Banking Sector Statement on the Update of the OFAC Designated Parties List

Bogotá, D.C., October 24, 2025 (@Asobancaria). The Colombian financial system has been a global benchmark in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing for more than three decades. In fact, Colombia was the first country in the Americas to have an anti-money laundering system, following the 1992 Interbank Agreement for the Detection, Prevention, and Suppression of Illicit Capital Movements.

Since then, the country has maintained strict compliance with standards in this area, with collaboration and communication with both U.S. authorities and correspondent banks being essential.

In light of the recent decision by the United States government to include the President of the Republic, members of his family, and the Minister of the Interior on the OFAC list, the sector reiterates its commitment to compliance with international standards. At the same time, it will continue to act in accordance with financial consumer rights, local regulations, and the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court.

The Colombian financial system will begin working in coordination with national and international authorities to preserve its stability and integrity, as well as the trust of its citizens.

In other words, the banks, through their trade organization, as not to expose any individual bank, have stated that they intend to comply with sanctions, subject to “financial consumer rights, local regulations, and the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court.”

Analysis

It is hard to imagine a local bank freezing President Gustavo Petro’s personal accounts during the remaining 10 months of his presidency. The President directly controls Colombia’s financial regulation agency, Superfinanciera, and also influences, Banco De La República, the country’s central bank. Once the president leaves office, unless replaced by an ally (somewhat unlikely), there is no love lost between the current leftist president and the financial sector. Aside from this, the local banks would have more to lose being cut off from the international financial system than from facing the ire of Petro’s remaining supporters, post-presidency. The banking sector and its shareholders have faced constant attacks from Petro during his presidency, with him calling them “oligarchs” and “controllers of capital.”

Should a Petro ally actually win next year’s presidential election, all bets are off, as the banks will face pressure to be sympathetic to Petro at the cost of losing access to the international financial system in an environment of accelerating capital flight and diminishing foreign direct investment (FDI).

In the short term, expect local banks to play a waiting game, It is not immediately apparent that Petro or his family has any great wealth to lose abroad, though the designation may seriously retard his apparent ambitions of being some sort of international revolutionary statesman on the global stage post-presidency, with travel and financial restrictions in OFAC compliant jurisdictions, almost everywhere except bastions of liberty such as Iran, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

This temporary action is necessary to ensure the health and safety of dogs imported into the United States and to protect the public’s health against the reintroduction of canine rabies virus variant (dog rabies) into the United States.

Dr. Emily Pieracci of the CDC told US News Outlet NPR that during 2020, the CDC discovered over 450 cases of dogs arriving to the US from certain countries with false vaccination certificates, prompting the agency to issue the emergency order.

Last year, the CDC identified a significant increase compared with the previous 2 years in the number of imported dogs that were denied entry into the United States from high-risk countries. Due to reduced flight schedules, dogs denied entry are facing longer wait times to be returned to their country of departure, leading to illness and even death in some cases.

CDC estimates 6% of all dogs imported into the United States arrive from countries at high risk for dog rabies. Inadequately vaccinated dogs are not protected against rabies and are a public health threat. Rabies is fatal in both humans and animals, and the importation of even one rabid dog could result in transmission to humans, pets, and wildlife. Dog rabies has been eliminated from the United States since 2007. This suspension will protect the health and safety of imported dogs by preventing importations of dogs inadequately vaccinated against rabies and will protect the public’s health against the reintroduction of dog rabies.

CDC has coordinated with other federal agencies and entities as necessary to implement this action, and CDC will review this suspension periodically.

Dogs from high-risk countries may be imported only with CDC’s advance written approval (CDC Dog Import Permit), including dogs imported from a country NOT at high risk if the dogs have been in a high-risk country during the previous 6 months. Such approvals may be granted on a limited case-by-case basis at CDC’s discretion. If your request for advance approval to import a dog is denied, CDC’s written denial will constitute final agency action. No appeals will be allowed.

To request advance written approval, you must follow the instructions at How to Apply for a CDC Dog Import Permit and send an email to CDC at CDCanimalimports@cdc.gov, at least 30 business days (6 weeks) before you intend to enter the United States. Requests cannot be made at the port of entry upon arrival into the United States. Dogs that arrive from high-risk countries without advance written approval from CDC will be denied entry and returned to the country of departure at the importer’s expense.

All dogs from high-risk countries granted advance written approval (CDC Dog Import Permit) must enter the United States at a port of entry with a live animal care facility with a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)-issued Facilities Information and Resource Management System (FIRMS) code. At the time of publication of the FRN, the only approved facility is located at the John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City. CDC will update the list of approved ports of entry at this website as they become available.

