Latin America flies under the sanctions radar, but this region is more sanctioned by the world than North Korea or Iran. As of October 2021, 1990 sanctions have been imposed against designees in Latin America, with 95% of them imposed by the United States.

In the last two years, OFAC has issued ten sanctions advisories, whereas in the eight preceding years, it issued nine advisories. OFAC under the Biden Administration has maintained the tempo set in the Trump Administration’s last year, issuing four advisories in its first year alone. See all of the topics of sanctions advisories here.

Commerce announced that it will add four major cyber actors under its export controls list. Amongst those targeted is Israel’s NSO Group, which is responsible for creating and exporting the Pegasus military-grade spyware that has been used to spy on journalists, activists, and heads of governments from around the world. Commerce will also be designating Candiru, another Israel-based cyber firm; Positive Technologies, a Russia-based computer that was involved in the SolarWinds hack; and Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE. LTD, a Singapore-based cybersecurity consulting firm. The designation of the two Israeli entities signals that the United States will begin taking cyber offenses much more seriously, even if it disrupts its strategic security partnership with the Israeli government. 

In October 2021, the US Treasury's sanctions authority, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), issued sanctions compliance guidance for the cryptocurrency industry. Castellum.AI has helped its users meet or exceed the specific steps mentioned in the guidance document recommendations since January 2021.

The DDTC runs two main lists: Statutory Debarment and Administrative Debarment. While a designation on either list will result in an individual being prohibited from participating directly or indirectly in any activities that are subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), there are substantial legal differences between the two lists. For example, a designation under the Statutory Debarment is made “solely upon the outcome of a criminal proceeding,” whereas the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs may debar and prohibit any individual under DDTC’s Administrative Debarment for any of the reasons outlined in the ITAR.

Export controls are laws that regulate and restrict the release of critical technologies, information, and services to foreign nationals. Over 50 countries globally, from Argentina to Ukraine, have sophisticated export control regimes that focus on goods, technologies and locations. For example, carbon fiber from the United Kingdom cannot be exported to North Korea. But only the US and Japan have export watchlists that name individuals and entities, in addition to goods. Japan’s export control list, however, is very much driven by US listings, with over 65% overlap with US sanctions and export control lists; it also changes infrequently. For this reason, our export control tracker will initially focus only on US export control lists.