Lavado de dinero - money laundering ( Espanol and english traduction)
Paraísos fiscales, lavado de dinero y drogas en el “nuevo mundo” americano
Alejandro L. Perdomo Aguilera
Resumen:
Este trabajo pretende realizar un acercamiento al estado del lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales en el continente americano, relacionado con el crimen organizado trasnacional, particularmente con el vinculado al tráfico ilícito de drogas (TID).
Para ello se hace un breve análisis sobre los paraísos fiscales en América y su relación con el lavado de dinero, proveniente en lo fundamental del TID y otros delitos conexos (tráfico ilícito de personas, órganos y armas), para desde allí abordar la situación de dependencia y dominación en que mantiene los EE.UU. a nuestra América, en el contexto de crisis de la economía mundial.
Palabras claves: drogas, crisis económica, lavado de dinero, paraísos fiscales, Latinoamérica, EE.UU.
La historia de los paraísos fiscales y el lavado de dinero en Latinoamérica, parece una historia romántica donde la conspiración, las alianzas entre élites de poder económico trasnacional parece no hallar racionalidad. En un contexto pletórico de burbujas financieras, donde el tráfico ilícito de drogas y otros delitos conexos, consolidan las alianzas entre el empresariado y sectores de la “alta” política, para el blanqueo de las ganancias y la evasión de altos impuestos.
Parce ser que el mundo incivilizado suele imponerse para los países de nuestra América. El TID si bien en materia jurídica es seriamente penado por las autoridades norteamericanas, desde el orden económico, financiero y comercial, son muy bien aprovechados los dividendos provenientes de ese flagelo. Digamos que cuando se sigue la ruta del dinero, puede percibirse el punto de encuentro entre los intereses de los narcotraficantes, el empresariado transnacional y los altos funcionarios políticos latinoamericanos y estadounidenses, en el lavado de dinero y la evasión de impuestos; para lo cual utilizan hábilmente los paraísos fiscales de la región y, también, del territorio de los EE.UU.
Los paraísos fiscales no son necesariamente ilegales, a pesar de que en muchos casos se les relacione con el blanqueo de dinero, la fuga de capitales o la evasión de impuestos; ciertamente se pueden obtener ventajas sin cometer ningún delito, aunque moralmente dejen mucho que desear.Existe también un problema ético aunque no deja de ser legal cuando los ciudadanos o empresas trasladan sus capitales hacia otros países en aras de evitar los altos impuestos en su país de origen.
El dinero negro puede derivarse tanto de actividades económicas ilícitas como de aquel que no se declara en hacienda, tanto para la evasión de la Justicia en términos criminales como la evasión de los altos impuestos. En este trabajo interesa destacar aquel dinero blanqueado por tráfico de drogas y otros delitos conexos. La problemática parte en este caso, cuando el individuo acumula una suma de dinero la cual no puede justificar y, por tanto, utilizar libremente para el comercio.
Desde la época de Al Capone[1] el crimen organizado utilizada esta terminología, cuyo término de blanqueado de dinero o lavado, se originó cuando dicho gánster adquirió una cadena de lavanderías para legitimar la procedencia de sus dinero con un negocio de segunda, el cual, evidentemente no era el fruto de sus grandes riquezas pero sí un cauce por donde legitimar algunos de sus fondos.
Actualmente es muy común la inversión el sector turístico, sobre todo en la construcción. Por ello los países o regiones con economías de servicios suelen ser muy atractivos para el lavado de dinero del crimen organizado. Sin embargo, en las listas de la OCDE nunca se reconoce este tipo de actividades en los países de primer mundo. Tal es el caso de los Estados Unidos donde existen varios Estados donde es clásico el lavado de dinero. En esta actividad, es muy llamativo el caso del Estado de la Florida, donde Miami ha cumplido un rol crucial en esta actividad por décadas. “Un estudio realizado por el Departamento de Robos de la policía de Miami, a mediados de la década del 80, indicó que de 100 billetes de un dólar analizados, 99 tenían rastros de cocaína.”[2]
Es muy común ver como grandes capos de la droga en Colombia y México lavan sus dineros en Miami, invirtiendo en casas, hoteles y otras construcciones; contando con la complicidad de empresarios y bancos que se encargan de lavar el dinero. “Algunos opinan que los bancos miamenses irían a la ruina si dejaran de lavar dinero del mercado de drogas y que se depreciarían a niveles insospechados los precios de bienes raíces si los narcotraficantes suspendieran las compras de propiedades”[3]
Losparaísos fiscales suelen tipificarse por su baja tributación y el requerido secreto bancario. Debido a estas circunstancias la OCDE suele elaborar listas de paraísos fiscales, listas offshore, listas grises[4], o las llamadas listas españolas[5], que se utilizan para “desacreditar” a algunas jurisdicciones. Curiosamente en estas listas no aparecen bancos radicados en algunos Estados de la Unión que realizan similares prácticas.
Sin embargo, el sistema de listas de la OCDE, a mi consideración, crea más confusiones que soluciones ya que su sistema de confiabilidad se basa en la firma de acuerdo para intercambio de información y llegado determinado estándar internacional, es eliminado de la lista de paraísos fiscales, cuando en la práctica puede seguirlo siendo.
El fraude fiscal, que los paraísos hacen posible, afecta las políticas sociales, producto de la evasión de impuestos de la cual, se supone, salen parte de los fondos para ese tipo de medidas. Desde este punto, se puede comprender cómo la evasión de impuestos que alientan el lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales, afecta directamente a un sector tan sensible e importante de la sociedad como la clase media, tanto por su influencia política como por su estatus de paradigma de vida político-cultural y económico al interior de las sociedades, aunque esta situación no es del todo homogénea. En ese sentido, “(…) la lucha contra la austeridad presupuestaria, contra las deudas ilegítimas, evasión y fraude fiscal, contra los paraísos fiscales, es la lucha por el Estado de derechos sociales (mal denominado de bienestar). La misma lucha.”[6]
Si nos dejamos guiar por las artimañas burocráticas en torno a los parámetros de control pudiera pensarse que las recientes reducciones de las listas de paraísos fiscales que realiza la OCDE y otras Instituciones es un tema en el que se ha obtenido éxito, pero lamentablemente los paraísos fiscales, la evasión de impuestos y el lavado de dinero son problemas que continúa vigentes.
En realidad el sistema de listas de la OCDE funge más como pantalla pública que como barrera contra la evasión de impuestos y el lavado de dinero; ensombreciendo la realidad a través de una condena pública a un hecho que evidentemente, no se resuelve aún a nivel global y mucho menos en el continente americano; sumergido en guerras fratricidas entre narcotraficantes y el gobierno norteamericano, que vienen a constituir otra prueba de la pervivencia de los fenómenos del lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales en una región estremecida por la oleada de violencia, con que operan los carteles de la droga.
Pero al problema no se le proyectan soluciones definitivas, ya que más allá de las noticas de crónica roja y las políticas antidrogas del imperio, existe un interés económico, financiero y comercial sobre el frondoso monto de capitales que genera dicho negocio.
Ahora bien, este ejercicio no sólo limpia el dinero del crimen organizado sino que se inserta también en el sistema monetario internacional, atrayendo a las élites de poder concentradas en los EE.UU., que buscan con estas prácticas la evasión de sus impuestos. Con esa evasión, se perjudican los programas de asistencia sociales ya que ni pagan impuestos ni cotizan a la Seguridad Social. Obviamente, evadir estas responsabilidades se transfiere en miles de millones de dólares que se mueven en el sistema económico comercial mundial, gracias al lavado de dinero y a la discrecionalidad condicionada de los paraísos fiscales o centros offshore.
La OCDE pidió la firma de doce acuerdos de intercambio de información fiscal con otros tantos países. Pero, como denuncia Juan Hernández Vigueras, el truco consiste en que los paraísos fiscales han firmado doce acuerdos con territorios sin gran relevancia o entre sí, es decir comprometiéndose cada cual en su complicidad sobre la existencia o no de evasión fiscal. De esta forma, se consolida la idea de que los paraísos fiscales constituyen el instrumento ideal de la delincuencia transnacional, necesitada de lavar sus capitales y evadir impuestos.
El dilema de las listas de la OCDE se resuelve con un ejercicio de comparación entre algunas listas. Por ejemplo si revisamos el listado de paraísos fiscales de América según la OCDE en el año 2000 figuraban: Antillas Neerlandesas, Aruba, Anguilla, Antigua y Barbuda, Las Bahamas, Barbados, Bermudas, Islas Caimanes, República de Dominica, Granada, Jamaica, Islas Malvinas, Montserrat, San Vicente y las Granadinas, Santa Lucía, Trinidad y Tobago, Islas Turks y Caicos, Islas Vírgenes Británicas, Islas Vírgenes de EE. UU., República de Panamá.[7]
La versión del 15 de Diciembre de 2011[8],ha ocurrido una gran simplificación, comenzando por el caso Uruguayo. Finalmente para la OCDE Uruguay ha dejado de ser un paraíso fiscal cumpliendo con una serie de acuerdos que le posibilitan, al menos en lo formal, salir de la angustiosa lista de paraísos fiscales elaborada por esa organización. La firma de 7 nuevos acuerdos de intercambio de información, eleva el número de convenios del país sudamericano a 18, cuando los requeridos son sólo 12. Esto son seis acuerdos más de los requeridos fueron suficiente para considerar transparente sus transacciones y, por tanto, eliminarlo de la “lista gris” de la OCDE, donde Uruguay estaba en la categoría de “otros centros financieros”.[9]
Gracias a estos requisitos burocráticos algunas de las jurisdicciones más clásicas como las Islas Vírgenes Británicas (BVI), Antigua y Barbuda, Belize, Bahamas, entre otras, fueron sacadas de la "lista gris". De este modo, para los primeros días de 2012 sólo constituían las lista Niué y Naurú. La OCDE además también creó el llamado grupo de "otros centros financieros" el 15 de Diciembre de 2011.[10]
Sin embargo, la inmensa mayoría de los países que abandonaron la lista posiblemente sigan manteniendo las preferencias para no residentes y el necesaria confiablidad que le asegura las comisiones, en otras palabras, continúa la pervivencia de paraísos fiscales con las condiciones propicias para el lavado de dinero y la evasión de impuestos.
La crisis mundial en contraste con el lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales
En el contexto de crisis global y los recortes presupuestarios que se profundizan en varios países afectan a los organismos tributarios y la lucha contra la evasión. De acuerdo a las cifras que maneja el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) y la ONU, se lavan anualmente más de 600 mil millones de dólares conseguidos por el delito organizado en todo el mundo y esta operación ocurre bajo la anuencia del sistema bancario legal.
La concentración del poder de los bancos es tal, que sólo 20 de los mayores bancos del mundo están a cargo del 75 por ciento de las transacciones financieras de los Estados Unidos, Francia e Inglaterra. A esta realidad debe sumársele que los EE.UU. no cuentan con un Banco Central real, sino que dicho Banco es una empresa privada formada por grandes Bancos de los Estados Unidos. Por tanto, la Reserva Federal es un ente privado, resultado de una asociación de Bancos de carácter estatal y de orientación nacional –según su acta constitutiva- con interés de lucro; por lo que dicha reserva responde a los intereses de los bancos que la constituyen. Como si no bastara, los mandatos de los presidentes de la Reserva son más largos que los del presidente de los EE.UU., de modo que el presidente entrante de los Estados Unidos no elige al presidente de la Reserva Federal.
Un famoso lavador como Kenneth Rijock, conocido ahora como un muy lucrativo conferencista sobre estos temas, precisó que las razones siguen haciendo atractiva a la banca para los lavadores, son la inexistencia de un impuesto sobre la renta, ni de impuestos de sucesiones, ni sobre el beneficio empresarial, eliminándose así los controles legales de cambio bajo el supuesta confraternidad profesional del secreto.
