Country Report on Terrorism 2014 - Chapter 2 - Argentinia

Overview: Argentina maintained capabilities for confronting terrorism at the federal level, and directed increased effort to addressing policing challenges along its remote northern and northeastern borders, which include the Tri-Border Area where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. Limited U.S. law enforcement and security cooperation with Argentina focused on information sharing.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Argentina’s Antiterrorism Law of 2007, modified in 2011, serves as a supplement to the criminal code for the prosecution of terrorism cases. The Argentine government took steps that it maintained would help determine culpability for the 1994 terrorist bombing of the Argentine-Jewish Mutual Association community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured more than 150 people. In March, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner confirmed to the Argentine Congress and at the September UNGA that she would continue to seek to implement a “truth commission,” agreed between Argentina and Iran in January 2013. The proposed talks were intended to clarify Iran’s alleged role in the bombing, for which several former Iranian cabinet-level officials have outstanding Interpol Red Notices. In May, an Argentine court declared the agreement between the two governments unconstitutional. The Argentine-Jewish community and the U.S. government expressed skepticism regarding the Argentina-Iran dialogue, and indeed it has failed to advance the investigation.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Argentina is a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America, a FATF-style regional body. In October, the FATF found that Argentina was making sufficient progress on implementing anti-money laundering action plans and removed Argentina from the FATF’s monitoring process, where it had been placed since 2011. Argentina closed several loopholes in previous legislation; gave the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) the power to freeze assets; and criminalized the financing of terrorist organizations, individuals, and terrorist acts. Argentina is a member of the Egmont Group, a global association of financial intelligence units.

Not all NGOs are required to report. Only legal entities receiving more than US $5,700 in donations or third party support must file. The UIF has used its counterterrorism authority mainly to pursue cases against members of the country’s former military dictatorship.

For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2014 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Regional and International Cooperation: Argentina participated in the OAS Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism and the Southern Common Market Special Forum on Terrorism. Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay coordinated law enforcement efforts in the Tri-Border Area via their Trilateral Tri-Border Area Command.