Is Costa Rica on the verge of falling into list of countries that do not cooperate in the fight against terrorism?
The question arose on Thursday because the Legislature did not meet the deadline to approve a legal reform that criminalizes terrorist financing.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) called for the country to meet that standard and make an assessment on July, 15th.
However, the Legislature did not vote the crucial reform and legislators actually went to vacation, despite the urgency of the matter and despite the fact that the Supreme Court endorsed the initiative.
The draft reforms articles of the Law on narcotics, psychotropic substances, drugs of unauthorized use, related activities, money laundering and terrorism financing.
Members of the parties PUSC, PLN and PAC are increasingly concerned, because they believe that such failure can add Costa Rica to the black list of non-cooperative nations, along with North Korea, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
However, Antonio Álvarez, president of the Legislature, doubts that possibility, since he believes the government can simply inform the international organization that the project’s approval is pending.
The amendment to the Narcotics Act is part of a set of 10 bills dispensed from formalities, under a tax agreement.