ARGENTINA PREPARED TO SUPPORT U.S. ON BOLIVIA,

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 001946 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/27/2017 TAGS: EFIN KTFN PTER ETTC PREL AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA PREPARED TO SUPPORT U.S. ON BOLIVIA, COLOMBIA, AND PARAGUAY'S PAYMENT OF GAFISUD BACK DUES REF: STATE 113762 Classified By: Amb. E.A. Wayne for E.O. 12958 Reasons 1.4 (b, d) ¶1. (C) Ambassador delivered reftel demarche on encouraging Bolivia, Colombia, and Paraguay to pay their delinquent dues to the Financial Action Task Force for South America (GAFISUD) on September 26 to Justice Minister Alberto Iribarne. Iribarne agreed that GAFISUD members should encourage the delinquent members to pay their back dues. He noted that Argentina had faced a similar situation a few years ago, and the GoA had made a policy decision to stay current on its dues payments to GAFISUD, which it considers a critical multilateral institution. Iribarne's press release after meeting the Ambassador also mentioned the issue and the three countries by name. ¶2. (C) Separately, Econoff reviewed the demarche points with Juan Felix Marteau, the GoA's National Coordinator for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance. Marteau, the GoA's representative to both GAFISUD and FATF (the Financial Action Task Force),agreed fully with the message. He said the GoA had been very tough with the three delinquent GAFISUD members, and emphasized his readiness to coordinate additional approaches to the three governments with the USG. He noted that Justice Ministry was organizing an interagency trip to Bolivia before the end of the year, and stated that he would raise this issue with his GoB counterparts. WAYNE