3 cosponsors.
This bill seeks to augment U.S. counterterrorism and nonproliferation efforts in Central and South America by redirecting funding to regional counter-terror organizations, prohibiting nuclear cooperation with countries that participate in proliferation in the region, and by granting the president the power to impose sanctions on nations in the region that threaten U.S. national security interests. The findings of this bill state that Hizballah has been active in Central and South America, and cites as evidence a Lebanese national illegally entering the U.S. through Mexico who was described by a U.S. attorney as a “fighter, recruiter and fundraiser” and “charged with supporting Hizbullah financially”; the U.S. Treasury Department’s 2006 designation of 9 individuals and 2 entities as part of a network that is “a major financial artery to Hizbullah in Lebanon”; and the Treasury’s subsequent announcement of an effort to target Hizballah fundraising in the tri-border area of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. Also cited was Interpol’s November 2007 issuance of red capture notices for the arrest of a Hizballah leader and 5 former senior Iranian officials charged by Argentina in the 1994 AMIA bombing. The text of this bill was also included in H.R. 2475 of 5/19/09.
See also: related measures H.R. 2475 of 5/19/09 and H. Con. Res. 156 of 6/17/09.