[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1945 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1945
To suspend United States security assistance with Honduras until such
time as human rights violations by Honduran security forces cease and
their perpetrators are brought to justice.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 28, 2019
Mr. Johnson of Georgia (for himself, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Serrano, Ms.
Schakowsky, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Moore, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Foster, Mrs.
Napolitano, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Speier, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Panetta, Mr.
Lowenthal, Ms. Omar, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Rush, Mr. Tonko, Ms.
Lee of California, Mr. Lynch, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Khanna, Mr.
Grijalva, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Haaland, Mr. Pocan, Mr.
Cicilline, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Pallone,
Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Judy Chu of California,
Ms. Norton, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Himes, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Lipinski, Mr.
Beyer, Mr. Kind, Mr. Payne, and Mr. Ted Lieu of California) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To suspend United States security assistance with Honduras until such
time as human rights violations by Honduran security forces cease and
their perpetrators are brought to justice.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Berta Caceres Human Rights in
Honduras Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Honduran police are widely established to be deeply
corrupt and commit human rights abuses, including torture,
rape, illegal detention, and murder, with impunity.
(2) The New York Times revealed documents on April 15,
2016, indicating that top officials of the Honduran police
ordered the killings of drug-crime investigators Julian
Aristides Gonzales and Alfredo Landaverde in 2009 and 2011,
respectively, with the subsequent knowledge of top police and,
evidently, high-ranking government officials. The Times
suggested in a subsequent article that the revelations were
being manipulated by the President of Honduras for his own
corrupt purposes. Both cases remain in impunity.
(3) Individuals in the police with documented records of
having committed gross human rights abuses with impunity
continue to serve in, and be appointed and reappointed to high
positions with the police. Former general in the Armed Forces
Julian Pacheco Tinoco, the Minister of Security, was the
highest ranking official in charge of the repression of
protesters by the police following the November 27, 2017,
election, and has been twice named in United States Federal
court as overseeing drug trafficking. He was reappointed to his
position by President Juan Orlando Hernandez in December 2018.
(4) Other individuals who previously served in high-ranking
positions and who are documented to have committed gross human
rights abuses continue in impunity.
(5) International human rights bodies have reported that
the Honduran military and police commit human rights abuses,
including killings, with impunity. The Associated Press has
documented death squad activity by police. Human Rights Watch
has reported: ``The use of lethal force by the national police
is a chronic problem.''. In its report for 2018 it concluded
that ``Violent crime is rampant in Honduras''. It noted that:
``Marred by corruption and abuse, the judiciary and police
remain largely ineffective. Impunity for crime and human rights
abuses is the norm.''.
(6) The Department of State's 2018 Human Rights Report for
Honduras reported: ``Civilian authorities at times did not
maintain effective control over the security forces.''. It
summarized: ``The most significant human rights issues included
alleged arbitrary and unlawful killings; a complaint of
torture; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions;
arbitrary arrest or detention; unlawful interference with
privacy; killings of and threats to media members,'' and other
issues.
(7) Repeated efforts to clean up the Honduran police have
largely failed. A recent commission charged with cleaning up
the police reports that it has cleaned up over 5,000 members,
but the great majority of those were separated for reasons of
restructuring, retirements, or disabilities. Only approximately
100 cases of alleged criminal activity have been forwarded to
the Public Ministry for prosecution. Few of those are being
prosecuted. The actions and results of the police cleanup
commission have not been independently verified, moreover, and
its directors include Julian Pacheco Tinoco, the Minister of
Security, named as a drug trafficker, and Vilma Morales, one of
the top two negotiators for the leader of the 2009 coup. Long-
lasting, fundamental reform of the police still needs to be
enacted.
(8) Evidence indicates that topmost officials in charge of
the police have been allegedly involved in drug trafficking.
The National Director of the Police and his top two lieutenants
have been documented by the Associated Press to have previously
participated in cocaine trafficking. Julian Pacheco Tinoco, the
Minister of Security, reappointed in December 2018, has been
twice named in United States Federal court as overseeing drug
trafficking.
(9) Rights Action has documented that the Fifteenth
Battalion of the Honduran Armed Forces allegedly participated
with police and private security forces in some of the killings
of over 100 small-farmer activists in the Aguan Valley
beginning in 2010. In 2015, Human Rights Watch confirmed that
the killings of Aguan farmers were met with no consequences. To
date there has been one confirmed conviction of a private
security guard. Assassinations of key activists continue. In
October 2016, Jose Angel Flores, the president of the Unified
Campesino Movement of the Aguan (MUCA), and Silmer Dionisio
George, another MUCA member, were assassinated, with impunity.
(10) Further examples abound of human rights abuses by the
military: in July 2013 members of the Armed Forces shot and
killed Tomas Garcia, a Lenca Indigenous activist, and injured
his son while they were peacefully protesting a dam project; in
May 2014, nine members of the Ninth Infantry reportedly
tortured and killed Amado Maradiaga Quiroz and tortured his
son, Milton Noe Maradiaga Varela. The cases remain in impunity.
In an emblematic case, on December 27, 2015, the Honduran Navy
reportedly killed Joel Palacios Lino and Elvis Armando Garcia,
two Garifuna Afro-Indigenous men who were engaged in digging a
car out of the sand on a beach. Ten members of the Honduran
military were convicted of the killing of these 2 men,
underscoring that egregious human rights are committed by state
security forces.
(11) The current Government of Honduras has expanded the
military's reach into domestic policing, including the creation
of a 4,300-member Military Police in clear violation of the
Honduran constitution and with disastrous results, including
the killings of a 15-year-old boy, Ebed Yanes, in 2012 and a
student, Erlin Misael Carias Moncada, in 2014, after they had
passed unarmed through checkpoints, and the January 2, 2017,
killing of 17-year-old Edgardo Moreno Rodriquez. While one
member of the armed forces was convicted and sentenced in the
case of Yanes, the case of the United States-trained colonel
who allegedly subsequently ordered a cover-up remains in
impunity. Since the creation of the Military Police,
``allegations of human rights abuses by the military have
increased notably'', reports Human Rights Watch. The Military
Police now count 9 battalions and plan 2 additional battalions.
(12) During the crisis that erupted following the highly
contested November 2017 Presidential election, massive protests
against electoral fraud and the disputed re-election campaign
of President Juan Orlando Hernandez emerged throughout the
country. The United Nations and the Committee of Families of
the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) have
documented that in response, Honduran state security forces
killed at least 16 people, many of them protesters and
bystanders; one additional person remains forcibly disappeared
by state security forces. The great majority of the victims,
according to the UN and COFADEH reports, were killed by the
Military Police. All these cases remain in impunity. In
addition, 3 people accused of crimes while protesting remain in
prison awaiting trial under dire, life-threatening conditions
and a fourth remains in exile.
(13) The Military Police continue to commit serious human
rights abuses. On November 30, 2017, