The State Department sanctioned 13 former Salvadoran military officials due to human rights violations, the agency said in a Jan. 29 press release. The former officials were involved in the “extrajudicial killings” of people taking refuge in a Jesuit pastoral center at a university in El Salvador in 1989. The people are: Juan Rafael Bustillo, Juan Orlando Zepeda, Inocente Orlando Montano Morales, Francisco Elena Fuentes, Guillermo Alfredo Benavides Moreno, Yusshy René Mendoza Vallecillos, José Ricardo Espinoza Guerra, Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos, Carlos Camilo Hernández Barahona, Oscar Mariano Amaya Grimaldi, Antonio Ramiro Avalos Vargas, Angel Pérez Vásquez and José Alberto Sierra Ascencio.
The first humanitarian exports were sent through the joint mechanism created by the Treasury and State departments nearly three months after the channel was created (see 1910250057), Treasury said Jan. 30. Treasury said the mechanism successfully facilitated transactions from a “humanitarian channel” in Switzerland that sent cancer and transplant-related drugs to Iranian medical patients. The channel is subject to “strict due diligence measures,” Treasury said, adding that the successful transactions prove “a model for facilitating further humanitarian exports to Iran.”
Airbus agreed to pay more than $3.9 billion in combined penalties for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Justice Department said. The bribery charges, levied by U.S., French and United Kingdom authorities, stem from Airbus’ scheme to bribe non-governmental airline executives and government officials, including officials in China, to retain aircraft contracts.
China’s Foreign Ministry criticized a U.S. bill passed by the House Jan. 28 that would sanction Chinese officials for government interference in certain Tibetan affairs, calling the bill a breach of international norms. During a Jan. 29 press conference, a ministry spokesperson said China is “firmly opposed to” the bill and urged the U.S. to “correct its mistake,” according to a transcript in English released by the Chinese Embassy in Washington. The bill, which modifies the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002, would require the U.S. to sanction Chinese officials who interfere in the succession of the Dalai Lama, an effort that the bill calls a “serious human rights abuse.”
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned eight people and on entity related to Russian interference in Ukraine, Treasury said in a Jan. 29 press release. The sanctions target Yuri Gotsanyuk, Mikhail Razvozhaev, Vladimir Nemtsev, Sergei Danilenko, Lidia Basova, Ekaterina Pyrkova, Ekaterina Altabaeva, Alexander Ganov and the Grand Service Express, a Moscow railway company that offers transportation between Russia and Crimea. The sanctions were coordinated with Canada, Treasury said, which announced similar sanctions Jan. 29. The European Union Council sanctioned seven of the eight people Jan. 28 (see 2001280047).
The Commerce Department again postponed the first meeting of its Emerging Technology Technical Advisory Committee and may not reschedule it until March, a Commerce official said. The meeting, which was originally scheduled for Dec. 4, 2019,was initially postponed to January as the agency faced delays in issuing members their security clearances (see 1911200045). But the problem persisted, according to Anita Zinzuvadia, a licensing officer with the Bureau of Industry and Security, who said Commerce canceled the January meeting.
In the Jan. 23-28 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
Small and medium-sized companies can apply to attend one of the Australian government's free training seminars on U.S. export controls during March in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, Australia said Jan. 23. The two-day seminars will provide companies with “practical expertise of current best practice” for dealing with technologies controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations, it said. The seminars are open to manufacturers and companies involved in research and development with “immediate intent or actively involved with US technologies subject to these regulations.”
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking comments on a proposal for an information collection that BIS will submit to the Office of Management and Budget, BIS said in a notice. The information collection involves 10 “miscellaneous” activities described in the Export Administration Regulations relating to the exchange of documents among parties in Commerce Department-controlled export transactions. Comments are due Feb. 28.
The European Union renewed sanctions against Tunisia for one year, until Jan. 31, 2021, according to a Jan. 28 notice. The sanctions target 48 people involved in “misappropriation” of public funds, the notice said.