Overview: In May, for the eighth consecutive year, the U.S. Department of State determined, pursuant to section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act, that Venezuela was not cooperating fully with U.S. counterterrorism efforts. The Venezuelan government took no action against senior Venezuelan government officials who have been designated as Foreign Narcotics Kingpins by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for directly supporting the narcotics and arms trafficking activities of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). However, Venezuelan and Colombian officials held high-level talks on border and security issues.

Venezuela maintained the economic, financial, and diplomatic cooperation with Iran that the late President Hugo Chavez established during his presidency. President Nicolas Maduro publicly stated his intention to strengthen ties with Iran. The two countries have agreements in various sectors, including housing construction, agriculture, car assembly, and shipping.

The International Development Bank, a subsidiary of the Development and Export Bank of Iran, continued to operate in Venezuela despite its designation in 2008 by the U.S. Treasury Department under E.O. 13382 ("Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and their Supporters").

There were credible reports that Venezuela maintained a permissive environment that allowed for support of activities that benefited known terrorist groups. Individuals linked to FARC and National Liberation Army (ELN) members were present in Venezuela, as well as Hizballah supporters or sympathizers.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Venezuelan criminal code and additional Venezuelan laws explicitly criminalize terrorism and dictate procedures for prosecuting individuals engaged in terrorist activity. Venezuelan military and civilian agencies perform counterterrorism functions. Within the Venezuelan armed forces, the Command Actions Group of the National Guard has primary counterterrorism duty. The Venezuelan intelligence service (SEBIN) and the Division of Counterterrorism Investigations in the Bureau of Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigative Corps within the Ministry of Interior, Justice, and Peace have primary civilian counterterrorism responsibilities. The degree of interagency cooperation and information sharing among agencies is unknown due to a lack of government transparency.

Border security at ports of entry is vulnerable and susceptible to corruption. The Venezuelan government did not perform biographic and biometric screening at ports of entry or exit. There was no automated system to collect advance passenger name records on commercial flights or to cross check flight manifests with passenger disembarkation data.

Venezuelan officials arrested Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) member Asier Guridi Zaloña (aka "Gari") on September 20 after Spain requested his extradition, but released him in December. Also in December, the National Guard reportedly detained FARC commander Reinel Guzman (aka "Rafael Gutierrez") in the state of Apue near the Venezuela-Colombia border.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Venezuela is a member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), a Financial Action Task Force-style regional body (FATF); the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission Anti-Money Laundering Group; and the Egmont Group. Venezuela made progress in implementing its 2010 FATF action plan. The CFATF reported in February that Venezuela had criminalized terrorist financing and established a regime for freezing terrorist assets without delay. 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: Venezuela participated as an official observer in ongoing peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC. In August, Venezuela and Colombia announced that the two countries would increase bilateral cooperation to reduce smuggling of illegal goods, narcotics trafficking, and the activity of illegally armed groups. In September and October, the Venezuelan and Colombian defense ministers met to coordinate joint efforts to fight illegally armed groups along the Venezuela-Colombia border.

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