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Senior State Department officials came up to Capitol Hill to answer for the Biden Administration's Latin America policy given the rise of Chinese, Russian, and Iranian influence in the region.
I began my line of questioning by asking about El Salvador, and more specifically about the wild success President Nayib Bukele has had in crushing the gang threat in his country. They conceded that his model for law and order was a success.
I then moved on to Cuba, where the Biden Administration has announced a new regulatory change that would allow for the possibility of regime-propped “independent small businesses” to launder money through U.S. banks to our enemies abroad. Administration officials insisted that the changes are compliant with existing law and that anti-money laundering and "Know Your Customer" measures American banks already take are enough.
The reality is these measures aren't enough: Banks in the U.S. are not going to keep files on two parties trading outside the U.S. in the kinds of transactions this change allows, and therefore will not keep files on the money coming from Cuba.
I then questioned the officials on Guatemala, where the State Department has arbitrarily sanctioned the Attorney General Consuelo Porras on vague charges of "undermining democracy." I reminded him that leaders in other countries have done the same thing without consequence.
Read more about the hearing here.
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