Por estas razones los paraísos fiscales resultan cada día más difíciles de perseguir y controlar, con consecuencias cada vez más incalculables. "El secretario del Tesoro de los Estados Unidos, Larry Summers, ha señalado que las compañías supranacionales, que son unas 60 mil, junto con grandes organizaciones de auditorías y algunos bancos de inversión, vehiculizan una evasión fiscal que le está costando a su país, sólo por las actividades en los refugios fiscales, 10 mil millones de dólares al año".[11]
De esta forma el propio sistema esta evadiendo impuestos. De hecho como la propia Reserva Federal no es un su totalidad un ente estatal, resulta muy lógico que prefieran canalizar parte de sus fondos varios bancos norteamericanos a paraísos fiscales para así obtener un interés que perderían en la Reserva Federal; de manera que no se ven obligados a depositar todo su capital en la Reserva. La incógnita sería quien desconoce este hecho y por qué no se toman medidas efectivas contra el mismo y la realidad es que todos lo saben y nadie hace nada.
La Reserva Federal es teóricamente pública, porque es como el Banco Central de de los Estados Unidos; constituyendo por tanto máxima la autoridad monetaria. Ello a faculta para poder regir la política monetaria y el funcionamiento del sistema bancario estadounidense (tasas de interés, encaje legal, impresión de dinero, etc.) Sin embargo, mediante el encaje legal puede retenerse una determinada proporción de los depósitos del sistema bancario, de procedencia privada y no tiene el poder absoluto sobre su revaluación o no, debido a que el dólar como divisa internacional debe atenerse a otras condicionantes. Si le preguntáramos a al gobierno de China, por ejemplo, como máximo acreedor de ese EE.UU., tampoco le resultaría factible la devaluación del dólar.
En este contexto, la evasión de impuestos y a búsqueda de paraísos fiscales con mayores preferencias, amerita un mayor control debido a las pérdidas millonarias que puede significar para las economías “nacionales”. Para que se tenga una medida de cuanto puede perderse con la evasión de impuestos, vale la pena remitirse al período de la dictadura de Alfredo Stroessner en Paraguay. “Estimaciones formuladas tras la caída del stronismo dan cuenta que la corrupción de la dictadura le costó al país por lo menos unos 6.000 millones de dólares americanos. Dadas las dimensiones de esta enorme cifra, es fácil concluir las oportunidades de desarrollo de las que se privó miserablemente al Paraguay en términos de orientación de la inversión pública hacia la educación, la salud, la vivienda y la infraestructura de todo tipo.”[12]
No obstante, si bien para la clase trabajadora es muy perjudicial la evasión de impuestos, para la clase alta resulta un muy lucrativo negocio aunque, paradójicamente, son ellos los que menos impuestos pagan, ya que se considera que es la clase que tiene grandes capitales y, por tanto, posibilidades de invertir. Esta situación ha sido tan discutible que uno de los mayores millonarios de los Estados Unidos ha llegado a reclamar ante el Congreso, que le cobren más impuestos. Los paraísos fiscales tienen entre otros beneficios, la posibilidad de lavar dinero de procedencia ilícita, que sólo sería posible bajo los agradables secretos bancarios que suelen conceder.
El dinero sucio puede derivarse tanto de actividades económicas ilícitas como de aquel que no se declara en hacienda, tanto para la evasión de la Justicia en términos criminales como la evasión de los altos impuestos. La problemática se origina, cuando el individuo acumula una suma de dinero la cual no puede justificar y, por tanto, utilizar libremente para el comercio.
Entre las formas de lavado de dinero está el trabajo hormiga, donde una serie de individuos se dividen diversas sumas de dinero reduciéndolas a una suma, la cual no es registrada como sospechosa y, por tanto, el dinero puede ser utilizado sin necesidad de justificar ante la Ley, debido a que esas transacciones no son registradas.
Esta gran vulnerabilidad provocó que en 1998 la ONU realizara el primer acuerdo para la lucha contra de lavado de dinero, estipulándose los principios jurídicos internacionales para la “lucha” contra este delito, entendiéndolo como un fenómeno inherente al mundo actual. “La globalización liberal requiere los "paraísos fiscales" como la familia tradicional requería los prostíbulos, como compensación equilibrante de los matrimonios indisoluble. La lectura de lo que son y de su funcionamiento habla mucho más sobre el capitalismo contemporáneo que centenas de inocuos manuales de economía y finanzas.”[13]
Los paraísos fiscales son micro-territorios o Estados con legislación fiscal floja o inexistente, que practican la recepción anónima de capitales. “Ese lavado, según el FMI, representa entre el 2 y 5% del PIB mundial. La mitad de los flujos de capitales internacionales transita o reside en los ´paraísos fiscales´, en un monto que oscila entre los seiscientos millones y mil quinientos millones de dólares sucios que circulan en esos circuitos. Para tener una idea de lo que significa ese monto, basta decir que las deudas públicas en todos los mercados internacionales llega a los cinco mil millones de dólares.”[14] La evasión fiscal se vale de los centros llamados "offshore" o bancos extraterritoriales, que atraen a quienes buscan evadir el pago de impuestos por sus fortunas. El conjunto de actividades de los paraísos se ha convertido en parte esencial del sistema económico global.
Aunque ya ha pasado de moda hablar del neoliberalismo y sus tantas falacias, la desregulación del sistema económico, financiero y comercial se acentúa. Y como este fenómeno le viene de mil maravillas a políticos, empresarios y criminales, los requisitos que les proponen los organismos internacionales como coto son tan formales que suelen quedar en los listados, paraísos de tan poca relevancia que cuesta trabajo creer que las actividades de lavado y evasión se resumen a paraísos como el de Nauru. Sucede que, estos paraísos, son el nicho en el que concursan, desde el más sencillo político regional de algún territorio colombiano, hasta la élite política del continente, con la amañada forma en que protegen de la luz pública sus suntuosos dividendos, políticos millonarios como el presidente chileno Sebastián Piñera y el candidato republicano, de mayor competencia para Obama, el exgobernador de Massachusetts, Mitt Romney[15].
En un contexto de crisis, bajo un sistema monetario global, sobrecargado de la circulación de capitales, donde las monedas catalogadas como “fuertes” (euro, dólar) no tienen más referentes sino la comparación entre sí mismas o, en todo caso, su representación virtual en bits; la generalización de prácticas de lavado de dinero y evasión de impuestos, bajo la pervivencia de los paraísos fiscales, denota un panorama de inseguridad financiera, económica y comercial, que se ampara en una inseguridad jurídica; toda vez que los mecanismos internacionales creados para su control, pecan de ineficacia, cuando se simplifican las listas de la OCDE en un momento crisis sistémica y efervescencia del narcotráfico en Latinoamérica.
La economía internacional entre el negocio de las drogas y lavado de dinero
Una de las grandes incógnitas es la cantidad de dinero generado anualmente por el tráfico ilícito de drogas (TID). El negocio del TID, es el segundo en movimiento de capitales del mundo después del petróleo, por las ganancias extraordinarias que provee. Según la ONUDC su comercialización genera alrededor de 320 000 millones[16] de dólares anuales, con un mercado que anda por los 200 millones de consumidores a nivel global. Esta economía genera “(…) 300,000 empleos para campesinos de los Andes sudamericanos que participan como proveedores de materia prima: coca (200,000 has), amapola (1,500 has) y marihuana (no menos de 1,000 has), que proveen para los mercados regionales internacionales.”[17]
Como los datos de la ONUDC y otras instituciones resultan demasiado oficiales como para reflejar toda la realidad, resulta muy conveniente compararlos con las cifras que maneja Daniel Estulin en uno de sus libros sobre el Club de Bilderberg para conocer, a consideración de“(…) un experto en lavado de dinero que ostenta un alto cargo en la agencia del gobierno estadounidense encargada de vigilar las transacciones internacionales de capital me dijo una vez (a Estulin) que ´en números redondos debe tratarse de una suma de unos 590 mil millones de euros anuales libres de impuestos´”[18]
Las cifras varían entre 320 mil millones y 700 mil millones, en dependencia de las agencias e Instituciones que se consulten, lo cierto es que todos manejan cifras multimillonarias las cuales, obviamente, no entrarían en el sistema monetario internacional sin el concurso de los políticos y empresarios de mayor influencia global. Atendiendo a esa realidad nos podemos percatar que el dinero proveniente del TID desempeña un rol crucial en el sistema bancario y monetario internacional, pues, como afirmara el ex agente de la LAPD Michael C. Ruppert, de allí provienen los papeles con que se realizan los “(…) ´pagos mensuales mínimos de las grandes acciones y de las burbujas de derivados y de inversiones en Estados Unidos y Gran Bretaña´ (…). En 2000, Le Monde Diplomatique estimó el total anual generado por el narcotráfico en unos 420 mil millones de euros.”[19]
Pero aún más alarmante resulta la consideración de Caterine Austin Fitts editora de From The Wilderness quien afirmó “(…) que esos 590.000 millones de euros generarían transacciones económicas seis veces mayores que ese valor para blanquear el dinero, de modo que el impacto real del negocio de las drogas en las finanzas internacionales se convertiría en transacciones por valor de 3 billones y medio de euros.”[20]
Estas cifras millonarias generadas por el TID, interactúan con el sistema comercial mundial, inyectándolo de papeles o bits, como puntualiza el profesor Casals; apoyando la especulación financiera y la lógica del capital con la concentración tanto de las riquezas como de su apropiación. En ese sentido, la mafia actual sigue la lógica de antaño, aquella que comprende la sinergia del sistema, se adecúa y participa en el mismo, no como su contraparte sino como su soporte ilegal. Por ello vale la pena recordar la famosa frase del gánster Al Capone al acusársele por evasión de impuestos: “Esto es absurdo. ¡Ustedes no pueden cobrar impuestos sobre ingresos ilegales!”[21]
Imaginemos entonces como se traducen estos fondos en las bolsas de valores. Entendiendo que en las bolsas se negocian acciones, participación en las ganancias, en la rentabilidad de una empresa, determinada por las utilidades que reparte dicha empresa. El llamado Carry Trade o diferencial de rentabilidad esperada se alimenta de liquidez, proveniente del balance de las empresas, la reserva de los bancos centrales y los sospechosos grupos de capital privado. En este sentido, los dineros que están en los bancos centrales también están en movimiento, entendiendo la concepción del capital como dinero que genera dinero.
Conjugando esta realidad con la participación del dinero proveniente del TID, se comprende mejor, como el “(…) valor de las acciones de las empresas que cotizan en Wall Street se basa en beneficios netos anuales. El sistema conocido como bonos de beneficio, hace que éstos se reflejen en el valor de la empresa cotizada en bolsa multiplicado hasta por 30. Para empresas como Chase Manhattan Bank (…) tener unos 10 millones de euros en Beneficios netos adicionales derivados del tráfico de drogas le supondría un incremento neto en el valor de sus acciones en bolsa de hasta 300 millones de euros.”[22]
Otra de las complejidades de las operaciones de lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales en el sistema económico comercial actual, es la presencia de una plusvalía virtual a partir de una ganancia virtual, que se produce en la esfera de la circulación y no, como reflejaran los clásicos, aquella plusvalía real originando riqueza desde la producción. Aparecen los derivados financieros dada la ausencia de una plusvalía real. Esta llamada plusvalía virtual –como afirma el profesor Jorge Casals Llano- se produce esencialmente en la esfera de la circulación y es precisamente en esa esfera donde entran en juego los dividendos obtenidos por el negocio ilícito de las drogas y otros delitos conexos, por su necesidad de ser lavados para poder entrar en circulación.
Definitivamente los bancos norteamericanos y, más que los bancos, la élite empresarial, “apuesta” con el dinero de todos, beneficiándose en todo este proceso del lavado de dinero procedente del crimen organizado, particularmente el relacionado con el TID.
En este complejo entramado entran en acción, como otro de los elementos perjudiciales que suelen dirigirse a los paraísos fiscales, los llamadosCapital Golondrina, caracterizados así por la inestabilidad de la permanencia del capital en un lugar. Este consiste en depósitos de capital efímeros, es decir que se condicionan a corto plazo y con rendimientos muy variables, otorgándole mayores posibilidades de movilidad. Este capital concurre hacia los países o regiones donde pueden obtener mayores ganancias, de forma coyuntural, para luego dirigirse hacia otros que le ofrezcan mejores condiciones. De esta manera se aseguran el no comprometimiento con el destino de los países donde han hecho depósitos ni con las consecuencias que acarrea para los mismos, las características de sus actividades.
En este sentido, los capitales golondrinas pudieran comprenderse como una de las tantas expresiones negativas de la globalización neoliberal de la economía. Con ello nos percatamos de otra de las falacias de ver dogmáticamente correcto, aspectos como la inversión extranjera, las cuales sin condicionamientos ni regulaciones financieras y jurídicas que protejan a los países donde se realizan, pudieran beneficiar los intereses privados sobre el interés nacional, lo que agudizaría las relaciones de dependencia y dominación históricamente ancladas en la relación de los EE.UU. con América Latina y el Caribe.
Por otra parte, los capitales golondrinas depositados de manera coyuntural y condicionada, pueden producir una peligrosa revaluación en la moneda local; perjudicando las condiciones de vida de los lugares donde hacen depósitos, unido a inversiones extrajeras que lejos de ir a la economía real, al sector productivo, van hacia la obtención de grandes ganancias, durante el período en que los paraísos fiscales le ofrezcan mayores posibilidades de evasión fiscal y otros nichos de ganancias, para luego trasladarse hacia otros lugares donde las ventajas comparativas que persiguen sean mayores; dejando perjudicada a las economías de los países donde habían hecho depósitos.
Los capitales golondrinas, a su vez, pueden producir un aparente fortalecimiento de las monedas locales, producto de la abundancia de capital que pueden mostrar coyunturalmente. Por ello, el empleo regulaciones financieras y jurídicas más estrictas, resulta una necesidad para dar mayor estabilidad a estas economías y no exponerlas acríticamente este tipo de actividades e inversiones de capitales, que están muy lejos proveer un desarrollo sostenible para los países latinoamericanos y caribeños donde se desarrollan este tipo de actividades.
La desenfrenada emisión de papel se “respalda” en activos y por bancos que tienen fiducia, en otras palabras, confianza de que van a pagar. La compra de activos por el Banco Central suele traducirse en un aumento de la demanda interna, así como la venta de activos en su disminución. En los Estados Unidos, donde un ente privado hace de Reserva Federal, el financiamiento de la deuda pública Federal realizada por otros países (y actores) asciende a 14 billones de dólares. Por tanto, un incremento de la oferta monetaria reporta un efecto expansivo sobre la economía.
En este análisis no debe perderse de vista que el dólar como divisa internacional, produce un descontrol en la medida en que los Estados que la asumen, pierden una determinación sobre la moneda, por lo que el precio de dicha divisa se “determina”, además de por la relación entre oferta y demanda, por la rentabilidad esperada. La existencia de una desregulación del sistema financiero internacional acentúa todas estas problemáticas.
En el precio del dólar (tasa de cambio) o el precio del dinero (tasa de interés), influyen múltiples factores, pero en general los mecanismos son de mercado, por tanto de oferta y demanda, aunque hay instrumentos que puede manipular el banco central (Reserva Federal) para influir sobre ellos como son la tasa de interés y la emisión monetaria.
El lavado de dinero contribuye a la inflación cuando hay exceso de liquidez (exceso de dinero en circulación). Cuando hay exceso de dinero en circulación se contribuye a la inflación, porque indica que hay una mayor demanda de bienes y servicios y no tiene un correlato en la oferta de estos, lo que puede producir un repentino incremento de los precios, debido a que la oferta no cubre la demanda.
El exceso de moneda en circulación, hinchada también por los dividendos provenientes del lucrativo negocio del lavado de dinero, contribuye también a la inflación, (exceso de liquidez). Ello debe verse aparejado a que, por lo general, cuando los bancos bajan la tasa de interés inyectan dinero en circulación, traduciéndose en una política monetaria expansiva. Para ello hay múltiples mecanismos, que pueden ir desde subir directamente la tasa de interés, imprimir más dinero o reducir el encaje legal.
Una de las falacias sobre el lavado de dinero y el TID, consiste comprender estas actividades como la solución divina para el desarrollo repentino de las economías de Latinoamérica y el Caribe. El mito se derrumba cuando nos percatamos de que la mayor parte del dinero proveniente del crimen organizado transnacional que operan en la región suele dirigirse hacia los Estados Unidos; alentados por la aspiración del american way of life,inspirados en una concepción del buen vivir que está más enfocado hacia la pacha Miami que a la pacha mama.
Los Estados Unidos como país que concentra las riquezas de los narcos, ya no sólo como paradigma cultural, sino que también sus bancos y sucursales son reconocidos por el crimen organizado como un buen destino para sus dividendos. Es allí donde se concentra parte importante de las riquezas extraídas de Latinoamérica, reproduciéndose la lógica de dependencia y dominación que precede la romántica relación entre el norte y el sur americano. “Se estima que solo en Estados Unidos las ganancias que arrojan estos delitos ascienden alrededor de US$275.000 millones, excluida la evasión fiscal.”[23]
De esta forma, los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica y en particular, el sur de la Florida, resulta especialmente atractivo para que el crimen organizado gaste sus ganancias en una economía de servicios, que se adecúa perfectamente a los intereses de lavado e inversión de estos sectores.
De estas “ganancias”, lo que llega a las economías latinoamericanas es un muy deprimido por ciento el cual, no obstante, logra atraer a amplios sectores rurales y urbanos que participan en algunas fases del negocio por pequeñas comisiones, ante la difícil situación socioeconómica que viven estos países.
La concepción del Estado nacional en su versión primigenia se va perdiendo en cuanto a interés económico. Las ganancias de los negocios ilícitos de la droga y otros delitos conexos fluyen de toda Latinoamérica y el Caribe hacia los EE.UU.; corriendo a favor de los intereses del gran capital transnacional. “Si tiempos hubo en la historia en los cuales el estado regulador, mediante su intervención, podía paliar los ´efectos no deseados´ del ´libre juego´ de la oferta y la demanda en los mercados, hoy no existe estado en el mundo que pueda ´regular´ la actuación de las grandes empresas transnacionales, algunas de ellas con mayor fuerza económica que continentes enteros.”[24]
Las países latinoamericanos dependientes tras siglos coloniaje y deformación estructural de sus economías; distraídos ideológicamente por la influencia de la hegemonía cultural estadounidense, suelen reconocer como alternativa contra la crisis actual, la “atractiva” triada del negocio de las drogas, el lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales. Sin embrago, si se realiza un análisis profundo sobre estos fenómenos no hacen más que diluir a la región entre la narcoeconomía y la dominación perpetua del imperio estadounidense, está vez a través de un negocio al cual concurren, extrayendo los mayores beneficios para el sostenimiento del sistema capitalista global, limpiando los grandes volúmenes de dinero sucio, para el sostenimiento de las falacias del sistema capital mundial.
De manera general, el lavado de dinero aumenta y el incremento de las incautaciones de drogas de algunos países de Latinoamérica no hace más que evidenciar la perpetuidad del negocio.
El “narcotráfico” amenaza la estabilidad de la región, por su relativa funcionalidad para fungir como colchón de los países más pobres, sobre los efectos de la crisis económica global, representando un por ciento considerable del PNB, así como por las fuentes de empleo que genera. De igual forma, ha sido acogido por empresarios en declive para recapitalizar sus finanzas.
Por otra parte, las economías latinoamericanas desmoralizadas ante el auge de prácticas ilegales de comercio, acuden a un proceso enajenante, reconociéndose ya no sólo desde el norte sino también en el sur, la presencia de fenómenos morbosos –al decir de Gramsci- en una época de crisis del sistema mundial. Por ello, independientemente de las teorías de Francis Fukuyama en su dilema del fin o, más recientemente, el futuro de la historia, lo que ciertamente estamos presenciando no es una época de cambios sino un cambio de época, donde la homogeneidad y el unipolarismo han dado paso a sistemas más complejos que no se pueden comprender sin la consideración de todos los actores que confluyen en él.
Resulta entonces, el análisis del lavado de dinero, los paraísos fiscales y el negocio de las drogas, procesos estrechamente relacionados que ganan espacio, dentro de ese gran sistema económico, comercial y financiero a nivel mundial.
Este proceso desmoralizador comienza por la economía pero se expande al espectro político, social y cultural de un mundo globalizado y, aunque ya no esté muy de moda, reformado bajo la tutela teórica del neoliberalismo, en una crisis multidimensional de la cual el sistema capitalista no acaba de hallar salida y acude para su permanencia, a fenómenos morbosos como el crimen organizado trasnacional asociado al delito de TID, el lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales en el “nuevo mundo”.
No por gusto Galeano expresó en su paradigmática obra Las Venas abiertas de América Latina: “La economía mundial es la más eficiente expresión del crimen organizado”[25] Evidentemente esta idea no sólo continúa vigente sino que se acentúa en nuestra realidad. Cuando las economías latinoamericanas se ven más dependientes del sistema económico global y las crisis originadas por los Estados Unidos y otras potencias occidentales, suelen hacerse sentir más en los países del llamado Tercer Mundo; vale la pena acercarse al mundillo los paraísos fiscales y seguir -a la usanza de Walter Martínez- la ruta del dinero, que casi siempre ayuda a dilucidar mejor quienes son los autores intelectuales de lo que sucede hoy con el crimen organizado trasnacional, el lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales, que tanto corroe al “nuevo mundo” americano.
Conclusiones
Los paraísos fiscales, el lavado de dinero y el alto tráfico ilícito de drogas existente en el continente denotan, en el actual contexto de crisis económica global:
Fracaso del sistema de regulación financiera.
Expresión de la crisis sistémica y multidimensional del sistema capitalista neoliberal.
Otra manifestación de la crisis de la hegemonía de Estados Unidos sobre Latinoamérica.
Denota la crisis de credibilidad de los EE.UU. en un contexto donde la Internet, las nuevas tecnología y las redes sociales on line, dan mayor libertad de información.
Vulnerabilidad institucional de los organismos internacionales, al permitirse los grandes montos de blanqueo de capitales del crimen organizado trasnacional, así como un alto índice de evasión de impuestos.
La existencia e internacionalización de problemas de seguridad como el tráfico ilícito de drogas, los paraísos fiscales y el consecuente lavado de dinero, es inyectado por los Estados Unidos y, a la vez, reporta enormes beneficios la lucha contra estos males como pretexto para otras guerras imperiales que alimenten su insaciable Complejo Militar Industrial.
La pervivencia de los problemas asociados al lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales pudiera reconocerse como el cáncer del sistema capitalista imperial que necesita del crimen organizado trasnacional para mantener las burbujas financieras y los estrepitosos índices de movimiento de capitales sólo respaldados, que sólo son posibles de respaldar por la criminalidad internacional y su poder para emitir papeles y bits, en eurodólares.
El fraude fiscal, que los paraísos hacen posible, afecta las políticas sociales, producto de la evasión de impuestos de la cual, se supone, salen parte de los fondos para ese tipo de medidas.
El lavado de dinero y los paraísos fiscales, afecta directamente a un sector tan sensible e importante de la sociedad como la clase media.
El sistema de listas de la OCDE funge más como pantalla pública que como barrera contra la evasión de impuestos y el lavado de dinero.
Más allá de las noticas de crónica roja y las políticas antidrogas del imperio, existe un interés económico, financiero y comercial sobre el frondoso monto de capitales que genera dicho negocio.
En el contexto de crisis global, cuando los recortes presupuestarios se profundizan en varios países, se afectan a los organismos tributarios y la lucha contra la evasión.
Los bancos norteamericanos se benefician en todo este proceso del lavado de dinero procedente del crimen organizado, particularmente el relacionado con el TID.
Escenarios más probables
En los países con mayores actividades de TID y otros delitos conexos, la corrupción vulnera al sector bancario, en busca de medios para lavar dinero, con la participación de funcionarios de entidades públicas o privadas. Ello agudizará la relación existente entre la corrupción y el TID, la cual no es exclusiva de los países pobres.
La guerra de los cárteles en la lucha contra el gobierno, supera la capacidad de algunas instituciones, de los países subdesarrollados para enfrentar este fenómeno, lo que justificará la penetración de las fuerzas de las potencias occidentales y de los contratistas a su servicio.
La corrupción será alentada por las ganancias del TID, lo cual posibilitará la influencia política de los cárteles, en tanto logren corromper a funcionarios políticos o ubicar algunas de sus figuras en los estamentos gubernamentales.
La corrupción será alentada por las ganancias del TID, lo cual posibilitará la influencia política de los cárteles, en tanto logren corromper a funcionarios políticos o ubicar algunas de sus figuras en los estamentos gubernamentales.
