Latam Insights: President Bukele Eliminates Basic Food Products' Import Duties for a Decade In El Salvador

President Nayib Bukele has taken another shot at curbing speculation and price gouging in El Salvador. He pushed a now-approved proposal to eliminate import

A compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week.

In this issue: President Nayib Bukele eliminated import taxes for basic products for a decade in El Salvador, Argentina defined rules for regularizing cryptocurrency assets, and OFAC sanctioned the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

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President Bukele Eliminates Basic Food Products’ Import Duties for a Decade In El Salvador

President Nayib Bukele has taken another shot at curbing speculation and price gouging in El Salvador. He pushed a now-approved proposal to eliminate import duties for some essential foods and supplies for a decade, expecting to lower the cost of these products in national markets by substituting national products with imported goods priced lower.

Some of these products did not pay duties already due to the existence of a prior law, including beef, chicken meat, pork, turkey meat, chicken eggs, fluid milk, beans, yellow and white corn, white rice, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, butter, vegetable oil, sugar, animal feed, fertilizers, fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides.

However, the new bill includes previously excluded products, extending the tax elimination for 116 items, according to Bukele’s statements.

Argentina Defines Rules for Normalization of Previously Undeclared Assets, Including Cryptocurrency

The government of Argentina has defined the reach and scope that the fiscal chapter of the recently passed Omnibus Law will have on undeclared goods and assets, including cryptocurrency. Now, Argentines can include undeclared cryptocurrency assets valued at under $100,000 as part of their holdings and pay zero taxes for this, following some key rules.

For example, to enjoy this benefit, the cryptocurrency that will be declared has to be held in nationally approved Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASPs). For this, these exchanges will have to be previously registered in the VASP registry launched in June by the National Securities Commission (CNV), the securities watchdog in the country.

While many international exchanges are still unregistered, the rules contemplate funds held in these to be transferred to a registered exchange previously to receive the benefits contemplated in this law.

Venezuelan Crime Organization Tren De Aragua Gets Sanctioned by OFAC on Crypto Money Laundering Allegations

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is strengthening its grip on criminal organizations harnessing cryptocurrency for their crimes. The multinational organization Tren de Aragua (Aragua’s Train), which has Venezuelan origins, has been recently added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List for its criminal actions across the South American continent.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the organization has been involved in several criminal activities, focusing its actions on desperate migrants abandoning Venezuela and hoping to find a safe haven in other nations of the continent. The department lists illegal mining, kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion, and the trafficking of illicit drugs such as cocaine and MDMA as part of the crimes attributed to Tren de Aragua’s action across the continent.

In its press release, OFAC states that Tren de Aragua “infiltrated local criminal economies in South America, established transnational financial operations, and laundered funds through cryptocurrency,” without specifying the methods or channels used to this end.

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