Chicago Tribune: MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Congress on Thursday approved a long-awaited law to crack down on money laundering in a bid to attack the finances of the country's powerful drug cartels.
The law, proposed two years ago by outgoing President Felipe Calderon as part of his offensive against drug gangs, was passed by the Senate on Thursday. The lower house passed it earlier this year.
The new federal law puts restrictions on cash purchases of real estate, jewelry, armored cars and other assets that criminals use to launder illicit funds.
Companies will be required to report large cash purchases under the law. Car sales of more than 200,000 pesos (about $16,000) and real estate purchases of more than 500,000 pesos (about $39,000) must be reported.
The bill carries a minimum penalty of five years in prison. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
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