The US State Department said this week that the Lebanon-based terrorist organization Hezbollah had been operating in Chile and other Latin American countries to obtain funding for its activities in a report that also mentioned Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, dissidents of the defunct FARC and Peru's Shining Path as the biggest threats in the region.
The US State Department Wednesday gave its nod to the possible sale of high-tech equipment for Argentina's F-16 combat aircraft. The US$ 941 million operation has the Fort Worth (Texas) based company Lockheed Martin as the primary contractor. “This agreement reinforces US foreign policy and security objectives by supporting the security of an important ally in South America,” the State Department said in a statement.
The US State Department has updated its travel advisory system, listing almost 80% of the world's countries as “red” or “do not travel,” following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention given the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, it was announced.
The US State Department was particularly critical of Argentina in its annual report on the state of human rights in the world in 2020 released Tuesday.
The Trump administration on Thursday issued guidelines to help ship owners and insurers avoid the risks of sanctions penalties, standards that maritime players and a senior State Department official said were modified following months of discussions with industry.
The United States will begin treating five major Chinese state-run media entities with U.S. operations as “foreign missions” and operatives of Beijing’s government, requiring them to register their employees and U.S. properties with the State Department.
The US State Department on Saturday condemned the detention in Venezuela of an uncle of opposition leader Juan Guaido, saying the man was being held on “preposterous charges.”
The State Department announced on Thursday it was barring Cuba's defense chief from entering the US, citing what it called human rights violations in supporting the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The government of the United States has expelled two members of Cuba's permanent mission to the United Nations due to their alleged involvement in “activities harmful to US national security,” according to State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus' posting Thursday on Twitter.
The Trump administration on Friday recognized the results of Honduras’ disputed presidential election, despite problems found by poll observers and calls from the U.S. Congress for a new vote. In a statement, the U.S. State Department congratulated President Juan Orlando Hernandez on his re-election, but also urged the country’s electoral commission to examine all disputes to the result.