Restricted Countries:

Americas & Caribbean

• Belize, Bolivia, Brazil
• Colombia, Cuba
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador, El Salvador
• Guatemala, Guyana
• Haiti, Honduras
• Nicaragua
• Peru
• Suriname
• Venezuela

Asia, the Middle East, Europe

• Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan
• Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Brunei
• Cambodia, China (excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan)
• Georgia
• India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq
• Jordan
• Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan
• Laos, Lebanon
• Malaysia, Moldova, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma)
• Nepal, North Korea
• Oman
• Pakistan, Philippines
• Qatar
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria
• Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Turkey, Turkmenistan
• Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan
• Vietnam
• Yemen

Africa

• Algeria, Angola
• Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi
• Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti
• Egypt (Temporary importation suspension of dogs from Egypt until further notice)
• Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini (Swaziland), Ethiopia
• Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau
• Kenya
• Lesotho, Liberia, Libya
• Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique
• Namibia, Niger, Nigeria
• Republic of the Congo, Rwanda
• Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan
• Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Togo, Tunisia
• Uganda
• Western Sahara
• Zambia, Zimbabwe

If a country or political unit is not listed above, it is not considered high risk for importing dog rabies into the United States. Therefore, if the country is not listed, CDC strongly recommends a rabies vaccine certificate, but it is not required to enter the United States.

If you want to learn more about how the United States determines risk for importing dog rabies, visit CDC’s Rabies Branch. To learn your risk for rabies as a traveler, see Travelers’ Health.

Cape Verde government officials have said that Saab should be extradited, but a West African court has said that he should be freed. His fate has been appealed to the Cape Verde Courts, and while that procedure rolls forward, a groundswell of discontent, crying “Free Alex Saab” has popped up on Twitter, with an apparent epicenter in West Africa, where few people would have ever heard of Alex Saab; a Colombian of Lebanese ancestry.

BuzzFeed News teamed up with the Digital Africa Research Lab to look into the surprising support coming from Nigeria on Twitter with the #FreeAlexSaab hashtag. According to the journalists, the operation was masterminded by a Nigerian PR firm and a British nonprofit called Digital Good Governance for Africa.  According to the BuzzFeed report, this organized “AstroTurf” (US political slang for fake grassroots organizing) campaign paid influencers to tweet support for Alex Saab in an attempt to influence the judicial process in Cape Verde and broader public opinion.

When #FreeAlexSaab started trending on Twitter, the scam quickly unraveled.

Twitter subsequently suspended over 1,500 twitter accounts, including a Nigerian influencer with a large following who is alleged to have paid for positive tweets about Alex Saab. Supposed legitimate journalists for the Nigerian Tribune and TheCable also had their accounts suspended, as they not only tweeted support for Alex Saab, but tagged Twitter account @Fernand47588665, which the investigators said was used to verify tweets for compensation.

Ringleaders Exposed

Buzzfeed reports that Nigerian human rights activists and social media influencers received a document from Digital Good Governance for Africa, led by professor Naji Makarem, a lecturer at University College in London, and Nigerian expatriate Christian Elemele with instructions to recruit West African Influencers to gin up support for Saab.

“The influencer is expected to use the hashtags #FreeAlexSaab and tag prominent Nigerians, Ghanians and Sengalese handles from government, business, celebrities, activists etc. which will be provided to the influencer,” read the document.

The report goes on to say that Nigerian PR firm Alpha Reach employees recruited 40 Nigerian influencers with over a million total followers to participate in the scam. When investigators reached Alpha Reach head Japheth Omojuwa, he responded “I don’t think I can start to have a conversation about whether Alpha is involved. If they are, there have definitely been some form of nondisclosure,” Omojuwa said, before eventually issuing a statement to the effect that his organization was not involved, though also saying that it was possible firm employees worked on the campaign.

Government Involvement

BuzzFeed did not go so far as to accuse the Venezuelan or any other government for backing or participating in the operation, however the British paper Financial Times did, saying that it obtained an intelligence document concluding the Venezuelan regime “and/or its proxies (witting or unwitting) are involved in a coordinated campaign to influence both the government of Cabo Verde and its population to obstruct Alex Saab’s extradition.”

Twitter Shares Blame

The whole incident is not terribly surprising. Venezuela wants Alex Saab protected not only because he has been very valuable as a proxy for Maduro and making deals to get what the Venezuelan government wants, but the Maduro regime also fears what secrets he might cough up once US prosecutors get their hands on him. It should be said that Saab is also facing charges of fraud, corruption & money laundering in his own country of Colombia, where Colombian prosecutors have already seized several of his luxury properties.

Twitter has become the vehicle of choice for troll farms, influence peddlers, and fake accounts of all types as well as generalized nastiness—largely due to the anonymity it affords, and the ease at which fake or bot-controlled accounts can be set up with no verification. The very structure of Twitter makes it easy to buy influence and fabricate false outrage. The company seems reluctant to address this issue, which must be dealt with at the structural level, not the individual account level. Until then, troll farms from Nigeria to Russia to North Korea to Arizona.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit journal Insight Crime, which reports on and analyzes organized crime and corruption throughout Latin America and the Caribbean had been investigating Guillermo León Acevedo Giraldo: A low-profile businessman based in Madrid, Spain, also known as “Memo Fantasma” (Will The Ghost) who according to Insight Crime is “a former drug trafficker and leader of the brutal paramilitary army known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia — AUC).”

