Intention is not entry into force
On 22 September the United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago released a joint text under the name Shield of the Americas. The text names three pillars: economic, security and multilateral coordination.[1]
The first action is an intention, as applicable and under each state's own international and domestic legal obligations, to impose asset freezes, immigration and visa restrictions, and criminal liability for knowing material support. That first action names 24 groups.[1]
The next visible step is a formal request
The same text says they intend to co-sign a formal request to the President of the Organization of American States Permanent Council. The request seeks a meeting of consultation to decide on an Organ of Consultation under Articles 6 and 13 of the 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, the Rio Treaty.[1]
Asset freezes stay as applicable under each state's own legal obligations until the formal request is filed and a capital publishes a measure. A bank or a traveler still answers to a domestic statute that has not been adopted. A rival reading is that the text may be only a coalition gesture for domestic politics and that the request may never be sent.[1]