Day: March 3, 2023

With the national census almost done (apparently 90% complete), it has been revealed that 243,314 foreigners reside in Panama – this out of a total population of around 4.5 million. Not all of these will be gringos, but rather likely Venezualans, Colombians etc. in fact, it is said that they, and Nicaraguans, make up over 61% of the total, with the largest group being the over 64,000 Colombians (including the new neighbours opposite, with a Venezualan family next door to us). My wife, an interpreter, can tell one Latin American accent from another, but I cannot – I just know that (allegedly) if they are loud, they are Argentinian…

3 MARCH 2023

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On 2 March, Homeland Security Today reported that the Department of State has designated 6 entities that have engaged in the transport or sale of Iranian petroleum products or petrochemical products, and identified 20 vessels as property or interests in property of these entities.

https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/maritime-security/state-department-designates-shipping-companies-vessels-for-evading-sanctions-on-iran/

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On 3 March, OFAC announced that it had designated 3 people for their involvement in serious human rights abuse against human rights defender, prominent opposition leader, author, and historian Vladimir Kara-Murza, a major advocate for the adoption of Magnitsky-style sanctions and who was arrested in Moscow in April 2022 for speaking out against Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.  The designations are complemented by the Department of State’s announcement of visa restrictions against 2 of these, so that they and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the US.  Additionally, the State Department has concurrently designated 3 persons for being or having been leaders, officials, senior executive officers, or members of the board of directors of the Government of the Russian Federation.

https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20230303

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1320

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This report from The Sentry says that a 3-year investigation by The Sentry into a loan deal between a local company and a regional bank —  with the backing of the South Sudan government — has uncovered red flags for illicit business practices, including bribery, tax evasion, and trade-based money laundering.

https://thesentry.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CrudeDealings-February2023.pdf

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On 1 March, the UN advised that the entry relating to a Rwandan, BOSCO TAGANDA, had been amended.  It notes that on 14 December he was transferred to Belgium to serve his sentence, after the International Criminal Court found him guilty of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15217.doc.htm

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