[1] Al Capone o Scarface por su cicatriz en la mejilla (1899-1947), fue un gánster estadounidense de origen italiano, quién hizo fortuna en la época de la prohibición de la venta de alcohol. Fue acusado de evasión de impuestos en 1931 y condenado a 11 años de cárcel, aunque fue liberado en 1939.
[2] Jesús Arboleya Cervera: La ultraderecha cubano-americana de Miami. La Habana, Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 2000, p. 24.
[3] Jesús Arboleya Cervera: Ob; cit, p. 23.
[4]La Lista gris de la OCDE se compone de los países considerados centros financieros que se han comprometido a adoptar los estándares acordados a nivel internacional en materia fiscal, los países considerados centros financieros dicen adoptar los parámetros establecido a nivel internacional en materia fiscal, pero que en la práctica no lo han realizado.
[6]Xavier Caño Tamayo. Impunes y famosos defraudadores fiscales. En: http://www.ellibrepensador.com/2012/01/07/impunes-y-famosos-defraudadores-fiscales
[7] Los paraísos fiscales. En: http://www.muchapasta.com/b/paraisos%20fiscales/Listado%20de%20paraisos%20fiscales.php
[8] Lista de paraísos fiscales. La clasificación oficial de la OCDE. En: http://www.paraisos-fiscales.info/lista-paraisos-fiscales.html
[9] Uruguay ya no es paraíso fiscal (según la OCDE). En: http://paraisos-fiscales.info/blog
[10] lista de paraísos fiscales, la clasificación oficial de la OCDE. En: http://www.paraisos-fiscales.info/lista-paraisos-fiscales.html
[11] Guido Braslavsky. Jaque a los Paraísos fiscales. Los paraísos fiscales ocultan un tercio de todos los fondos del sistema bancario mundial.
[12] Los paraísos fiscales son refugios de delincuentes. En: http://www.abc.com.py/nota/los-paraisos-fiscales-son-refugios-de-delincuentes-1918
[13]Emir Sader. "Paraísos fiscales": Prostíbulos de la globalización. En: http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=1329
[14]Ídem
[15] Mitt Romney se ha resistido a exponer los datos de su declaración de la renta, explicando que las autoridades se quedan con alrededor de un 15% de sus ganancias anuales, lo cual resulta bien discreto si consideramos que la fortuna de Romney oscila entre 150 y 200 millones de euros. Véase en: Mitt Romney por fin lo dijo… paga pocos impuestos. Tomado de:http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2012/01/17/mitt-romney-por-fin-lo-dijo-paga-pocos-impuestos
[16] Véase: Word Drug Report de 2011. En: http://www.unodc.org/documents/southerncone//Topics_drugs/WDR/2011/Executive_Summary_-_Espanol.pdf .
[17] Ricardo Soberón. Las tendencias del narcotráfico en América Latina. En: www.tni.org
[18]Daniel Estulin. Los secretos del Club de Bilderbeg. www.apitox.es/docs/Los_Secretos_Del_Club_Bilderberg.pdf, p. 77.
[19]Ídem
[20]Ídem
[21]Resumen – Lavado de Dinero. En: http://www.irs.gov/espanol/article/0,,id=238185,00.html
[22]Daniel Estulin. Los secretos del Club de Bilderbeg. En: www.apitox.es/docs/Los_Secretos_Del_Club_Bilderberg.pdf, p. 77.
[23] Drogas, joyas y efectivo: La labor del FMI contra el lavado de dinero y el financiamiento del terrorismo. En: http://blog-dialogoafondo.org/?p=1029
OCDE Incluye a las Islas Malvinas dentro de los lugares donde se lava dinero.
Los Paraísos fiscales
|
La dificultad técnica para determinar cuándo un territorio, país o enclave geográfico es considerado como paraíso fiscal, hace que no exista entre las distintas organizaciones un criterio uniforme para determinar su número exacto.
Así, la Organización para la Cooperación y Desarrollo Económico (OCDE) publicó en el Informe del año 2000 una lista con 35 países o territorios identificados como paraísos fiscales, sin embargo, la ONU tiene censados hasta un total de 74 territorios, aunque según otros estudios se han censado más de un centenar de territorios con estas características.
El ordenamiento jurídico español regula esta figura en el Real Decreto 1080/91, de 5 de julio, donde enumera hasta un total de 48 lugares.
Así, la Organización para la Cooperación y Desarrollo Económico (OCDE) publicó en el Informe del año 2000 una lista con 35 países o territorios identificados como paraísos fiscales, sin embargo, la ONU tiene censados hasta un total de 74 territorios, aunque según otros estudios se han censado más de un centenar de territorios con estas características.
El ordenamiento jurídico español regula esta figura en el Real Decreto 1080/91, de 5 de julio, donde enumera hasta un total de 48 lugares.
| Europa:Principado de Andorra, República de Chipre, Gibraltar, República de Malta, Islas de Guarnesey y de Jersey, Principado de Liechtenstein, Gran Ducado de Luxemburgo, Principado de Mónaco, República de San Marino, Isla de Man. |  |
 | América:Antillas Neerlandesas, Aruba, Anguilla, Antigua y Barbuda, Las Bahamas, Barbados, Bermudas, Islas Caimanes, República de Dominica, Granada, Jamaica, Islas Malvinas, Montserrat, San Vicente y las Granadinas, Santa Lucía, Trinidad y Tobago, Islas Turks y Caicos, , Islas Vírgenes Británicas, Islas Vírgenes de EE. UU., República de Panamá. |
| Asia:Emirato del Estado de Bahrein, Sultanato de Brunei, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Hong-kong, Reino Hachemita de Jordania, República Libanesa, Macao, Sultanato de Omán, República de Singapur, Islas Marianas. |  |
 | África:República de Liberia, República de Seychelles, Islas Mauricio. |
| Oceanía:Islas Fiji, Islas Cook, República de Naurú, Islas Salomón, República de Vanuatu |  |
 | Relación que no incluye otros como Suiza, Costa Rica, Madeira, Gambia, Samoa, Belize, Salvador, etc. |
Tax havens, money laundering and drugs in the "new world" AmericanAlejandro L. Perdomo AguileraSummary:This paper aims to make an approach to the state of money laundering and tax havens in the Americas, related to transnational organized crime, particularly linked to the smuggling of drugs (TID).
This is a brief analysis of tax havens in America and its relation to money laundering, basically from the TID and related offenses (trafficking in persons, bodies and weapons), and from there to address the situation of dependence and domination that maintains U.S. our America, in the context of global economic crisis.
Keywords: drugs, economic crisis, money laundering, tax havens, Latin America, USA
The history of tax havens and money laundering in Latin America, like a love story where the plot, alliances between transnational economic power elites appears to find rationality. In an environment full of financial bubbles, where the illicit drug trafficking and related crimes, strengthen partnerships between business and areas of "high" politics, to launder profits and high tax evasion.
Parce unless the uncivilized world are imposed for the countries of our America.The TID while in legal matters is severely punished by U.S. authorities, from the economic, financial and commercial, are very well used dividends from this scourge. Let's say when you follow the money trail, you will feel the meeting point between the interests of drug traffickers, transnational entrepreneurship and senior American politicians and Americans in money laundering and tax evasion, for which they use ably tax havens in the region and also the territory of the U.S.
Tax havens are not necessarily illegal, although in many cases are related to money laundering, capital flight and tax evasion, certainly can take advantage without committing any crime, although morally leave much to be desired . There is also an ethical problem but it is still legal when citizens or companies move their capital to other countries in order to avoid high taxes in their country of origin.
The black money can be derived from illicit economic activities so as one who is not declared in finance, both for the evasion of justice in criminal terms as the avoidance of high taxes. In this work we wish to emphasize that laundered money for drug trafficking and related crimes. The problematic part in this case, when the individual accumulates a sum of money which can not be justified and therefore free to use for trade.Since the days of Al Capone [1] used such terminology organized crime, whose term of money laundering or washing, originated when the gangster took a chain of laundries to legitimize the source of their money with a second business, whichobviously was not the fruit of his great wealth but a channel through which to legitimize some of their funds.
Currently it is very common tourist sector investment, especially in construction.Thus the countries or regions with service economies tend to be very attractive to money laundering by organized crime. However, the OECD lists are never recognized this type of activity in first world countries. Such is the case of the United States where there are several states where it is classic money laundering. In this activity, is very striking for the State of Florida, where Miami has played a crucial role in this activity for decades. "A study by the Department of Police Robbery of Miami, in the mid 80's, said that of 100 dollar bills analyzed, 99 had traces of cocaine." [2]
It is very common to see big drug lords in Colombia and Mexico Miami wash their money by investing in houses, hotels and other buildings, with the complicity of businesses and banks that are responsible for laundering the money. "Some argue that banks would go to ruin Miami stop money laundering if the drug market and are depreciated to new levels of real estate prices if the drug suspended purchases of property" [3]
Tax Losparaísos often typified by low taxation and banking secrecy required. Due to these circumstances usually develop OECD list of tax havens, offshore lists, greylisting [4], or so-called Spanish lists [5], which are used to "discredit" in some jurisdictions. Interestingly in these lists are not banks located in some U.S. states conducting similar practices.
However, the system lists the OECD, to my attention, creates more confusion than solutions because its system reliability is based on the signed agreement to exchange certain information and reached international standard, is removed from the list of havens tax, when in practice it may continue to be so.
The tax fraud, which make it possible havens, affects social policies, the result of tax evasion which is supposed to come out of the funds for such measures. From this point, you can understand how that encourage tax evasion money laundering and tax havens, directly affects a sector as sensitive and important as the middle class society, both political influence and its status paradigm of political-cultural life and economic development within societies, although this is not entirely homogeneous. In that sense, "(...) the fight against fiscal austerity, against illegitimate debts, tax evasion and tax fraud, tax havens, is the struggle for the rule of social rights (welfare misnamed). The same struggle. "[6]If we are guided by the bureaucratic tricks about control parameters might be thought that recent reductions in the tax haven lists making the OECD and other institutions is a topic that has enjoyed success, but unfortunately the tax havens , tax evasion and money laundering are issues that continues in force.
Actually, the system lists the OECD serves more as public display as a barrier against tax evasion and money laundering, overshadowing reality through a public condemnation of a fact that obviously is not resolved yet globally much less in America, plunged into fratricidal wars between drug dealers and the U.S. government, which come to constitute further evidence of the persistence of the phenomena of money laundering and tax havens in a region shaken by the wave of violence, operating the drug cartels.
But the problem is not projected final solutions because of the news beyond the chronic red and anti-drug policies of the empire, there is an economic, financial and commercial information on the lush amount of capital generated by the business.
Now this exercise not only clean money from organized crime but also inserted into the international monetary system, attracting the elite of power concentrated in the U.S., looking to these practices evasion of taxes. With that escape, are impaired social assistance programs since neither pay taxes or social security traded. Obviously, these responsibilities are transferred to evade billions of dollars moving into the commercial world economic system, thanks to money laundering and the discretionary conditional tax havens and offshore centers.
The OECD called for the signing of twelve agreements to exchange tax information with as many countries. But as Juan Hernandez Vigueras complaint, the trick is that tax havens have signed twelve agreements with territories with little relevance or each other, that is engaging everyone in their complicity on the existence of tax evasion. Thus, it strengthens the idea that tax havens are the ideal instrument of transnational crime, need to wash your capital and avoid taxes.
The dilemma of the OECD lists is solved by a comparison exercise of some lists.For example if we review the list of tax havens by the OECD of America in 2000 were: Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Republic of Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica,Falkland Islands, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands. States., Republic of Panama. [7]
Version of December 15, 2011 [8] has been a great simplification, beginning with the Uruguayan case. Finally for the OECD Uruguay is no longer a tax haven compliance with a series of agreements that will allow, at least in form, leave the distressing list of tax havens drawn up by that organization. The signing of 7 new information exchange agreements, bringing the number of agreements of the South American country to 18, when required are only 12. This is six more than the required agreements were transparent enough to see your transactions and, therefore, eliminate the "gray list" of the OECD, where Uruguay was in the category of "other financial centers." [9]
Thanks to these bureaucratic requirements of the jurisdictions some classics like the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Bahamas, among others, were taken from the "gray list". Thus, for the first days of 2012 were only the list Niué and Nauru. The OECD also called group also created the "other financial centers" on December 15, 2011. [10]
However, the vast majority of countries that left the list may continue to maintain preferences for non-residents and the RELIABILITY needed that ensures the commissions, in other words, survival continues to be tax havens conducive to money laundering and tax evasion.
