Sanctions in Latin America

As we have seen, sanctions are expanding, becoming increasingly diverse, covering not only countries but also individual persons or entities, and in some cases are very tightly targeted to prevent particular activities such as drug trafficking or human rights violations. Governments such as the US and others have also sought to calibrate the way sanctions are applied, periodically tightening and loosening them as part of cyclical movements in political and diplomatic negotiations. This has highly significant implications for corporates. It means companies operating in, or trading with Latin America, need to do a lot more due diligence and compliance work than in the past, particularly in areas such as KYC (know your customer). A few examples will illustrate the nature of this challenge.