COLOMBIA'S REJECTION OF CEASEFIRE WITH FARC MAY HASTEN CAPITAL MOVEMENT

The President of the Republic of Colombia has categorically rejected any ceasefire with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the FARC,  when negotiators for both parties meet next month in peace talks. With the FARC suffering the loss of several of its senior leaders recently, and with diminishing numbers, due to desertions, and a lack of new recruits, this is probably a wise move, but there is another issue which should be considered a real possibility if you are a banker.

 Since disarmament is said to be a non-negotiable element of any peace agreement, the FARC may later be in a position where it may be feeling insecure about protecting all the wealth  (i.e. US Dollars and Euros) that it has secreted within the territory it controls. FARC money managers may choose to move (and in the process launder) a substantial portion of the currency outside the country, lest it fall into the hands of armed criminal elements, or the successors of the AUC ( Paramilitaries). It also does not want all the drug and kidnapping profits to be seized by the Ejército Nacional de Colombia (Colombian Army), and forfeited as criminal proceeds.

If I am a money launderer for the FARC, I might be receiving orders this month to bulk cash smuggle millions of Dollars and Euros into Panama, Ecuador, El Salvador or any other jurisdiction where all greenbacks are welcome, and Source of Funds, and Beneficial Ownership, are never a consideration. Once there, I am, of course looking for a nice, safe US or EU bank for my client's money. You may want to watch out of any spike in bulk cash, coming from any Western Hemisphere country where the dollar is the official (or unofficial) currency of the realm, during the next few months, especially if any meaningful progress is made during the upcoming talks in Norway, or later in Cuba.

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