Ecuador recently had its name removed from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) "black list" of countries failing to effectively combat money laundering. For now, at least, this brings to an end a spat between the FATF and the government of Rafael Correa, ongoing since the Andean country was relegated to the organization's lowest rung of noncompliance -- occupied by the likes of Angola, Iran, North Korea, and Turkmenistan -- in February.
Correa struck a defiant tone during the episode, declaring: "This is imperialism in its most base form. . . . This has nothing to do with the struggle against money laundering." He charged that the sole reason for the move was "because we have relations with Iran," and said he would not work to change the ruling.
Meanwhile, Diego Borja, Ecuador's central bank president, traveled to Washington to meet with increasingly distressed U.S. Treasury officials in order to ensure that Ecuador did not "run out" of its official currency -- the U.S. dollar.