By María Josefina Arce

In a criminal act of total disregard for life, at the end of World War II, on August 9, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki; three days earlier it had dropped it on Hiroshima. The two Japanese cities became an inferno, death surprised their inhabitants in less than a minute.

  There are no exact figures on how many people died at the time or in the months following the explosions. Some estimate that by December 1945 the number was 110,000, others put it at more than 210,000.

But the horror of those days continued to claim more victims over time. Cataracts, malignant tumors, thyroid, breast and lung cancer developed in the following years among the survivors of the atomic bombings.

   Hiroshima and Nagasaki are an unfortunate reminder of the danger posed by nuclear weapons to the world, where there are an estimated 22,000 and whose total elimination should be a priority, as their very existence represents a threat.

 However, almost eighty years after those vile actions, the UN warned about the increase in global tensions and differences between the most developed nations.

Added to this is a fact that should be a warning: the increase in military expenditures. Last year the figure rose to more than two trillion dollars, equivalent to 2.2% of the world's Gross Domestic Product.

The United States, the only country that has used this deadly weaponry in a war, allocated 877 billion dollars in 2022 to military expenditures, which represents 39% of the funds allocated worldwide for this purpose.

 According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the northern nation invested 295 billion dollars for military operations and maintenance alone.

In recent days, peace groups have urged the U.S. government to halt the enormous military spending and put an end to the danger of nuclear war that is looming over the world today.

 The historic leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, has repeatedly warned of this danger, pointing out that the use of nuclear weapons in a war would mean the end of humanity.

 The world has never been safe because of the existence of this deadly weaponry, which, as Fidel Castro pointed out, should disappear to preserve the lives of all.