The National Anti-Terrorist Committee of the Dominican Republic is looking into strengthening institutions and implementing measures to prevent the entry of terrorists, the Presidency reported on 11 July 2017. In a meeting, the committee studied measures to prevent banks from receiving capital that could be used to finance terrorism.
While experts indicated that the risk of terrorist acts being conducted in the Dominican Republic “is very low,” implementing preventive measures are important given the large number of foreign tourists that visit the country.
Minister of Defense Rubén Darío Paulino Sem said: “It is our duty to cooperate with the other nations in the implementation of international mechanisms to detect and report any person or transaction related to organized crime. We are developing an automated reporting system that creates and integrates lists of suspect persons with ties to terrorist activities that would trigger the immediate freezing of terrorist related goods and assets, in compliance with the standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF-GAFI) and the United Nations Security Council,” he stated.
The regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Panama, Amado de Andrés, was present and spoke about the risks of terrorism in Latin America and the best practices to reduce vulnerability. The Dominican Republic will be assessed in oncoming months by the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT).
The Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT) is a regionally based inter-governmental organization that includes 16 countries from South America, Central America and North America to combat money laundering and terrorist financing by means of a commitment for continuous improvement of the national policies against both scourges, and the enhancement of different cooperation mechanisms among its member countries.
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7 Dias
12 July 2017