The global crisis in contrast to money laundering and tax havens
In the context of global crisis and budget cuts are deepened in various countries affect organisms and combating tax evasion. According to statistics cited by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the UN, washed annually over 600 billion dollars achieved by organized crime worldwide and this operation occurs under the consent of the legal banking system.
The concentration of banks is such that only 20 of the world's largest banks are responsible for 75 percent of financial transactions of the United States, France and England. In this reality that the U.S. should sumársele not have a true central bank, but the Bank is a private company formed by large U.S. banks. Therefore, the Federal Reserve is a private entity, the result of an association of banks at the state and national orientation, according to its charter-profit with interest, for which the reservation is in the interests of the banks that are . As if not enough, the mandates of the presidents of the Reserve are longer than the U.S. president, so that the incoming president of the United States does not elect the president of the Federal Reserve.
A famous scrubber as Kenneth Rijock, now known as a very lucrative speaker on these topics, said that the reasons are making attractive to the bench for the scrubbers, are the lack of an income tax or inheritance tax, or on business profit, thus eliminating exchange control laws under the alleged secret professional fellowship.
For these reasons, tax havens are becoming increasingly difficult to pursue and control, with incalculable consequences growing. "The secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Larry Summers, said that supranational companies, which are about 60 000, together with large organizations to audit and investment banks, vehiculizan tax avoidance is costing that country, only activities in the tax shelters, 10 billion dollars a year ". [11]
In this way the system itself is evading taxes. In fact as the Federal Reserve itself is not entirely a state entity, it is very logical that prefer to direct more of their funds to U.S. banks and tax havens to get lost interest in the Federal Reserve, so that are not required to deposit all their capital in reserve. The question would be who does not know this fact and do not take effective measures against it, and the reality is that everybody knows and nobody does anything.
The Federal Reserve is theoretically public, because it's like the Central Bank of the United States, constituting therefore maximize the monetary authority. This, in empowered to govern monetary policy and the functioning of the U.S. banking system (interest rates, reserve requirements, money printing, etc.). However, by the legal reserve may be retained a proportion of banking system deposits, from private and has no absolute power over their revaluation or not, because the dollar as international currency must comply with other conditions. If we ask the government of China, for example, than the U.S. creditor, will not be feasible to dollar devaluation.
In this context, tax evasion and tax havens search with increased preferences, deserves greater control due to the loss of millions that could mean for the economies 'national'. To give a measure of how much can be lost with tax evasion, it is worth referring to the period of the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay. "Estimates made after the fall of the Stroessner regime realize that the corruption of the dictatorship cost the country at least about 6,000 million U.S. dollars. Given the size of this huge figure, it is easy to conclude the development opportunities which were denied to Paraguay miserably in terms of orientation of public investment into education, health, housing and infrastructure of all kinds. "[12 ]
However, although the working class is very damaging tax evasion, for the upper class is a very lucrative business but, paradoxically, it is they who pay less tax because it is considered the class that has large capital and, therefore, likely to invest. This has been so contentious that one of the biggest millionaires in the United States has come to complain to Congress, which charged more taxes.Tax havens are among other benefits, the ability to launder money of illicit origin, it would only be possible under the pleasant secret bank almost always granted.
Dirty money can be derived from illicit economic activities so as one who is not declared in finance, both for the evasion of justice in criminal terms as the avoidance of high taxes. The problem arises when the individual accumulates a sum of money which can not be justified and therefore free to use for trade.
Among the forms of money laundering is the work ant, where a number of individuals are divided various sums of money by reducing them to a sum, which is not registered as suspect and, therefore, money can be used without the need to justify to Law, because such transactions are not recorded.
This high vulnerability caused the UN in 1998 performed the first agreement to combat money laundering, stipulating the international legal principles for the "fight" against this crime, understood as a phenomenon inherent in the world."Globalisation requires liberal" tax havens "as the traditional family brothels required as compensation Balancing marriage indissoluble. Reading what they are and how they function much talk more about contemporary capitalism safe hundreds of textbook economics and finance. "[13]
Tax havens are micro-territories or states with weak or nonexistent tax law, practitioners of receipt of capital stock. "That washing, according to the IMF, representing between 2 and 5% of global GDP. Half of international capital flows transiting or residing in the 'tax havens', in an amount of between six hundred million and 1500 million dirty dollars circulating in those circuits. To get an idea of what that amount is enough to say that public debt in all international markets reaches five billion dollars. "[14] Tax evasion uses the centers called" offshore "or offshore banks that appeal to those seeking to avoid paying taxes on their fortunes. The set of activities havens has become essential part of the global economic system.
Although it has been fashionable to speak of neoliberalism and its many fallacies, the deregulation of economic, financial and trade is increasing. And since this phenomenon comes from a charm politicians, businessmen and criminals, the requirements are proposed to preserve international organizations as formal as they often remain on the lists, so little paradises relevance hard to believe that money laundering activities and avoidance are summarized havens such as Nauru. It happens that these centers are the niche that are competing, from the simplest of a regional political Colombia, to the continent's political elite, with the rigged way to protect from public sumptuous dividend millionaire politicians likeChilean President Sebastián Piñera and the Republican candidate, more power to Obama, the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney [15].
In a crisis, under a global monetary system, overburdened with the movement of capital, where currencies classified as "strong" (euro, dollar) but no more concerning the comparison between themselves or, in any case, the representation virtual bits, the widespread practice of money laundering and tax evasion, under the continued existence of tax havens, shows an overview of financial insecurity, economic and commercial, which invoked a legal uncertainty, given that international mechanisms created for control of ineffectiveness sin, when simplifying the OECD lists at a systemic crisis and turmoil of drug trafficking in Latin America.
The international economy between the drug trade and money laundering
One of the big unknowns is the amount of money generated annually by the illicit drug (TID). The business of the TID, is the second movement of capital in the world after oil, providing windfall profits. According to UNODC marketing generates about 320 000 million [16] per year, with a market that goes for the 200 million consumers globally. This economy generates "(...) 300,000 jobs for farmers in the Andes, participating as suppliers of raw materials: coke (200.000 hectares), poppy (1.500 ha) and marijuana (not less than 1.000 ha), which provide for regional markets international. "[17]
As UNODC data and other institutions are too formal to reflect all reality, it is very convenient compared to the statistics cited by Daniel Estulin in one of his books on the Bilderberg Club to know, for consideration of "(...) an expert in money laundering to hold an executive position in the U.S. government agency responsible for monitoring international capital transactions once told me (to Estulin) that 'in round must be a sum of about 590 billion euros annual tax-free '"[18]
The figures vary between 320 billion and 700 billion, depending on the agencies and institutions that are accessible, the truth is that all handled multimillion amounts which obviously does not enter into the international monetary system without the support of politicians and entrepreneurs greater global influence. In response to this reality we can realize that money from the TID plays a crucial role in the international monetary and banking system, since, as stated by the former LAPD officer Michael C. Ruppert, away from the papers that are made "(...) 'minimum monthly payments of large stocks and derivatives bubbles and investment in the U.S. and Britain' (...). In 2000, Le Monde Diplomatique estimated the total annual drug trade generated about 420 billion euros. "[19]
But even more alarming is the consideration of Austin Fitts Caterine From The Wilderness editor who said "(...) that these 590,000 million economic transactions generate six times that value to launder money, so the actual business impact of drugs in international finance transactions become worth 3 billion euros and a half. "[20]
These figures millions generated by the TID, interact with the world trading system, injecting bits of paper or, as the teacher points Casals, supporting financial speculation and the logic of capital with the concentration of both wealth and its ownership. In this sense, the current mob follows the logic of the past, one that includes the Synergy system fits and participates in it, not as its counterpart but as its illegal support. Therefore it is worth remembering the famous gangster Al Capone sentence to be accused of tax evasion: "This is absurd. You can not collect taxes on illegal income "[21]
Imagine then how these funds will result in the stock exchanges. Understanding that the stock traded shares, profit-sharing in the profitability of a company determined by the profits the company distributes. The so-called carry trade or expected return differential is fed liquidity from the balance of business, the reserves of central banks and private equity groups suspected. In this sense, the money that central banks are also in motion, understanding the concept of capital as money makes money.
Combining this fact with the participation of the money from the TID, is best understood as the "(...) value of the shares of companies listed on Wall Street is based on annual net profit. The system known as bonds benefit, causes them to reflect on the value of the listed company for up to 30 times. For companies such as Chase Manhattan Bank (...) have about 10 million in additional net benefits derived from drug trafficking will mean a net increase in the value of their stock up to 300 million euros. "[22]
Another of the complexities of money laundering and tax havens in the current market economic system is the virtual presence of a gain from a virtual gain, which occurs in the sphere of circulation and not, as reflected the classics, that real added value from production resulting wealth. Derivatives appear in the absence of real added value. This so-called virtual surplus-as the professor Jorge Casals Llano, is produced mainly in the sphere of circulation and it is precisely in this area come into play and dividends earned by the illegal drugs and related crimes, by their need to be washed to get into circulation.
Definitely U.S. banks and more banks, the business elite, "bet" with everyone's money, benefiting in this whole process of money laundering from organized crime, particularly related to the TID.In this complex framework into action, and other harmful elements that are usually directed to tax havens, called Capital Swallow, and characterized by instability of the permanence of capital in one place. This is short-lived capital deposits, which are conditional ie short-term and highly variable yields, giving greater opportunities for mobility. This concurs capital to countries or regions where they can earn higher profits, so circumstantial, and then go to other conditions that work for you. This will ensure no compromise with the fate of countries have made deposits or with the consequences for them, the characteristics of their activities.
In this sense, speculative capital could be understood as one of the many negative expressions of neoliberal globalization of the economy. This we noticed another dogmatically correct fallacies of view, issues such as foreign investment, which without conditions or financial and legal regulations to protect the countries where they do, could benefit private interests over national interests, whichexacerbate the relations of dependence and domination historically rooted in the relationship of the U.S. with Latin America and the Caribbean.
Moreover, the hot money deposited in a temporary and conditional, can produce a dangerous revaluation in local currency; harming the living conditions of the places where they make deposits, coupled with foreign investments that far to go to real economy, productive sector, go to the big gains during the period in which tax havens will offer greater opportunities for tax evasion and other niche profits, then move to other places where comparative advantages are pursuing higher, leaving injured to economies of the countries where they had made deposits.
The speculative capital, in turn, can cause an apparent strengthening of local currencies, due to the abundance of capital that can show circumstantially. Thus, employment regulations more stringent financial and legal, it is a necessity to give greater stability to these economies and expose them uncritically these activities and capital investments, which are far provide sustainable development for Latin American and Caribbean countries where develop these activities.
The rampant issuance of paper "supports" in assets and banks with trust, in other words, trust that they will pay. The purchase of assets by the Central Bank often results in an increase in domestic demand and asset sales in decline. In the United States, where a private entity makes Federal Reserve financing the Federal debt held by other countries (and actors) amounts to 14 billion dollars.Therefore, an increase in money supply reports a ripple effect on the economy.
In this analysis should not lose sight of the dollar as international currency, produces a lack of control to the extent that States assume that they lose a determination regarding the currency, so that the price of that currency is "determined" as well of the relationship between supply and demand, the expected return. The existence of a deregulation of the international financial system accentuates all these problems.
The price of the dollar (exchange rate) or the price of money (interest rate), influenced by multiple factors, but generally are market mechanisms, for both supply and demand, although there are tools that can manipulate the central bank(Federal Reserve) to influence them such as interest rate and monetary issue.
Money laundering contributes to inflation when there is excess liquidity (excess money in circulation). When there is excess money in circulation contributes to inflation, because it indicates that there is a greater demand for goods and services and has no counterpart in the supply of these, which can produce a sudden increase in prices, because the offer does not meet the demand.
The excess money in circulation, swollen also dividends from the lucrative business of money laundering, also contributes to inflation (excess liquidity). This should be coupled to, usually, when banks lower the interest rate inject money into circulation, resulting in an expansionary monetary policy. For this there are multiple mechanisms, which can range from straight up interest rates, print more money or reduce reserve requirements.
