Brazil Ends Holdout On Nuclear Weapons Ban

Ending 29 years of resistance, Brazil announced Friday that it would sign a treaty that bans the development of nuclear weapons.

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso called on Congress to ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which has been signed by all nations except Brazil, Cuba, India, Pakistan and Israel.

The move was expected to boost Brazil’s chances of winning a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

The treaty allows five countries - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China - to have nuclear weapons. Other signatories are pledged to prevent their spread.

Brazil originally declined to sign the treaty in 1968 and has held out ever since, claiming the document discriminates against developing nations.

Brazil has the ability to enrich uranium, a necessary step in the creation of nuclear weapons. But in its 1988 Constitution, Brazil declared that the country would only use nuclear technology for peaceful ends.