Sanctions in Latin America

Comprehensive, country-based sanctions can be seen as a two-party affair, involving Country A, which originates the sanctions, and Country B, which is the target of those restrictions. However in recent years the process has widened substantially with the imposition of extraterritorial or secondary sanctions which affect third parties (countries C, D, E, F, G…and so on). Some analysts argue that secondary sanctions imposed by the US are an unacceptable restriction of the national sovereignty of third-party states. The US counter argument is that it has a right to apply sanctions on transactions outside US territory when the third parties involved are in some manner relying on US services, such as transacting their business through the bank accounts or payment systems of US financial institutions.