One of the fallacies about money laundering and the TID is to understand these activities as the divine solution to the sudden development of the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean. The myth collapses when we realize that most of the money from transnational organized crime operating in the region is often directed toward the United States, encouraged by the aspiration of the American way of life, inspired by a conception of the good life that is more focused on the Miami pacha pacha mama.
The United States as a country that concentrates the wealth of the traffickers, not only as a cultural paradigm, but also their banks and branches are recognized by organized crime as a good destination for their dividends. It is there that focuses an important part of the wealth extracted from Latin America, reproducing the logic of dependence and domination that precedes the romantic relationship between North and South America. "It is estimated that only U.S. income produced through these offenses totaled about U.S. $ 275,000 million, excluding tax evasion." [23]
Thus, the United States in particular, southern Florida, is particularly attractive for organized crime to spend their earnings in a service economy, which is ideally suited to the interests of washing and investment in these sectors .
Of these "profits" which comes to Latin American economies is a very depressed percent which, however, manages to attract large rural and urban sectors involved in some phases of the business for small commissions, faced with the difficult socioeconomic situation living in these countries.
The conception of the national state in its primitive is lost in terms of economic interest. The business profits of illicit drugs and related crimes flow from Latin America and the Caribbean to the U.S., running in favor of the interests of transnational capital. "If there were times in history in which the regulatory state, through its intervention could alleviate the 'unintended effects' of the 'free play' of supply and demand in markets, today there is no state in the world can 'regulate' the actions of transnational corporations, some with greater economic force entire continents. "[24]
The dependent Latin American countries after centuries of colonialism and structural deformation their economies ideologically distracted by the influence of American cultural hegemony, usually recognized as an alternative to the current crisis, the "attractive" triad of drug dealing, money laundering and tax havens. No clutch, if performed in-depth analysis on these events only serve to dilute the region between the narco-economy and the perpetual domination of the American empire, this time through a business which concur, extracting the greatest benefit for the support of global capitalist system, clearing large volumes of dirty money for the support of the fallacies of global capital system.
In general, money laundering increases and the increase in drug seizures in some Latin American countries only serves to demonstrate the permanence of the business.
"Drug trafficking" threatens the stability of the region, their relative functionality to act as cushion the poorest countries on the effects of the global economic crisis, representing a considerable percentage of GNP, as well as sources of employment generated. Similarly, it has been embraced by entrepreneurs to recapitalize its financial decline.
Moreover, Latin American economies demoralized before the rise of illegal trade practices, go to alienating process, recognizing not only from the north but also in the south, the presence of morbid phenomena, in the words of Gramsci-at a timeof the global crisis. Therefore, regardless of the theories of Francis Fukuyama in his dilemma of the end or, more recently, the future of history, which certainly are witnessing is not a time of change but a change of time, where homogeneity and have unipolarism given way to more complex systems that can not be understood without considering all actors that shaped him.
It is therefore, the analysis of money laundering, tax havens and the drug business, closely related processes that are gaining ground within the great economic system, commercial and financial world.
This process begins by demoralizing the economy but expands the political spectrum, social and cultural development of a globalized world, although not very fashionable, renovated under the guidance theory of neoliberalism, in a multidimensional crisis which the capitalist system just find out and go to their permanence, morbid phenomena such as transnational organized crime, involving the crime of TID, money laundering and tax havens in the "new world".
No wonder Galeano said in his paradigmatic work The Open Veins of Latin America: "The world economy is the most efficient expression of organized crime" [25] Obviously this idea is not only still valid but is accentuated in our reality. When the Latin American economies are more dependent on global economic system and crises caused by the United States and other Western powers, often be felt more in the countries of the Third World, it is worth approaching the scene of tax havens and follow-on the manner of Walter Martinez the money trail, which almost always helps to elucidate who are the masterminds of what happens today with transnational organized crime, money laundering and tax havens, which corrodes both the "new world "American.
Conclusions
Tax havens, money laundering and drug trafficking high on the continent denote existing in the current context of global economic crisis:
Failure of the financial regulatory system.
Expression of the multidimensional systemic crisis and the neoliberal capitalist system.
Another manifestation of the crisis of U.S. hegemony over Latin America.
Denotes the credibility crisis of the U.S. in a context where the Internet, new technology and online social networks, provide greater freedom of information.
Institutional vulnerability of international organizations, by allowing large amounts of money laundering of transnational organized crime and high rates of tax evasion.
The existence and internationalization of security problems such as drug trafficking, tax havens and the consequent money laundering, is injected by the United States and, while tremendous benefits the fight against these evils as a pretext for other wars to feed his insatiable Imperial Military Industrial Complex.
The survival of the problems associated with money laundering and tax havens could be recognized as cancer imperial capitalist system of transnational organized crime need to maintain financial bubbles and noisy capital turnover rates only supported, which are only possible support for international crime and its power to issue paper and bits, Eurodollar.
The tax fraud, which make it possible havens, affects social policies, the result of tax evasion which is supposed to come out of the funds for such measures.
Money laundering and tax havens, directly affects a sector as sensitive and important as the middle class society.
The system lists the OECD serves more as a public display as a barrier against tax evasion and money laundering.
Beyond the News of chronic red and anti-drug policies of the empire, there is an economic, financial and commercial information on the lush amount of capital generated by the business.
In the context of global crisis, when budget cuts are deepened in several countries, affect organisms and combating tax evasion.
U.S. banks benefit in this process of money laundering from organized crime, particularly related to the TID.
Most likely scenarios
In countries with higher TID activities and other related crimes, corruption violates the banking sector, in search of money laundering, with the participation of officials of public or private entities. This will intensify the relationship between corruption and the TID, which is not exclusive to poor countries.
The war of the cartels in the fight against the government, beyond the capacity of some institutions of developing countries to address this phenomenon, which justify the penetration of the forces of the Western powers and their service contractors.
Corruption is encouraged by the gains of TID, which will enable the political influence of the cartels, while corrupt officials to achieve political or locate some of his figures in government bodies.
Corruption is encouraged by the gains of TID, which will enable the political influence of the cartels, while corrupt officials to achieve political or locate some of his figures in government bodies.[1] Al Capone or Scarface for his scar on his cheek (1899-1947) was an Italian-American gangster, who made his fortune at the time of the ban on the sale of alcohol. He was accused of tax evasion in 1931 and sentenced to 11 years in prison but was released in 1939.[2] Jesus Arboleya Cervera: The right-wing Cuban-American Miami. Havana Social Sciences Publishing House, 2000, p. 24.[3] Jesus Arboleya Cervera: Ob, cit, p. 23.[4] OECD gray list consists of countries considered financial centers that have committed to adopt internationally agreed standards on tax matters, the countries considered financial centers say take the parameters established international tax arrangements but in practice they have not done.
[6] Xavier Cano Tamayo. Unpunished and famous tax evaders. In: http://www.ellibrepensador.com/2012/01/07/impunes-y-famosos-defraudadores-fiscales[7] tax havens. In: http://www.muchapasta.com/b/paraisos% 20fiscales/Listado% 20of% 20paraisos% 20fiscales.php[8] List of tax havens. The official classification of the OECD. In: http://www.paraisos-fiscales.info/lista-paraisos-fiscales.html[9] Uruguay is not a tax haven (as the OECD). In: http://paraisos-fiscales.info/blog[10] list of tax havens, the OECD official classification. In: http://www.paraisos-fiscales.info/lista-paraisos-fiscales.html[11] Guido Braslavsky. Check to tax havens. Tax havens hide one third of all funds of the global banking system.[12] Tax havens are safe havens for criminals. In: http://www.abc.com.py/nota/los-paraisos-fiscales-son-refugios-de-delincuentes-1918[13] Emir Sader. "Tax havens" Brothels of globalization. In: http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=1329[14] Id[15] Mitt Romney has resisted exposing the details of your tax return, explaining that the authorities are left with about 15% of their annual profits, which is rather discreet considering Romney's fortune is between 150 and 200 million euros.See: Mitt Romney finally said ... pay little tax. Taken from: http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2012/01/17/mitt-romney-por-fin-lo-dijo-paga-pocos-impuestos[16] See: Word Drug Report 2011. In: http://www.unodc.org/documents/southerncone//Topics_drugs/WDR/2011/Executive_Summary_-_Espanol.pdf.[17] Ricardo Soberon. The trends of drug trafficking in Latin America. In: www.tni.org[18] Daniel Estulin. Secrets of the Bilderberg Club. www.apitox.es / docs / Los_Secretos_Del_Club_Bilderberg.pdf, p. 77.[19] Id[20] Id[21] Summary - Money Laundering. In: http://www.irs.gov/espanol/article/0,, id = 238185.00. Html[22] Daniel Estulin. Secrets of the Bilderberg Club. In: www.apitox.es / docs / Los_Secretos_Del_Club_Bilderberg.pdf, p. 77.[23] Drugs, jewels and cash: The IMF's work against money laundering and terrorist financing. In: http://blog-dialogoafondo.org/?p=1029[24] Jorge Casals Llano. Criticism of the "savage capitalism". In: Weekly Hands, June 1999.[25] Eduardo Galeano. Open Veins of Latin America. Montevideo, the pig, 1987, p. 438.http://alainet.org/active/54168
This is a brief analysis of tax havens in America and its relation to money laundering, basically from the TID and related offenses (trafficking in persons, bodies and weapons), and from there to address the situation of dependence and domination that maintains U.S. our America, in the context of global economic crisis.
Keywords: drugs, economic crisis, money laundering, tax havens, Latin America, USA
The history of tax havens and money laundering in Latin America, like a love story where the plot, alliances between transnational economic power elites appears to find rationality. In an environment full of financial bubbles, where the illicit drug trafficking and related crimes, strengthen partnerships between business and areas of "high" politics, to launder profits and high tax evasion.
Parce unless the uncivilized world are imposed for the countries of our America.The TID while in legal matters is severely punished by U.S. authorities, from the economic, financial and commercial, are very well used dividends from this scourge. Let's say when you follow the money trail, you will feel the meeting point between the interests of drug traffickers, transnational entrepreneurship and senior American politicians and Americans in money laundering and tax evasion, for which they use ably tax havens in the region and also the territory of the U.S.
Tax havens are not necessarily illegal, although in many cases are related to money laundering, capital flight and tax evasion, certainly can take advantage without committing any crime, although morally leave much to be desired . There is also an ethical problem but it is still legal when citizens or companies move their capital to other countries in order to avoid high taxes in their country of origin.
The black money can be derived from illicit economic activities so as one who is not declared in finance, both for the evasion of justice in criminal terms as the avoidance of high taxes. In this work we wish to emphasize that laundered money for drug trafficking and related crimes. The problematic part in this case, when the individual accumulates a sum of money which can not be justified and therefore free to use for trade.Since the days of Al Capone [1] used such terminology organized crime, whose term of money laundering or washing, originated when the gangster took a chain of laundries to legitimize the source of their money with a second business, whichobviously was not the fruit of his great wealth but a channel through which to legitimize some of their funds.
Currently it is very common tourist sector investment, especially in construction.Thus the countries or regions with service economies tend to be very attractive to money laundering by organized crime. However, the OECD lists are never recognized this type of activity in first world countries. Such is the case of the United States where there are several states where it is classic money laundering. In this activity, is very striking for the State of Florida, where Miami has played a crucial role in this activity for decades. "A study by the Department of Police Robbery of Miami, in the mid 80's, said that of 100 dollar bills analyzed, 99 had traces of cocaine." [2]
It is very common to see big drug lords in Colombia and Mexico Miami wash their money by investing in houses, hotels and other buildings, with the complicity of businesses and banks that are responsible for laundering the money. "Some argue that banks would go to ruin Miami stop money laundering if the drug market and are depreciated to new levels of real estate prices if the drug suspended purchases of property" [3]
Tax Losparaísos often typified by low taxation and banking secrecy required. Due to these circumstances usually develop OECD list of tax havens, offshore lists, greylisting [4], or so-called Spanish lists [5], which are used to "discredit" in some jurisdictions. Interestingly in these lists are not banks located in some U.S. states conducting similar practices.
However, the system lists the OECD, to my attention, creates more confusion than solutions because its system reliability is based on the signed agreement to exchange certain information and reached international standard, is removed from the list of havens tax, when in practice it may continue to be so.
