President Bernardo Arévalo sanctioned the Comprehensive Law for the Prevention and Repression of Money Laundering or Other Assets and the Financing of Terrorism.
The sanction was published this Wednesday, June 17 in the Diario de Centro América through Congressional Decree 15-2026.
According to article 1, this law is declared to be of public interest and establishes a preventive administrative regime, as well as the classification and punishment of the respective crimes.
This law is not intended to attack or repress the informal economy, criminalize the use of cash or be used for tax purposes, according to the decree.
Decree 15-2026 was approved by more than two-thirds of the total number of deputies in Congress and will come into force three months after its publication in the official gazette.
Within a maximum period of six months, counted from the entry into force of this law, the Superintendence of Banks, through the Special Verification Intendancy, must prepare the regulations of this law and submit it to the knowledge and consideration of the President of the Republic for its approval, sanction and publication.
“For years, drug traffickers, criminal gangs and corrupt people filled their pockets with total impunity. Without controls, without supervision, without punishment. That is about to end!” President Arévalo wrote in X.
“The Anti-Money Laundering Law is a powerful tool to move towards a cleaner, fairer and more transparent economy,” he remarked.
It took the deputies nine months to approve the law since the project was sent to the legislative commissions for analysis, on September 2, 2025.
The approval of this law was in the center of attention of different sectors, which raised the urgency of applying it in the country.
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