[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 145 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 145

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
              fight against corruption in Central America.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 16, 2017

  Mrs. Torres (for herself, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Engel, Mr. McCaul, Mr. 
    Sires, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Poe of Texas, and Mr. Young of Alaska) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
              fight against corruption in Central America.

Whereas according to Transparency International's 2016 Corruption Perception 
        Index, the citizens of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and 
        Panama perceive high levels of government corruption;
Whereas widespread corruption in Central America weakens citizens' faith in 
        public institutions, limits government capacity to advance development 
        goals, and allows drug traffickers and other criminals to thrive;
Whereas the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) was 
        created at the request of the Guatemalan Government in 2007, and has 
        strengthened the capacity of Guatemalan institutions, especially the 
        Office of the Attorney General, to combat corruption;
Whereas the Office of the Attorney General of Guatemala, under the leadership of 
        Thelma Aldana, and CICIG, under the leadership of Ivan Velasquez, have 
        recently collaborated to investigate and prosecute a series of 
        corruption cases involving high-level government officials, 
        demonstrating that it is possible for governments in Central America to 
        confront entrenched corruption, and that no one is above the law;
Whereas the Attorney General of El Salvador, Douglas Melendez, has made 
        significant progress in tackling corruption at the highest levels;
Whereas after thousands of Hondurans joined street protests against corruption 
        and in favor of an International Commission against Impunity in 
        Honduras, the Honduran Government reached an agreement with the 
        Organization of American States to create the Mission to Support the 
        Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH);
Whereas MACCIH, under the leadership of Juan Jimenez, has begun to assist the 
        Office of the Attorney General of Honduras, under the leadership of 
        Oscar Chinchilla, with the investigation into the more than $300,000,000 
        that was embezzled from the Institute of Social Security; and
Whereas the leadership of CICIG and MACCIH and the attorneys general of 
        Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador have faced significant challenges, 
        including credible threats against their lives, attempts to publicly 
        discredit their work, or efforts to remove them from their posts: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives, that--
            (1) combating corruption in the Northern Triangle must 
        remain a top policy priority for the United States in Central 
        America;
            (2) the International Commission against Impunity in 
        Guatemala (CICIG) and the Mission to Support the Fight against 
        Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH) are important 
        contributions to this effort;
            (3) the Government of Guatemala is urged to continue to 
        cooperate with CICIG and the Government of Honduras is urged to 
        continue to cooperate with MACCIH; and
            (4) the Governments of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador 
        are urged to--
                    (A) publicly support efforts to fight corruption;
                    (B) respect the independence of the judicial branch 
                and the Office of the Attorney General; and
                    (C) ensure that the Office of the Attorney General 
                in each Northern Triangle country receives sufficient 
                domestic budget allocations to carry out their core 
                responsibilities and that budgeted funds are delivered 
                in a timely manner.
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