Hizballah in Latin America Accountability Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1651 To impose certain measures with respect to Hizballah-affected areas in Latin America and the Caribbean and to impose sanctions with respect to senior foreign political figures in Latin America who support Hizballah, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 13, 2021 Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself and Ms. ROSEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To impose certain measures with respect to Hizballah-af- fected areas in Latin America and the Caribbean and to impose sanctions with respect to senior foreign polit- ical figures in Latin America who support Hizballah, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hizballah in Latin 4 America Accountability Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1651 IS (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 1 TEES.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con- 2 gressional committees’’ means— 3 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 4 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 5 Urban Affairs, and the Committee on the Judi- 6 ciary of the Senate; and 7 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 8 Committee on Financial Services, and the Com- 9 mittee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep- 10 resentatives. 11 (2) COVERED COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘covered 12 country’’ means any of the following: 13 (A) Argentina. 14 (B) Belize. 15 (C) Bolivia. 16 (D) Brazil. 17 (E) Chile. 18 (F) Colombia. 19 (G) Cuba. 20 (H) The Dominican Republic. 21 (I) Ecuador. 22 (J) Mexico. 23 (K) Nicaragua. 24 (L) Panama. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1651 IS (M) Paraguay. 1 (N) Peru. 2 (O) Uruguay. 3 (P) Venezuela. 4 (3) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per- 5 son’’ has the meaning given the term in section 6 101(d) of the Hizballah International Financing 7 Prevention Act of 2015 (Public Law 114–102; 50 8 U.S.C. 1701 note). 9 (4) GOOD.—The term ‘‘good’’ means any arti- 10 cle, natural or man-made substance, material, supply 11 or manufactured product, including inspection and 12 test equipment, and excluding technical data. 13 SEC. 3. REPORTING ON ILLICIT ACTIVITIES OF HIZBALLAH 14 IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN. 15 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 17 of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of 18 State, shall submit to the appropriate congressional com- 19 mittees a report on illicit activities of Hizballah in Latin 20 America and the Caribbean that— 21 (1) estimates— 22 (A) the number of operatives acting on be- 23 half of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps 24 and intelligence services in covered countries; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1651 IS (B) the number of operatives acting on be- 1 half of Hizballah in covered countries and 2 whether that number exceeds the number of 3 such operatives last estimated by Mr. Roger F. 4 Noriega in testimony before the Permanent Se- 5 lect Committee on Intelligence of the House of 6 Representatives in July 2011; 7 (C) how much of Hizballah’s annual budg- 8 et derives from illicit operations in covered 9 countries; 10 (D) the type of weapons that have been 11 smuggled to drug trafficking organizations from 12 Iran, Hizballah, or the Quds Force to Latin 13 America and the Caribbean; and 14 (E) the amount of resources the govern- 15 ments of Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and 16 Cuba are supplying to Iran to assist in the de- 17 velopment of Iran’s weapons of mass destruc- 18 tion programs; 19 (2) describes— 20 (A) recruiting efforts and modes of recruit- 21 ment by Hizballah, including the target audi- 22 ence of such efforts and the language used; and 23 (B) how Hizballah and the Quds Force 24 have advanced their tactics within the covered 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1651 IS countries in the 10 years preceding the date of 1 the enactment of this Act; 2 (3) identifies— 3 (A) financial institutions in covered coun- 4 tries known to be operating on behalf or with 5 ties to Hizballah or the Quds Force; and 6 (B) officials of the governments of covered 7 countries with financial or other ties to the 8 Quds Force or members of Hizballah; and 9 (4) assesses— 10 (A) whether Margarita Island, the tri-bor- 11 der area between Argentina, Paraguay, and 12 Brazil, or any other free trade zone is a head- 13 quarters for Hizballah; 14 (B) the relationship between dissidents of 15 the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia 16 (commonly known as the ‘‘FARC’’) and mem- 17 bers of the National Liberation Army of Colom- 18 bia (commonly known as the ‘‘ELN’’) and 19 Hizballah; 20 (C) interagency efforts and progress in 21 combatting illicit activities of Hizballah in cov- 22 ered countries; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1651 IS (D) the actions of Hizballah in covered 1 countries that violate or undermine internation- 2 ally recognized human rights; 3 (E) the ability and efforts of the govern- 4 ment of each covered country to curb illicit ac- 5 tivities of Hizballah; and 6 (F) the extent of the role of multilateral 7 fora in efforts of the United States to counter 8 the illicit activities of Hizballah. 9 (b) BRIEFING REQUIRED.