Country Reports on Terrorism 2010 - Argentina

Overview: Argentina and the United States cooperated well in analyzing possible terrorist threat information. Argentina continued to focus on the challenges of policing its remote northern and northeastern borders - including the Tri-Border Area (TBA), where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet - against threats including drug and human trafficking, contraband smuggling, and other international crime.

2010 Terrorist Incidents: According to the Argentine Federal Police, domestic anarchist groups conducted 12 improvised explosive device attacks in Argentina in 2010, resulting in property damage and the loss of one life. Nine of the incidents took place in Buenos Aires Province, two in Rio Negro Province, and one in Neuquen Province. Seven of the targets were banks, two were airline offices, two were police facilities, and one was a telecommunications company. As the explosions were small and took place in the very early morning hours, casualties were limited to one fatality and minor injuries to several individuals.

Legislation and Law Enforcement: The Argentine police have not yet arrested any suspects in the 12 terrorist attacks. On September 30, Argentina granted political asylum to Sergio Apablaza Guerra, a former leader of the Chilean terrorist group Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front, wanted by Chile in connection with the 1991 murder of a Chilean senator and the 1991 kidnapping of the son of the owner of a prominent Chilean newspaper.

The Argentine government continued to seek to bring to justice those suspected of the July 18, 1994 terrorist bombing of the Argentine-Jewish Mutual Association in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured more than 150 people. At the September UNGA, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner proposed to Iran that the Iranian suspects be tried in a third country. Iran rejected the proposal via a September 28, 2010 note delivered to the UN Secretary General.

Countering Terrorist Finance: The National Coordination Unit in the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights manages the government's anti-money laundering and counterterrorist finance (AML/CTF) efforts and represents Argentina in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the FATF Against Money Laundering in South America (GAFISUD), and the OAS Group of Experts of the Inter-American Commission for the Control of the Abuse of Drugs (CICAD). The Government of Argentina underwent a FATF mutual evaluation in November 2009, which was adopted by the FATF plenary in October 2010. The assessment concluded that Argentina had made virtually no progress toward addressing the numerous serious deficiencies identified during the previous assessment and that the legal and preventive AML/CTF measures in place were either inadequate or not being enforced.

Among the many deficiencies noted in the FATF assessment was that the money laundering statute was not effectively implemented. The law provides the legal foundation for Argentina's financial intelligence unit, the Central Bank, and other regulatory and law enforcement bodies to investigate and prosecute money laundering and terrorist finance. The Argentine government and Central Bank claimed to be committed to freezing assets of terrorist groups in Argentine financial institutions identified by the UN; however, measures to freeze terrorist-related funds rely mainly on ordinary criminal procedures, which do not permit timely and effective enforcement in such cases. Argentine authorities have dedicated limited resources to monitoring terrorist financing taking place in the TBA.

Regional and International Cooperation: Argentina participated in the OAS' Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism, MERCOSUR's Special Forum on Terrorism, and the 3+1 Group on Tri-Border Area Security with Paraguay, Brazil, and the United States.