During this investigation into Memo Fantasma, Insight Crime discovered that he participated in the construction project Torre 85, a luxury building in Bogotá’s exclusive El Retiro neighborhood developed by Ramirez’ husband Alvaro Rincón by providing a portion of the land and investing in the project, built by Rincón’s construction company Hitos Urbanos Limitada. Vice President Ramirez remains a shareholder in this company, according to Insight Crime. Rincón admitted to Insight Crime his dealings with Memo Fantasma but insisted that he was unaware of his history.

“I know what story you are working on”—Marta Lucia Ramirez in a message to McDermott just hours after he confronted Memo Fantasma in Spain

After Insight Crime revealed the connections, Vice President Ramirez did an interview in April with W Radio where she insisted:

“I must tell you that if all this information is correct, as it apparently is, what I most desire is for this investigation to advance.”

Insight Crime published a full transcript of her interview, presenting her side of the story, where she contradicted her own husband by saying they had no dealings with Memo Fantasma, who two weeks ago (Memo Fantasma) had eight properties valued at over $2 million USD seized by Colombian prosecutors (Torre 85 was not one of them).

The Criminal Charges

On July 24, Colombia’s Attorney General notified Insight Crime’s co-director and leader of the Memo Fantasma investigation Jeremy McDermott that Vice President Marta Lucia Ramirez filed criminal charges on June 2 against him for “affecting her right to moral integrity, good name, dignity and honor.” The attorney general’s office “invited” McDermott to meet with Ramirez via videoconference to reconcile their differences before the legal proceedings went any further: This an apparent attempt to pressure McDermott to issue statements in defense of the Vice President (even though McDermott never accused Ramirez or her husband Rincón of any wrongdoing) and contradicting his reporting of her links to Memo Fantasma, whether she knew who he was or not.

In April, McDermott received a demand to remove mentions of any connections between Ramirez and Memo Fantasma from the law firm of Abelardo De la Espriella, the same attorneys so far unsuccessfully fighting to quash Matarife, a YouTube show that is vexing another of their powerful clients, former President and current Senator Alvaro Uribe; political patron of current Colombian President Ivan Duque. Vice President Ramirez served as then President Uribe’s defense minister from 2002 to 2003. Espriella has a history of attacking journalists and NGOs on behalf of Uribe, though US based media mammoth Univision has directly accused de la Espriella’s firm of corruption in the case of Nicolas Maduro ally Alex Saab, a Colombian fugitive and former de la Espriella client currently detained in Cape Verde and fighting extradition to the United States. According to the Univision report, de la Espriella’s firm bribed a police officer to provide information on Saab’s pending 2018 arrest by Colombian police so that he could escape—then turned the police officer in for bribery!

Rather than bowing to Ramirez’s tactics, McDermott went public with the Vice President’s charges against him, immediately publishing an article announcing the criminal complaint against him. A conviction would result in 16 to 54 months in prison and a fine of up to $375,000 USD under Colombian law.

The reaction from press freedom advocates was swift. The actions taken by Colombia’s Vice President were condemned by groups like Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Colombia’s Foundation for Press Freedom. Insight Crime, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) and non-profit foundation also has diplomatic support, receiving funding from the governments of countries including the UK, Germany, Canada & Sweden, and academic institutions such as American University’s Center for Latin American & Latino Studies.

Ramirez quickly felt the pressure, as evidenced by her direct response on Twitter to José Miguel Vivanco, the Executive Director, Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, who reminded her that her actions violate standards of freedom of expression; penal codes against defamation (though she was never defamed by McDermott) violate human rights norms, and the honor of public officials should never be protected with prison.

Shortly after the scolding by Vivanco, the Vice President announced on Twitter that she was withdrawing the charges against McDermott.

El caso de @jerrymcdermott me puso en una encrucijada y la defensa a mi buen nombre prevaleció. Hoy considero el caso superado y retiraré la denuncia penal. La libertad de prensa y la defensa del honor son derechos inalienables y baluarte de la democracia.

— Marta Lucía Ramírez (@mluciaramirez) July 29, 2020

“The case of @jeremymcdermott put me at a crossroad and the defense of my good name prevailed,” she announced, though Insight Crime has stood by its story in every detail, and further revelations show even closer family ties—convictions even for importing heroin into the United States by her own brother, which she bailed out during his proceedings.

“Today I consider the case overcome, and I will withdraw my penal charges. Liberty of press and the defense of honor are inalienable rights and bulwark of democracy,” she continued in her tweet.

McDermott stressed that while he is thankful, the dropping of the lawsuit does not change the fact that journalists in Colombia can still be threatened with legal action using the same law that was used against him. He questioned whether a Colombian journalist would have seen the same outcome if faced with a similar situation.

“We did not change a single word in the investigation, and this validates our work,” McDermott said from Medellín.

Headline photo: Felipe Castaño, Vicepresidency of The Republic

Lèse-majesté is a French term meaning “to do wrong to majesty” and defines an offense against the dignity of a reigning sovereign. In medieval countries and some dictatorships such as Iran & North Korea it is against the law to offend the ruler. If Colombia is to be considered a modern republic, it cannot be acceptable for anyone occupying Casa de Nariño (the presidential palace) to use their prosecutors or prisons to intimidate, menace & bully journalists simply for reporting verified & true but embarrassing facts. As the Washington Post reminds us: “Democracy dies in darkness.”