The tax fraud, which make it possible havens, affects social policies, the result of tax evasion which is supposed to come out of the funds for such measures. From this point, you can understand how that encourage tax evasion money laundering and tax havens, directly affects a sector as sensitive and important as the middle class society, both political influence and its status paradigm of political-cultural life and economic development within societies, although this is not entirely homogeneous. In that sense, "(...) the fight against fiscal austerity, against illegitimate debts, tax evasion and tax fraud, tax havens, is the struggle for the rule of social rights (welfare misnamed). The same struggle. "[6]If we are guided by the bureaucratic tricks about control parameters might be thought that recent reductions in the tax haven lists making the OECD and other institutions is a topic that has enjoyed success, but unfortunately the tax havens , tax evasion and money laundering are issues that continues in force.
Actually, the system lists the OECD serves more as public display as a barrier against tax evasion and money laundering, overshadowing reality through a public condemnation of a fact that obviously is not resolved yet globally much less in America, plunged into fratricidal wars between drug dealers and the U.S. government, which come to constitute further evidence of the persistence of the phenomena of money laundering and tax havens in a region shaken by the wave of violence, operating the drug cartels.
But the problem is not projected final solutions because of the news beyond the chronic red and anti-drug policies of the empire, there is an economic, financial and commercial information on the lush amount of capital generated by the business.
Now this exercise not only clean money from organized crime but also inserted into the international monetary system, attracting the elite of power concentrated in the U.S., looking to these practices evasion of taxes. With that escape, are impaired social assistance programs since neither pay taxes or social security traded. Obviously, these responsibilities are transferred to evade billions of dollars moving into the commercial world economic system, thanks to money laundering and the discretionary conditional tax havens and offshore centers.
The OECD called for the signing of twelve agreements to exchange tax information with as many countries. But as Juan Hernandez Vigueras complaint, the trick is that tax havens have signed twelve agreements with territories with little relevance or each other, that is engaging everyone in their complicity on the existence of tax evasion. Thus, it strengthens the idea that tax havens are the ideal instrument of transnational crime, need to wash your capital and avoid taxes.
The dilemma of the OECD lists is solved by a comparison exercise of some lists.For example if we review the list of tax havens by the OECD of America in 2000 were: Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Republic of Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica,Falkland Islands, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands. States., Republic of Panama. [7]
Version of December 15, 2011 [8] has been a great simplification, beginning with the Uruguayan case. Finally for the OECD Uruguay is no longer a tax haven compliance with a series of agreements that will allow, at least in form, leave the distressing list of tax havens drawn up by that organization. The signing of 7 new information exchange agreements, bringing the number of agreements of the South American country to 18, when required are only 12. This is six more than the required agreements were transparent enough to see your transactions and, therefore, eliminate the "gray list" of the OECD, where Uruguay was in the category of "other financial centers." [9]
Thanks to these bureaucratic requirements of the jurisdictions some classics like the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Bahamas, among others, were taken from the "gray list". Thus, for the first days of 2012 were only the list Niué and Nauru. The OECD also called group also created the "other financial centers" on December 15, 2011. [10]
However, the vast majority of countries that left the list may continue to maintain preferences for non-residents and the RELIABILITY needed that ensures the commissions, in other words, survival continues to be tax havens conducive to money laundering and tax evasion.
The global crisis in contrast to money laundering and tax havens
In the context of global crisis and budget cuts are deepened in various countries affect organisms and combating tax evasion. According to statistics cited by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the UN, washed annually over 600 billion dollars achieved by organized crime worldwide and this operation occurs under the consent of the legal banking system.
The concentration of banks is such that only 20 of the world's largest banks are responsible for 75 percent of financial transactions of the United States, France and England. In this reality that the U.S. should sumársele not have a true central bank, but the Bank is a private company formed by large U.S. banks. Therefore, the Federal Reserve is a private entity, the result of an association of banks at the state and national orientation, according to its charter-profit with interest, for which the reservation is in the interests of the banks that are . As if not enough, the mandates of the presidents of the Reserve are longer than the U.S. president, so that the incoming president of the United States does not elect the president of the Federal Reserve.
A famous scrubber as Kenneth Rijock, now known as a very lucrative speaker on these topics, said that the reasons are making attractive to the bench for the scrubbers, are the lack of an income tax or inheritance tax, or on business profit, thus eliminating exchange control laws under the alleged secret professional fellowship.
For these reasons, tax havens are becoming increasingly difficult to pursue and control, with incalculable consequences growing. "The secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Larry Summers, said that supranational companies, which are about 60 000, together with large organizations to audit and investment banks, vehiculizan tax avoidance is costing that country, only activities in the tax shelters, 10 billion dollars a year ". [11]
In this way the system itself is evading taxes. In fact as the Federal Reserve itself is not entirely a state entity, it is very logical that prefer to direct more of their funds to U.S. banks and tax havens to get lost interest in the Federal Reserve, so that are not required to deposit all their capital in reserve. The question would be who does not know this fact and do not take effective measures against it, and the reality is that everybody knows and nobody does anything.
The Federal Reserve is theoretically public, because it's like the Central Bank of the United States, constituting therefore maximize the monetary authority. This, in empowered to govern monetary policy and the functioning of the U.S. banking system (interest rates, reserve requirements, money printing, etc.). However, by the legal reserve may be retained a proportion of banking system deposits, from private and has no absolute power over their revaluation or not, because the dollar as international currency must comply with other conditions. If we ask the government of China, for example, than the U.S. creditor, will not be feasible to dollar devaluation.
In this context, tax evasion and tax havens search with increased preferences, deserves greater control due to the loss of millions that could mean for the economies 'national'. To give a measure of how much can be lost with tax evasion, it is worth referring to the period of the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay. "Estimates made after the fall of the Stroessner regime realize that the corruption of the dictatorship cost the country at least about 6,000 million U.S. dollars. Given the size of this huge figure, it is easy to conclude the development opportunities which were denied to Paraguay miserably in terms of orientation of public investment into education, health, housing and infrastructure of all kinds. "[12 ]
However, although the working class is very damaging tax evasion, for the upper class is a very lucrative business but, paradoxically, it is they who pay less tax because it is considered the class that has large capital and, therefore, likely to invest. This has been so contentious that one of the biggest millionaires in the United States has come to complain to Congress, which charged more taxes.Tax havens are among other benefits, the ability to launder money of illicit origin, it would only be possible under the pleasant secret bank almost always granted.
Dirty money can be derived from illicit economic activities so as one who is not declared in finance, both for the evasion of justice in criminal terms as the avoidance of high taxes. The problem arises when the individual accumulates a sum of money which can not be justified and therefore free to use for trade.
Among the forms of money laundering is the work ant, where a number of individuals are divided various sums of money by reducing them to a sum, which is not registered as suspect and, therefore, money can be used without the need to justify to Law, because such transactions are not recorded.
This high vulnerability caused the UN in 1998 performed the first agreement to combat money laundering, stipulating the international legal principles for the "fight" against this crime, understood as a phenomenon inherent in the world."Globalisation requires liberal" tax havens "as the traditional family brothels required as compensation Balancing marriage indissoluble. Reading what they are and how they function much talk more about contemporary capitalism safe hundreds of textbook economics and finance. "[13]
Tax havens are micro-territories or states with weak or nonexistent tax law, practitioners of receipt of capital stock. "That washing, according to the IMF, representing between 2 and 5% of global GDP. Half of international capital flows transiting or residing in the 'tax havens', in an amount of between six hundred million and 1500 million dirty dollars circulating in those circuits. To get an idea of what that amount is enough to say that public debt in all international markets reaches five billion dollars. "[14] Tax evasion uses the centers called" offshore "or offshore banks that appeal to those seeking to avoid paying taxes on their fortunes. The set of activities havens has become essential part of the global economic system.
Although it has been fashionable to speak of neoliberalism and its many fallacies, the deregulation of economic, financial and trade is increasing. And since this phenomenon comes from a charm politicians, businessmen and criminals, the requirements are proposed to preserve international organizations as formal as they often remain on the lists, so little paradises relevance hard to believe that money laundering activities and avoidance are summarized havens such as Nauru. It happens that these centers are the niche that are competing, from the simplest of a regional political Colombia, to the continent's political elite, with the rigged way to protect from public sumptuous dividend millionaire politicians likeChilean President Sebastián Piñera and the Republican candidate, more power to Obama, the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney [15].
In a crisis, under a global monetary system, overburdened with the movement of capital, where currencies classified as "strong" (euro, dollar) but no more concerning the comparison between themselves or, in any case, the representation virtual bits, the widespread practice of money laundering and tax evasion, under the continued existence of tax havens, shows an overview of financial insecurity, economic and commercial, which invoked a legal uncertainty, given that international mechanisms created for control of ineffectiveness sin, when simplifying the OECD lists at a systemic crisis and turmoil of drug trafficking in Latin America.
The international economy between the drug trade and money laundering
One of the big unknowns is the amount of money generated annually by the illicit drug (TID). The business of the TID, is the second movement of capital in the world after oil, providing windfall profits. According to UNODC marketing generates about 320 000 million [16] per year, with a market that goes for the 200 million consumers globally. This economy generates "(...) 300,000 jobs for farmers in the Andes, participating as suppliers of raw materials: coke (200.000 hectares), poppy (1.500 ha) and marijuana (not less than 1.000 ha), which provide for regional markets international. "[17]
As UNODC data and other institutions are too formal to reflect all reality, it is very convenient compared to the statistics cited by Daniel Estulin in one of his books on the Bilderberg Club to know, for consideration of "(...) an expert in money laundering to hold an executive position in the U.S. government agency responsible for monitoring international capital transactions once told me (to Estulin) that 'in round must be a sum of about 590 billion euros annual tax-free '"[18]
The figures vary between 320 billion and 700 billion, depending on the agencies and institutions that are accessible, the truth is that all handled multimillion amounts which obviously does not enter into the international monetary system without the support of politicians and entrepreneurs greater global influence. In response to this reality we can realize that money from the TID plays a crucial role in the international monetary and banking system, since, as stated by the former LAPD officer Michael C. Ruppert, away from the papers that are made "(...) 'minimum monthly payments of large stocks and derivatives bubbles and investment in the U.S. and Britain' (...). In 2000, Le Monde Diplomatique estimated the total annual drug trade generated about 420 billion euros. "[19]
But even more alarming is the consideration of Austin Fitts Caterine From The Wilderness editor who said "(...) that these 590,000 million economic transactions generate six times that value to launder money, so the actual business impact of drugs in international finance transactions become worth 3 billion euros and a half. "[20]
These figures millions generated by the TID, interact with the world trading system, injecting bits of paper or, as the teacher points Casals, supporting financial speculation and the logic of capital with the concentration of both wealth and its ownership. In this sense, the current mob follows the logic of the past, one that includes the Synergy system fits and participates in it, not as its counterpart but as its illegal support. Therefore it is worth remembering the famous gangster Al Capone sentence to be accused of tax evasion: "This is absurd. You can not collect taxes on illegal income "[21]
Imagine then how these funds will result in the stock exchanges. Understanding that the stock traded shares, profit-sharing in the profitability of a company determined by the profits the company distributes. The so-called carry trade or expected return differential is fed liquidity from the balance of business, the reserves of central banks and private equity groups suspected. In this sense, the money that central banks are also in motion, understanding the concept of capital as money makes money.
Combining this fact with the participation of the money from the TID, is best understood as the "(...) value of the shares of companies listed on Wall Street is based on annual net profit. The system known as bonds benefit, causes them to reflect on the value of the listed company for up to 30 times. For companies such as Chase Manhattan Bank (...) have about 10 million in additional net benefits derived from drug trafficking will mean a net increase in the value of their stock up to 300 million euros. "[22]
Another of the complexities of money laundering and tax havens in the current market economic system is the virtual presence of a gain from a virtual gain, which occurs in the sphere of circulation and not, as reflected the classics, that real added value from production resulting wealth. Derivatives appear in the absence of real added value. This so-called virtual surplus-as the professor Jorge Casals Llano, is produced mainly in the sphere of circulation and it is precisely in this area come into play and dividends earned by the illegal drugs and related crimes, by their need to be washed to get into circulation.