—Not later than 120 days 10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 11 of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of 12 State, shall brief the appropriate congressional committees 13 on how Hizballah uses cryptocurrency to conduct illicit ac- 14 tivities. 15 (c) FORM OF REPORT.—The report required by sub- 16 section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 17 include a classified annex. 18 SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF TRADE TRANSPARENCY UNITS. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu- 20 rity, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the 21 Secretary of the Treasury, shall seek to improve— 22 (1) the regional sharing of data among trade 23 transparency units with respect to operations 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1651 IS against malign actors among covered countries with 1 trade transparency units and the United States; and 2 (2) cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Ad- 3 ministration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 4 and other Federal agencies with respect to trade 5 transparency units. 6 (b) BRIEFING REQUIRED.—Not later than 120 days 7 after date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 8 Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of 9 State and the Secretary of the Treasury, shall brief the 10 appropriate congressional committees on— 11 (1) the legal restrictions and limitations in each 12 bilateral agreement between the United States and 13 a covered country establishing a trade transparency 14 unit that prevent the Department of Homeland Se- 15 curity and authorities in that country from oper- 16 ating to their fullest extent against malign actors; 17 and 18 (2) recommendations for legislative action to 19 address those restrictions and limitations. 20 SEC. 5. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO SENIOR FOREIGN 21 POLITICAL FIGURES IN LATIN AMERICA AND 22 THE CARIBBEAN SUPPORTING HIZBALLAH. 23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose the 24 sanctions described in section 101(b) of the Hizballah 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1651 IS International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 (Public 1 Law 114–102; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) with respect to each 2 individual on the list required by subsection (b). 3 (b) LIST.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 6 President shall submit to the appropriate congres- 7 sional committees a list of individuals who are senior 8 foreign political figures in a covered country that the 9 President determines— 10 (A) have knowingly provided material sup- 11 port to or engaged in a significant transaction 12 with Hizballah; or 13 (B) meet the criteria for the imposition of 14 sanctions under the Hizballah International Fi- 15 nancing Prevention Act of 2015 (Public Law 16 114–102; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note). 17 (2) FORM.—The list required by paragraph (1) 18 shall be submitted in unclassified form but may con- 19 tain a classified annex. 20 SEC. 6. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FOREIGN PERSONS 21 SUPPORTING HIZBALLAH IN LATIN AMERICA 22 AND THE CARIBBEAN. 23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose the 24 sanctions described in section 101(b) of the Hizballah 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1651 IS International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 (Public 1 Law 114–102; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) with respect to each 2 foreign person on the list required by subsection (b). 3 (b) LIST.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 6 President shall submit to the appropriate congres- 7 sional committees a list of foreign persons that the 8 President determines have knowingly directly or in- 9 directly engaged in significant transactions with or 10 provided material support to Hizballah in a covered 11 country. 12 (2) FORM.—The list required by paragraph (1) 13 shall be submitted in unclassified form but may con- 14 tain a classified annex. 15 SEC. 7. WAIVER; EXCEPTIONS; PENALTIES. 16 (a) WAIVER.—The President may waive the imposi- 17 tion of sanctions under section 5 or 6 with respect to a 18 foreign person if the President— 19 (1) determines that such a waiver is in the na- 20 tional interests of the United States; and 21 (2) submits to the appropriate congressional 22 committees notice of, and a justification for, the 23 waiver. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1651 IS (b) PENALTIES; EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH 1 UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT; EN- 2 FORCEMENT.—Subsections (b) and (d)(2) of section 105 3 of the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act 4 of 2015 (Public Law 114–102; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) 5 apply with respect to the imposition of sanctions under 6 sections 5 and 6 to the same extent as such subsections 7 apply with respect to the imposition of sanctions under 8 that Act. 9 (c) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF 10 GOODS.—The authorities and requirements to impose 11 sanctions under this Act shall not include the authority 12 or requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of 13 goods. 14 SEC. 8. REGULATORY AUTHORITY. 15 The President shall issue such regulations, licenses, 16 and orders as are necessary to carry out this Act. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1651.IS S1651 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS