BANNED in Latin America Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The BANNED in Latin America Act directs the Secretary of State to submit an unclassified strategy, with an optional classified annex, to the Senate and House foreign-affairs committees within 180 days. The final text requires initiatives to identify, monitor, and disrupt Iranian and Hezbollah networks working with academic or nongovernmental institutions; a framework for limiting Al Mayadeen Espanol's broadcast and digital reach; work with local governments to expose the Al Mustafa International University network; measures against drug and contraband smuggling and money laundering; action against illicit natural-resource profits, including gold mining in Venezuela; and cooperation against Hezbollah document fraud. The bill orders planning and coordination, not sanctions or designations by itself.
Who Benefits and How
Congressional foreign-affairs committees gain a consolidated strategy for oversight of diplomatic, intelligence, sanctions, illicit-finance, and regional-cooperation tools. United States analysts and Latin American partner governments gain shared priorities for disrupting smuggling, laundering, illegal mining, propaganda, recruitment, and fraudulent identity documents.
Who Bears the Burden and How
State Department strategy staff and participating intelligence, sanctions, law-enforcement, and public-diplomacy offices must assemble the strategy within six months. Al Mayadeen Espanol, the Al Mustafa network, and Iranian- or Hezbollah-linked illicit operators face higher monitoring, exposure, sanctions, designation, and disruption risk if the executive branch implements the plan.
Key Provisions
- Requires an unclassified counter-influence strategy within 180 days.
- Directs monitoring and disruption initiatives for malign networks and institutional cooperation.
- Plans action against Al Mayadeen Espanol and exposure of the Al Mustafa network.
- Adds initiatives against smuggling, money laundering, illicit mining, and document fraud.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires a State Department strategy within 180 days for countering Iranian and Hezbollah propaganda, criminal finance, resource exploitation, and document fraud in Latin America.
Key Policy Areas
Foreign Affairs, Counterterrorism, Illicit Finance
Primary Purpose
Requires a State Department strategy within 180 days for countering Iranian and Hezbollah propaganda, criminal finance, resource exploitation, and document fraud in Latin America.
Policy Domains
BANNED in Latin America Act
Identified Gains
- Congressional foreign-affairs committees
- State Department regional-security planners
- United States intelligence analysts
- Latin American partner governments
Identified Costs
- State Department strategy staff
- Al Mayadeen Espanol
- Al Mustafa International University network
- Hezbollah-linked document-fraud operators
Legislative Progress
ReportedPlaced on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. …
Committee on Foreign Relations. Reported by Senator Risch with an …
Reported by Mr. Risch, with an amendment
Committee on Foreign Relations. Ordered to be reported with an …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Introduced in Senate
Mr. Curtis introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congressional foreign-affairs committees, Federal legislative records staff, Latin American partner governments
Positive-direction: Congressional foreign-affairs committees, Latin American partner governments, United States intelligence analysts
Negative-direction: State Department Latin America strategy staff
Hezbollah-linked document-fraud operators, Iranian emissaries in Latin America, Iranian-linked illicit-finance operators
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "lead"
- → Secretary of State
- "oversight"
- → Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees
- "named_media"
- → Al Mayadeen Espanol
- "named_network"
- → Al Mustafa International University network
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology