President Joe Biden extended a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions against people who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism, the White House said Sept. 15. The emergency was extended for one year beyond Sept. 23, 2021. This national emergency was first declared Sept. 23, 2001, in reaction to the terror events on Sept. 11 that year.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 16 sanctioned two entities and four people for operating as a “significant” drug trafficking organization. The designations target Zulma Maria Musso Torres, Washington Antunez Musso, Juan Carlos Reales Britto and Luis Antonio Bermudez Mejia for their involvement in drug trafficking. Antunez Musso, Reales Britto, and Bermudez Mejia report to Musso Torres, OFAC said, and help her traffic drugs at Colombian seaports. The four persons include husband and wife and the wife's two sons. OFAC also designated two Colombian entities, Exclusive Import Export S.A.S. and Poligono Santa Marta S.A.S., which are controlled by Antunez Musso and Reales Britto.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 16 sanctioned five al-Qaida supporters in Turkey who provide a “range of financial and travel facilitation services” to the terrorist group. The designations target Majdi Salim, Muhammad Nasr al-Din al-Ghazlani, Nurettin Muslihan, Cebrail Guzel and Soner Gurleyen.
The State Department will amend its existing Exchange Visitor Program regulations to change the way it “may accomplish service of a notice to a sponsor” that is subject to a U.S. sanctions action, the agency said Sept. 13. The change, which takes effect Oct. 14, will allow the State Department to email designated sponsors under the program that are subject to a sanction. Previously, the agency said it could communicate with the sponsor only through physical mail and certain other means, adding that the regulations hadn’t expanded these communication methods in more than 30 years.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 13 amended two Russia-related entries on its Specially Designated Nationals List. The entries are for Russia’s 27th Scientific Center and the 33rd Scientific Research and Testing Institute, both of which were sanctioned in March in response to the Russian government’s poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny (see 2103020067).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Sept. 10 again extended a general license that continues to delay certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A.. General License No. 5H, which replaced No. 5G (see 2107210009), now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after Jan. 1, 2022. The agency also updated a frequently asked question to reflect the change. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after Oct. 21.
The Biden administration expects to complete its review of U.S. sanctions policies this fall, the Treasury Department told The Wall Street Journal. The Sept. 10 report also references a letter sent to the administration last week by 46 humanitarian and human rights groups asking the administration to quickly finalize the review and implement changes to U.S. sanctions policy. The groups hope the completed review will allow them to better deliver aid to Afghanistan and other sanctioned countries, which has long been a challenge (see 2109020064, 2107200024 and 2105260047).
President Joe Biden extended for one year a national emergency that authorizes sanctions against “foreign powers” that try to influence or undermine U.S. elections, the White House said Sept. 7. Although Biden said there is “no evidence” of a foreign power successfully changing the vote tabulations or outcome of a U.S. election, the potential through a history of such attempts and increasingly sophisticated communications technology “continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy” of the U.S. The emergency will be extended through Sept. 12, 2022.
President Joe Biden renewed Cuban trade sanctions authorized under the Trading With the Enemy Act for one year, until Sept. 14, 2022, a Sept. 7 White House memorandum said. The act authorizes sanctions under the Cuban Assets Control Regulations.
The United Nations Security Council on Sept. 6 removed a Qatar-related entry from its ISIL (Da’esh) and al‑Qaida Sanctions List after receiving a delisting request. The UNSC will no longer apply an asset freeze, arms embargo and travel ban against Khalifa Muhammad Turki Al-Subaiy, who was sanctioned for supporting terrorist groups financially. The United Kingdom also removed the name from its sanctions list (see 2109070013).