BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina has added five Latin American criminal and insurgent organizations to its national terrorism registry, citing concerns that their activities and networks could threaten the country’s security.
The government formalized the decision in Joint Resolution 5/2026, published in the Official Gazette on October 22. The measure covers Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) and FARC-EP, and Ecuador’s Los Tiguerones.
The resolution allows authorities to register the groups in Argentina’s Public Registry of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism and Their Financing, known as RePET. The government says the measure will improve information-sharing, help detect potential threats and strengthen investigations into terrorist financing.
However, the designation does not establish that every member or associate has committed a terrorist offence. Nor does it automatically authorize military action. Its practical effects depend on Argentina’s legal framework and any separate financial or investigative measures that authorities take.
Which organizations are covered?
The resolution names five organizations, but its scope is more specific than a simple list of five labels.
- Sinaloa Cartel: A Mexican criminal organization associated with international drug trafficking and other illicit activities.
- La Nueva Familia Michoacana: A Mexican criminal organization that the Argentine government links to drug trafficking and illegal mining.
- National Liberation Army (ELN): A Colombian insurgent organization that remains active in the country’s armed conflict.
- FARC-EP: A designation covering specified dissident armed groups that use the name of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
- Los Tiguerones: An Ecuadorian criminal organization associated by the Argentine government with drug trafficking and contract killings.
The resolution specifically includes the Los Tiguerones factions known as Los Fénix and Los Igualitos. It also identifies the residual armed group known as GAO-R FARC-EP and the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), including the names “Estado Mayor Central de las FARC-EP” and “EMC FARC-EP,” along with its blocks and fronts, including Frente 18.
That detail matters because the original FARC organization signed a peace agreement with the Colombian government in 2016. Some armed factions rejected the agreement or later returned to armed activity. The Argentine resolution specifically identifies dissident structures rather than treating every former FARC member as part of the listed organization.
Why Argentina made the designations
In its October 21 statement, President Javier Milei’s office said the groups’ criminal activities, regional reach and potential networks in Argentina posed a security threat.
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The government cited drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, illegal mining, violence and armed insurgency. It also argued that the groups’ transnational links could allow their activities to spread beyond their principal areas of operation.
The formal resolution relies on confidential reports prepared by Argentina’s Ministry of National Security and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship. The government said those reports identified a real or potential external threat to national security and risks to the lives, property and assets of people in Argentina.
Because the supporting intelligence is classified, the public documents do not reveal the full evidence behind each assessment. The published resolution describes the government’s reasoning, but it does not provide a complete public case file showing the alleged activities of each organization inside Argentina.
The distinction is important. The government says the listings are intended to prevent possible threats and detect networks before they become established. The public record reviewed for this report does not independently establish that all five organizations maintain operational structures in Argentina.
What RePET registration means
Argentina created RePET under Decree 918/2012. Its purpose is to record information about people and entities linked to terrorism or its financing and to support domestic and international cooperation. The registry is public, subject to rules on access and data protection. Relevant national authorities, including security bodies, the Financial Information Unit (UIF) and migration authorities, can access information for their official duties. The UIF can also share registry information with regulated entities and foreign counterparts under the applicable rules.
Joint Resolution 5/2026 uses the procedure established by Article 25(d) of the decree. That provision allows registration when the relevant ministries have well-founded reasons to suspect that a person, group or entity is linked to a real or potential external threat to national security. The resolution also directs the Justice Ministry to carry out the registration.
The registry can help authorities exchange information and identify potential financial links. It can also support investigations into suspected financing or other criminal activity. But registration and an asset freeze are not identical legal steps.
Argentina’s legal framework gives the UIF authority to order an administrative freeze of assets linked to certain terrorist-financing offences. That action requires its own legally grounded decision and must follow the relevant procedures. The public resolution does not itself list specific assets to freeze or establish that a freeze has already been imposed on every person or entity connected with the five organizations.
The designation should therefore not be described as automatically freezing every associated account, banning every transaction or proving criminal liability. Authorities must apply the relevant legal provisions to the facts of each case.
