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Last week, I helped lead a Congressional delegation to Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, and Argentina to investigate terrorism financing and the growing link between terrorist organizations and Latin American drug lords.

Hezbollah is very active in Latin America, and we are concerned other terrorist organizations will follow. Multiple terrorist and criminal organizations already operate within the “tri-border region” of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Our goal was to identify the best strategies to disrupt and intercept the financing for these terrorist and criminal organizations.

In Paraguay, we met with President Horacio Cartes and Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga, among others. In our meetings it became clear their regulatory system and lack of comparable technology present a major hurdle for tracking terrorist dollars. This, coupled with corruption and limited human capital, leads to a large underground economy that represents 40-60% of the overall economy.

On the bright side, the Paraguayan Congress has taken positive steps to make fighting terrorism financing a priority. Recently, their Congress passed a law to include terrorism as one of the purposes behind anti-money laundering policies. While the Paraguayan government lacks experience, institutional knowledge, and technology, it’s clear they have the political will and momentum to join America in the fight against terrorism financing.

We also met with multiple State Department officials based in Panama. Ambassador John Feeley explained we are only able to prosecute 10% of actionable intelligence in Panama due to a limited amount of judges and prosecutors. In other words, with the proper resources we could be doing ten times more to fight terrorism financing.

We heard similar reports from officials in Colombia, where we met with Minister of Finance Mauricio Cardenas, Vice Minister of Justice Carlos Medina, and Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit Edmundo Suarez. All three agreed we need increased communications and better data sharing infrastructure to track anomalies in the financial system.

Our delegation concluded in Argentina, our strongest and most capable ally in Latin America in the battle to intercept terrorism financing. Our dialogue reflected a country moving in the right direction. Argentina has passed significant reform policies with its new government. Of note, there are some very capable individuals in Argentina who are implementing reforms in the criminal justice system. The President of their Financial Intelligence Unit will join me in our next Intelligence-Security forum in Vienna for Members of Parliament coming from over 25 countries.

In total, our Congressional delegation included two dozen meetings with groups of elected leaders, top government officials, and U.S. State Department personnel based in the region. As such, through our dialogue, I am encouraged that the threat of terrorism financing via Latin America has been recognized.

While our partners in South America are in full solidarity and cooperation with our efforts, they lack the technical capabilities and training to be fully effective. We must work with them through our government agencies and the private sector to enhance support systems to identify and cut off the flow of money used to finance acts of evil.

The week in Washington

The Financial Stability Oversight Council is a secretive government entity with enormous power over the U.S. economy. Council members are not required to testify before Congress, and the majority of their meetings are held in secret. This week the House of Representatives passed the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) Reform Act, which I co-sponsored. This bill creates accountability by subjecting FSOC to the Congressional appropriations process and providing a public notice and comment period on new rules and regulations.

This week I also introduced legislation to create a Community Bank Advisory Committee and a Credit Union Advisory Committee within the Treasury Department. Small financial institutions serve a vital role in the health of the Main Street economy. They support hardworking families and local businesses, who use that support to create jobs and stimulate local growth. Too often, Washington bureaucrats create regulations with Wall Street in mind and little regard for how they will affect Main Street. This bipartisan legislation will provide credit unions and community banks a seat at the table to ensure common sense regulation.

Congressman Robert Pittenger (NC-09) is Chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing, and serves on the House Financial Services Committee, with a special focus on supporting small businesses, community banks, and credit unions.