Country Reports on Terrorism 2014 - Mexico

Overview: The Mexican government remained vigilant against domestic and international terrorist threats in 2014. There were no known international terrorist organizations operating in Mexico, despite several erroneous press reports to the contrary during 2014. There was no evidence that any terrorist group has targeted U.S. citizens in Mexican territory. The Government of Mexico passed amendments to its Federal Penal Code that strengthened the country's legal framework to address acts of terrorism, including terrorist financing. Mexican authorities cooperated well with relevant U.S. government agencies on third-country nationals who may raise terrorism concerns.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: On February 11, the Senate approved amendments to the Federal Penal Code, the Federal Criminal Procedure Code, the Organized Crime Law, the Federal Fiscal Code, the Asset Forfeiture Law, and Constitutional implementing legislation. These amendments strengthened Mexico's legal framework to address acts of terrorism, terrorist financing and third-party assistance to terrorist financing, attacks against internationally protected persons, the conspiracy to commit terrorism, theft of radioactive or nuclear materials, and the sanctioning of the freezing or forfeiture of terrorist assets based on domestic and international intelligence sources. The amendments also increase the minimum sentences for acts of terrorism from six to 40 years to a minimum of 15 to 40 years, strengthened the penalties for crimes committed using illicit resources, and created an exception to rules governing the dissemination of third-party fiscal data in order to comply with new terrorist financing laws.

These amendments also sought to more closely align Mexico's federal legislation with several of the international instruments related to countering terrorism, such as the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons. On February 5, Mexico passed a national code of criminal procedure that aimed to harmonize the criminal justice systems of Mexico's 31 states and Federal District, and increase justice sector transparency, efficiency, and impartiality.

The U.S. Department of State's Export Control and Border Security program (EXBS) funded training on identification and interdiction of dual-use items and materials that included participants from Mexican law enforcement agencies (Federal Police, Customs), Defense, the Office of the Prosecutor General, Migration, Committee for Nuclear Security and Safety, and others. EXBS also donated equipment for use at borders, airports, and major seaports to enhance Mexico's capacity and readiness to identify and interdict dual-use materials of interest. The U.S. Department of State also provided the Government of Mexico with fixed and mobile non-intrusive inspection equipment and related detection devices for use at Mexico's points of entry, border crossings, and internal checkpoints to increase border security and capabilities to interdict the illicit movement of narcotics, currency, weapons, goods, and migrants.

Mexico continued to participate in the Department of State's Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) program, and Mexican law enforcement received a range of ATA training in border security measures, investigative techniques, and dignitary and infrastructure protection operations.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Mexico belongs to the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America, and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, both Financial Action Task Force-style regional bodies. Mexico is a member of the Egmont Group, a global association of financial intelligence units.

In January, the Head of the Mexican financial intelligence unit publicly disseminated rules outlining its power to order financial institutions to freeze the assets of designated persons and entities, namely those involved in illicit proceeds.

In August, rules limiting what individuals and businesses could deposit in banks were changed. Previously, banks could not accept more than US $4,000 per month from an individual account holder, or more than US $14,000 from business entities operating in the U.S. border region or defined tourist areas. The changes allow border- and tourist-area businesses to exceed the US $14,000 per month cash deposit limit provided that they: 1) have been operating for at least three years; 2) provide additional information to financial institutions justifying the need to conduct transactions in U.S. dollars cash; and 3) provide two years of financial statements and tax returns. The limit on individual account holders remained unchanged.

For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, see the 2014 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Regional and International Cooperation: Mexico continued to work with the OAS Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE) to implement a joint counterterrorism work plan, which includes nonproliferation and WMD interdiction. OAS/CICTE collaborated closely with the Export Control and Related Border Security Program on this initiative, and the Committee funded multiple CICTE workshops in Mexico City focused on building awareness and best practices. In May, Mexico hosted the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism plenary in Mexico City.

Mexico has supported counterterrorism capacity building and cooperation with other states by hosting a first-ever Regional Advanced Commodity Identification Workshop in July. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the course took place at the headquarters of Mexico's customs agency and featured Mexican and Panamanian instructors, and included participants from Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Panama.