One of the purported grounds for the May 30, 2013, U.S. designation of Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” was the assertion,“The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has identified Cuba as having strategic anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism deficiencies.” That very U.S. statement, however, went on to contradict its own first sentence by saying, “In 2012, Cuba became a member of the Financial Action Task Force of South America against Money Laundering, a FATF-style regional body. With this action, Cuba has committed to adopting and implementing the FATF Recommendations.”
If the self-contradictory nature of this charge by itself was not enough to show the speciousness and unfairness of this charge, further confirmation of the unfounded nature of this U.S. claim has been provided by the following five public statements of FATF reporting Cuba’s progress and eventual compliance with “its commitments in its action plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF had identified in February 2013. Cuba therefore is no longer subject to the FATF’s monitoring process.”
On June 21, 2013, FATF said, “Since February 2013, Cuba has taken notable steps towards improving its AML/CFT [Anti-Money Laundering / Countering the Financing of Terrorism] regime, including by signing an MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] for cooperation with FIUs [Financial Intelligence Units] in GAFISUD [Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering in South America] and issuing new CDD [Customer Due Diligence] and STR [Suspicious Transaction Report] measures. Due to the recent nature of these measures, the FATF has not yet reviewed them. The FATF has determined that certain AML/CFT deficiencies exist. Cuba should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address these deficiencies, including by: (1) adequately criminalising [sic] money laundering and terrorist financing; (2) establishing and implementing adequate procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets; (3) improving customer due diligence measures; (4) improving suspicious transaction reporting requirements; (5) ensuring a fully operational and effectively functioning Financial Intelligence Unit; and (6) ensuring that appropriate laws and procedures are in place with regard to international cooperation and mutual legal assistance.”
On October 18, 2013, FATF said, “Since June 2013, Cuba has taken steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime, including by issuing regulations which improve provisions for customer due diligence and suspicious transaction reporting. Cuba has recently issued instruction 31/2013, aimed at further detailing the procedures for freezing of terrorist assets. Due to the recent nature of this instruction, the FATF is currently reviewing it. Cuba has also constructively engaged with GAFISUD. However, the FATF has determined that certain AML/CFT deficiencies remain. Cuba should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address these deficiencies, including by: (1) adequately criminalising [sic] money laundering and terrorist financing; (2) establishing and implementing adequate procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets; (3) ensuring comprehensive customer due diligence measures and suspicious transaction reporting requirements; (4) ensuring a fully operational and effectively functioning Financial Intelligence Unit; and (5) ensuring that appropriate laws and procedures are in place with regard to international cooperation and mutual legal assistance. The FATF encourages Cuba to address its remaining deficiencies and continue the process of implementing its action plan.”
On February 14, 2014, FATF said, “Since October 2013, Cuba has taken significant steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime, including by enacting two Decree-Laws enhancing the criminalisation [sic] of money laundering and terrorist financing, the framework for freezing terrorist assets, and preventive measures for financial institutions. However, the FATF has determined that certain strategic AML/CFT deficiencies remain. Cuba should continue to work on implementing its action plan to address these deficiencies, including by: (1) addressing the remaining issues in the criminalization [sic] of money laundering (2) ensuring adequate procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets; (3) ensuring comprehensive customer due diligence measures and suspicious transaction reporting requirements; (4) ensuring that appropriate laws and procedures are in place with regard to international cooperation and mutual legal assistance. The FATF encourages Cuba to address its remaining deficiencies and continue the process of implementing its action plan.”
On June 27, 2014, FATF said, “Since February 2013, when Cuba made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and GAFISUD to address its strategic AML/CFT deficiencies, Cuba has made significant progress to improve its AML/CFT regime. Cuba has substantially addressed its action plan, including by: becoming a member of GAFISUD; adequately criminalising [sic] money laundering and terrorist financing; establishing procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets; establishing adequate customer due diligence requirements; ensuring a fully operational and effectively functioning financial intelligence unit and enhancing suspicious transaction reporting requirements. The FATF will conduct an on-site visit to confirm that the process of implementing the required reforms and actions is underway to address deficiencies previously identified by the FATF.”
On October 24, 2014, “FATF welcomes Cuba’s significant progress in improving its AML/CFT regime and notes that Cuba has established the legal and regulatory framework to meet its commitments in its action plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF had identified in February 2013. Cuba therefore is no longer subject to the FATF’s monitoring process under its on-going global AML/CFT compliance process. Cuba will work with GAFISUDto further strengthen its AML/CFT regime.”
It, therefore, is not surprising that there was no mention whatsoever of this purported ground for the April 30, 2014, U.S. re-designation of Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism.”