Definitely U.S. banks and more banks, the business elite, "bet" with everyone's money, benefiting in this whole process of money laundering from organized crime, particularly related to the TID.In this complex framework into action, and other harmful elements that are usually directed to tax havens, called Capital Swallow, and characterized by instability of the permanence of capital in one place. This is short-lived capital deposits, which are conditional ie short-term and highly variable yields, giving greater opportunities for mobility. This concurs capital to countries or regions where they can earn higher profits, so circumstantial, and then go to other conditions that work for you. This will ensure no compromise with the fate of countries have made deposits or with the consequences for them, the characteristics of their activities.
In this sense, speculative capital could be understood as one of the many negative expressions of neoliberal globalization of the economy. This we noticed another dogmatically correct fallacies of view, issues such as foreign investment, which without conditions or financial and legal regulations to protect the countries where they do, could benefit private interests over national interests, whichexacerbate the relations of dependence and domination historically rooted in the relationship of the U.S. with Latin America and the Caribbean.
Moreover, the hot money deposited in a temporary and conditional, can produce a dangerous revaluation in local currency; harming the living conditions of the places where they make deposits, coupled with foreign investments that far to go to real economy, productive sector, go to the big gains during the period in which tax havens will offer greater opportunities for tax evasion and other niche profits, then move to other places where comparative advantages are pursuing higher, leaving injured to economies of the countries where they had made deposits.
The speculative capital, in turn, can cause an apparent strengthening of local currencies, due to the abundance of capital that can show circumstantially. Thus, employment regulations more stringent financial and legal, it is a necessity to give greater stability to these economies and expose them uncritically these activities and capital investments, which are far provide sustainable development for Latin American and Caribbean countries where develop these activities.
The rampant issuance of paper "supports" in assets and banks with trust, in other words, trust that they will pay. The purchase of assets by the Central Bank often results in an increase in domestic demand and asset sales in decline. In the United States, where a private entity makes Federal Reserve financing the Federal debt held by other countries (and actors) amounts to 14 billion dollars.Therefore, an increase in money supply reports a ripple effect on the economy.
In this analysis should not lose sight of the dollar as international currency, produces a lack of control to the extent that States assume that they lose a determination regarding the currency, so that the price of that currency is "determined" as well of the relationship between supply and demand, the expected return. The existence of a deregulation of the international financial system accentuates all these problems.
The price of the dollar (exchange rate) or the price of money (interest rate), influenced by multiple factors, but generally are market mechanisms, for both supply and demand, although there are tools that can manipulate the central bank(Federal Reserve) to influence them such as interest rate and monetary issue.
Money laundering contributes to inflation when there is excess liquidity (excess money in circulation). When there is excess money in circulation contributes to inflation, because it indicates that there is a greater demand for goods and services and has no counterpart in the supply of these, which can produce a sudden increase in prices, because the offer does not meet the demand.
The excess money in circulation, swollen also dividends from the lucrative business of money laundering, also contributes to inflation (excess liquidity). This should be coupled to, usually, when banks lower the interest rate inject money into circulation, resulting in an expansionary monetary policy. For this there are multiple mechanisms, which can range from straight up interest rates, print more money or reduce reserve requirements.
One of the fallacies about money laundering and the TID is to understand these activities as the divine solution to the sudden development of the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean. The myth collapses when we realize that most of the money from transnational organized crime operating in the region is often directed toward the United States, encouraged by the aspiration of the American way of life, inspired by a conception of the good life that is more focused on the Miami pacha pacha mama.
The United States as a country that concentrates the wealth of the traffickers, not only as a cultural paradigm, but also their banks and branches are recognized by organized crime as a good destination for their dividends. It is there that focuses an important part of the wealth extracted from Latin America, reproducing the logic of dependence and domination that precedes the romantic relationship between North and South America. "It is estimated that only U.S. income produced through these offenses totaled about U.S. $ 275,000 million, excluding tax evasion." [23]
Thus, the United States in particular, southern Florida, is particularly attractive for organized crime to spend their earnings in a service economy, which is ideally suited to the interests of washing and investment in these sectors .
Of these "profits" which comes to Latin American economies is a very depressed percent which, however, manages to attract large rural and urban sectors involved in some phases of the business for small commissions, faced with the difficult socioeconomic situation living in these countries.
The conception of the national state in its primitive is lost in terms of economic interest. The business profits of illicit drugs and related crimes flow from Latin America and the Caribbean to the U.S., running in favor of the interests of transnational capital. "If there were times in history in which the regulatory state, through its intervention could alleviate the 'unintended effects' of the 'free play' of supply and demand in markets, today there is no state in the world can 'regulate' the actions of transnational corporations, some with greater economic force entire continents. "[24]
The dependent Latin American countries after centuries of colonialism and structural deformation their economies ideologically distracted by the influence of American cultural hegemony, usually recognized as an alternative to the current crisis, the "attractive" triad of drug dealing, money laundering and tax havens. No clutch, if performed in-depth analysis on these events only serve to dilute the region between the narco-economy and the perpetual domination of the American empire, this time through a business which concur, extracting the greatest benefit for the support of global capitalist system, clearing large volumes of dirty money for the support of the fallacies of global capital system.
In general, money laundering increases and the increase in drug seizures in some Latin American countries only serves to demonstrate the permanence of the business.
"Drug trafficking" threatens the stability of the region, their relative functionality to act as cushion the poorest countries on the effects of the global economic crisis, representing a considerable percentage of GNP, as well as sources of employment generated. Similarly, it has been embraced by entrepreneurs to recapitalize its financial decline.
Moreover, Latin American economies demoralized before the rise of illegal trade practices, go to alienating process, recognizing not only from the north but also in the south, the presence of morbid phenomena, in the words of Gramsci-at a timeof the global crisis. Therefore, regardless of the theories of Francis Fukuyama in his dilemma of the end or, more recently, the future of history, which certainly are witnessing is not a time of change but a change of time, where homogeneity and have unipolarism given way to more complex systems that can not be understood without considering all actors that shaped him.
It is therefore, the analysis of money laundering, tax havens and the drug business, closely related processes that are gaining ground within the great economic system, commercial and financial world.
This process begins by demoralizing the economy but expands the political spectrum, social and cultural development of a globalized world, although not very fashionable, renovated under the guidance theory of neoliberalism, in a multidimensional crisis which the capitalist system just find out and go to their permanence, morbid phenomena such as transnational organized crime, involving the crime of TID, money laundering and tax havens in the "new world".
No wonder Galeano said in his paradigmatic work The Open Veins of Latin America: "The world economy is the most efficient expression of organized crime" [25] Obviously this idea is not only still valid but is accentuated in our reality. When the Latin American economies are more dependent on global economic system and crises caused by the United States and other Western powers, often be felt more in the countries of the Third World, it is worth approaching the scene of tax havens and follow-on the manner of Walter Martinez the money trail, which almost always helps to elucidate who are the masterminds of what happens today with transnational organized crime, money laundering and tax havens, which corrodes both the "new world "American.
Conclusions
Tax havens, money laundering and drug trafficking high on the continent denote existing in the current context of global economic crisis:
Failure of the financial regulatory system.
Expression of the multidimensional systemic crisis and the neoliberal capitalist system.
Another manifestation of the crisis of U.S. hegemony over Latin America.
Denotes the credibility crisis of the U.S. in a context where the Internet, new technology and online social networks, provide greater freedom of information.
Institutional vulnerability of international organizations, by allowing large amounts of money laundering of transnational organized crime and high rates of tax evasion.
The existence and internationalization of security problems such as drug trafficking, tax havens and the consequent money laundering, is injected by the United States and, while tremendous benefits the fight against these evils as a pretext for other wars to feed his insatiable Imperial Military Industrial Complex.
The survival of the problems associated with money laundering and tax havens could be recognized as cancer imperial capitalist system of transnational organized crime need to maintain financial bubbles and noisy capital turnover rates only supported, which are only possible support for international crime and its power to issue paper and bits, Eurodollar.
The tax fraud, which make it possible havens, affects social policies, the result of tax evasion which is supposed to come out of the funds for such measures.
Money laundering and tax havens, directly affects a sector as sensitive and important as the middle class society.
The system lists the OECD serves more as a public display as a barrier against tax evasion and money laundering.
Beyond the News of chronic red and anti-drug policies of the empire, there is an economic, financial and commercial information on the lush amount of capital generated by the business.
In the context of global crisis, when budget cuts are deepened in several countries, affect organisms and combating tax evasion.
U.S. banks benefit in this process of money laundering from organized crime, particularly related to the TID.
Most likely scenarios
In countries with higher TID activities and other related crimes, corruption violates the banking sector, in search of money laundering, with the participation of officials of public or private entities. This will intensify the relationship between corruption and the TID, which is not exclusive to poor countries.
The war of the cartels in the fight against the government, beyond the capacity of some institutions of developing countries to address this phenomenon, which justify the penetration of the forces of the Western powers and their service contractors.
Corruption is encouraged by the gains of TID, which will enable the political influence of the cartels, while corrupt officials to achieve political or locate some of his figures in government bodies.
Corruption is encouraged by the gains of TID, which will enable the political influence of the cartels, while corrupt officials to achieve political or locate some of his figures in government bodies.[1] Al Capone or Scarface for his scar on his cheek (1899-1947) was an Italian-American gangster, who made his fortune at the time of the ban on the sale of alcohol. He was accused of tax evasion in 1931 and sentenced to 11 years in prison but was released in 1939.[2] Jesus Arboleya Cervera: The right-wing Cuban-American Miami. Havana Social Sciences Publishing House, 2000, p. 24.[3] Jesus Arboleya Cervera: Ob, cit, p. 23.[4] OECD gray list consists of countries considered financial centers that have committed to adopt internationally agreed standards on tax matters, the countries considered financial centers say take the parameters established international tax arrangements but in practice they have not done.
[6] Xavier Cano Tamayo. Unpunished and famous tax evaders. In: http://www.ellibrepensador.com/2012/01/07/impunes-y-famosos-defraudadores-fiscales[7] tax havens. In: http://www.muchapasta.com/b/paraisos% 20fiscales/Listado% 20of% 20paraisos% 20fiscales.php[8] List of tax havens. The official classification of the OECD. In: http://www.paraisos-fiscales.info/lista-paraisos-fiscales.html[9] Uruguay is not a tax haven (as the OECD). In: http://paraisos-fiscales.info/blog[10] list of tax havens, the OECD official classification. In: http://www.paraisos-fiscales.info/lista-paraisos-fiscales.html[11] Guido Braslavsky. Check to tax havens. Tax havens hide one third of all funds of the global banking system.[12] Tax havens are safe havens for criminals. In: http://www.abc.com.py/nota/los-paraisos-fiscales-son-refugios-de-delincuentes-1918[13] Emir Sader. "Tax havens" Brothels of globalization. In: http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=1329[14] Id[15] Mitt Romney has resisted exposing the details of your tax return, explaining that the authorities are left with about 15% of their annual profits, which is rather discreet considering Romney's fortune is between 150 and 200 million euros.See: Mitt Romney finally said ... pay little tax. Taken from: http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2012/01/17/mitt-romney-por-fin-lo-dijo-paga-pocos-impuestos[16] See: Word Drug Report 2011. In: http://www.unodc.org/documents/southerncone//Topics_drugs/WDR/2011/Executive_Summary_-_Espanol.pdf.[17] Ricardo Soberon. The trends of drug trafficking in Latin America. In: www.tni.org[18] Daniel Estulin. Secrets of the Bilderberg Club. www.apitox.es / docs / Los_Secretos_Del_Club_Bilderberg.pdf, p. 77.[19] Id[20] Id[21] Summary - Money Laundering. In: http://www.irs.gov/espanol/article/0,, id = 238185.00. Html[22] Daniel Estulin. Secrets of the Bilderberg Club. In: www.apitox.es / docs / Los_Secretos_Del_Club_Bilderberg.pdf, p. 77.[23] Drugs, jewels and cash: The IMF's work against money laundering and terrorist financing. In: http://blog-dialogoafondo.org/?p=1029[24] Jorge Casals Llano. Criticism of the "savage capitalism". In: Weekly Hands, June 1999.[25] Eduardo Galeano. Open Veins of Latin America. Montevideo, the pig, 1987, p. 438.http://alainet.org/active/54168
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