How the measure differs from US designations
Argentina’s decision follows years of expanding US action against criminal and insurgent organizations in the region. But the two countries operate under different legal systems, and their lists do not have identical effects.
The US State Department designated the Sinaloa Cartel and La Nueva Familia Michoacana as Foreign Terrorist Organizations on February 20, 2025. The United States had previously designated the ELN on October 8, 1997, and designated FARC-EP as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on December 1, 2021.
A US Foreign Terrorist Organization designation carries specific consequences under US law. Among other things, it makes knowingly providing material support to a designated organization unlawful for people within US jurisdiction. US financial institutions must also retain control of certain funds in which a designated organization or its agent has an interest and report them to the Treasury Department.
Those US legal consequences do not automatically follow from Argentina’s own registry decision. Argentina’s measures must be assessed under Argentine law, while US sanctions, criminal prosecutions and immigration-related consequences operate under separate authorities and procedures.
The status of Los Tiguerones under the US Foreign Terrorist Organization list requires confirmation against the latest official US designation record before publication. A group’s presence on a US sanctions list is not necessarily the same as its designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
A closer security relationship with Washington
The new Argentine listings also fit a wider pattern of security cooperation between Buenos Aires and Washington.
The Trump administration expanded its use of terrorism designations against Latin American criminal groups in 2025. Argentina’s October decision adds its own national measure, using RePET to address what the government describes as cross-border risks.
On October 21, Milei’s office presented the listings as part of Argentina’s effort to combat transnational organized crime and terrorism. The announcement also emphasized coordination among Argentina’s foreign-affairs, security and justice authorities and its state intelligence service.
The measure came amid broader cooperation between the two governments on security and anti-narcotics work. Yet the designation itself does not establish that Washington directed Argentina’s decision, nor does it prove that the two countries have agreed to identical sanctions or enforcement measures.
Any shared intelligence, joint investigation or new financial restriction would need to be documented separately. The resolution’s stated aim is to strengthen prevention, information exchange and investigations, but the public text does not announce a specific new joint operation.
Other countries have adopted similar measures
Argentina’s action is part of a broader regional debate about how governments should respond to organized crime groups that use extreme violence, control territory or threaten state institutions.
Ecuador declared an internal armed conflict in January 2024 and designated multiple criminal groups as terrorist organizations. Guatemala also changed its laws in 2025 to classify major gangs as transnational criminal and terrorist organizations. These measures reflect efforts to apply stronger legal tools to groups traditionally treated as criminal organizations.
However, countries’ legal frameworks and the consequences of their listings differ. A designation in one country does not automatically create the same restrictions in another. Nor does the use of the term “terrorist organization” mean that every group has the same structure, aims or methods.
The Argentine resolution places criminal cartels and insurgent groups within the same registry framework. The government’s stated rationale is that each presents a potential threat to national security, though the groups differ in their origins, political objectives and activities.
What remains unclear
The resolution sets out the government’s decision and its legal basis, but several questions remain about implementation.
The public documents reviewed for this report do not identify a new asset freeze against each group, detail specific financial accounts or disclose the full intelligence behind the threat assessments. They also do not establish that all five organizations have active operational structures inside Argentina.
The practical impact will depend on how authorities use the registry, whether they identify associated individuals or entities, and whether further legal or financial measures follow. Any such action would need its own documented basis.
Argentina’s decision formally expands its terrorism registry and creates another channel for information-sharing and financial investigations. It does not, by itself, establish criminal guilt for individual members or prove that every organization is operating inside the country.
The central question now is how the government will apply the new listings in practice—and what evidence, legal process and oversight will accompany any further action.
Reporting Credit: Argentine Presidency — October 21, 2026, announcement of the designation of five Latin American criminal and insurgent organizations. Argentine Ministry of National Security and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship — Joint Resolution 5/2026, published October 22, 2026, and the government’s stated security rationale. Argentine Ministry of Justice — RePET registration procedure under Decree 918/2012 and its amendments. United States Department of State — Foreign Terrorist Organization designation records for the Sinaloa Cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, ELN and FARC-EP.
