Venezuela Sponsorship of Terrorism

Possibility of Adding Venezuela to List of State Sponsors of Terrorism in 2011

United States views on international law (based on the document “Digest of U.S. Practice in International Law”): On June 24, 2011, Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State, testified at a joint U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on Venezuela's “sanctionable activity.” Ambassador Benjamin's testimony is available at (internet link) foreignaffairs.house.gov/112/ben062411.pdf. Portions of the testimony reprinted below discuss Venezuela's relationship with terrorist regimes and the possibility of designating Venezuela as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism.”

Developments

The Administration has significant concerns about connections between members of the Venezuelan government and U.S.-designated terrorist organizations such as the FARC, ELN, and ETA (Basque Fatherland and Liberty), all of which have been reported on in the press. As we have reported in the past, Hizballah has a presence in Venezuela, and the Department of the Treasury has done much to highlight these connections.…

Since coming to power in 1999, Hugo Chavez has chosen to develop close relations with Iran and Syria. Venezuela is Iran's closest political ally in the Western Hemisphere and President Chavez continues to define Iran as a “strategic ally.” This close and highly publicized bond has led to public declarations to establish broad economic, military, and political cooperation, although the extent of and accomplishments associated with such cooperation appear much less substantive.

Venezuela is required to fulfill its obligations under United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1540, which form part of the legal basis of international counterterrorism efforts. These resolutions, adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, require all states, including Venezuela, to take a series of measures to combat terrorism and prevent WMD and their means of delivery from getting into the hands of terrorists. It is the U.S. view that Venezuela has not done enough in this regard.

We would like to outline the significant and effective steps that the U.S. government has already taken to confront specific actions and activities by Venezuela and by Venezuelan officials. For the last five years, since May 2006, pursuant to section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act, Venezuela has been listed as a “Not Fully Cooperating With U.S. Antiterrorism Efforts” country, because of its inadequate response to the U.S. counterterrorism efforts. The effect of this listing is a prohibition against the sale or licensing for export to Venezuela of defense articles or services. The United States has also imposed an arms embargo on Venezuela since 2006, which ended all U.S. commercial arms sales and re-transfers to Venezuela. This sanction is a useful tool in signaling we are not satisfied with Venezuela's counterterrorism cooperation, and has been used in situations where a state may not meet the high threshold for designation as an SST [State Sponsor of Terrorism].

Details

…[W]e remain concerned about Venezuela's commitment to fighting terrorism, and we continue to consider all options in applying appropriate sanctions. One option available to us is the State Sponsor of Terrorism designation. The Department of State has a rigorous legal threshold in exercising its authority to make State Sponsor of Terrorism designations. Since 1979, the following countries have been placed on the SST list: Cuba, Libya, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, South Yemen, Sudan, and Syria. Of these, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria remain on the list today. The last time the Secretary of State used this authority was in 1993 when Sudan was added to the list.

Before designating a country as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, the Secretary must determine that the government of the country has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. Before making such a determination, information related to a government's possible support towards terrorism is carefully reviewed to ensure that there is both credible and corroborated evidence of a government's repeated support for acts of international terrorism. We believe this is a necessary step before we utilize one of the U.S. government's broadest sanction tools. If we make decisions to designate states based on anything less, we would be setting the bar too low for future additions to the list. A lower threshold could possibly lead to additions to the list but some of these changes would be inimical to the U.S. foreign policy, economic, and counterterrorism interests.

Resources

See Also

• Sanctions
• Export Controls
• International Restrictions
• Imposition Of Sanctions
• Implementation Of Sanctions
• Modification Of Sanctions
• Terrorism
• Venezuela