar World (1946)

- The Conference of San Francisco and his Work (1946)

- International Politics of Mexico (1946)

- The Denuclearization of Latin America (1965)

- The Width of the Territorial Sea (1966)

- The Treaty of Tlatelolco. Genesis, Scope and Purpose of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (1967)

Personal life and death

García Robles married Juana María de Szyszlo in 1950, a UN official whom he met in New York and with whom he had two children: Alfonso and Fernando.

In 1989 he retired from public life and died at the age of 80 on September 2, 1991 in Mexico City.

Legacy

The diplomatic action of Alfonso García Robles promoted real changes in Latin America and the world, reminding world leaders of the need to negotiate to avoid conflagrations and thereby guarantee the world peace that he pursued throughout his life.

His intense diplomatic career is still valued and taken as an example to be followed, especially at a time when the threat of nuclear war still persists in the world.

References

1. Editor Wilhelm Odelberg. (1983). Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 1982. Taken from nobelprize.org
2. Manuel Robles. (1986). The Six made Gorbachev and Reagan the stars of their reunion. Taken from proces.com.mx
3. John T. McQuiston. (1991). Alfonso García Robles Dies at 80. Shared Nobel for Atom Arms Ban. Taken from nytimes.com
4. Secretary of Foreign Relations. General Directorate of the Diplomatic Historical Collection. (2013). Alfonso García Robles and Octavio Paz: Nobel Prize Winners and Diplomats. Taken from acervo.sre.gob.mx
5. Rocío Mandujano Tovar. (2018). The Mexican Nobel Peace Prize that is in oblivion. Taken from noticierostelevisa.com
6. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Alfonso García Robles, Mexican Diplomat. Taken from britannica.com
7. Doralicia Carmona Dávila. (2019). García Robles Alfonso. Taken from memoriapoliticademexico.org