Downwinders advocate Tina Cordova calls for nuclear disarmament in United Nations speech
Tina Cordova told the United Nations that the Trinity Test’s lasting toll on New Mexico families should be a warning against future nuclear testing and weapons.
Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium founder tells global leaders the Trinity Test’s legacy should drive efforts to end nuclear testing and abolish nuclear weapons
Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
This article was originally published by Source New Mexico.
Tina Cordova, founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Monday in hopes of convincing global leaders to stop nuclear weapons tests like the one that sickened generations of her family in New Mexico.
The United Nations commemorated the International Day against Nuclear Tests, which is Aug. 31, with a series of speeches decrying the human and environmental impacts of nuclear weapons testing.
Cordova spoke at the UN headquarters in New York City on the invitation of UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock. Baerbock said in a news release that she invited Cordova to “raise awareness about the effects of nuclear weapons tests explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.”
Cordova, in her speech, recounted the 1945 Trinity Test that she said marked “the beginning of the end for tens of thousands of people that we’ve documented, including babies that died in record numbers in the year after Trinity.”
Elva K. Österreich
Cordova, who founded the consortium more than 20 years ago to advocate for compensation for New Mexico’s downwinders, did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment Monday morning. But, in a news release Aug. 27, she called the speech before global leaders “an honor of a lifetime.”
In her speech, she referenced the 2025 congressional expansion of the Radiation and Exposure Compensation Act, which included downwinders and some New Mexico uranium miners, as the first-ever acknowledgement of New Mexicans’ “sacrifice and their suffering.” Members of Congress are currently working on legislation that would further expand RECA to cover additional groups and radiation-linked cancers.
But Cordova said compensation for past harms is not enough, and urged the leaders to remember the Trinity Test 81 years ago as reason to fully abolish nuclear weapons.
“It’s time we set our families, our children and our grandchildren free from nuclear threat,” she said. “We must commit ourselves to a world without nuclear testing, a world without nuclear weapons.”
Patrick Lohmann is a reporter for Source New Mexico.
Keep Reading
Doña Ana County commissioner warns small farmers could lose farms amid water shortages — Commissioner Susana Chaparro says small farmers face severe water constraints as NMSU Extension points growers toward local assistance.
Vasquez backs two federal data center bills amid New Mexico scrutiny — One proposal would protect residential and small-business electric customers from data center costs while another would require disclosure of water and energy use.
Amira pushes back on New Mexico lawmakers as questions over reading software widen — The reading software company disputes concerns raised by 35 legislators as questions about student recordings, data practices and oversight continue.
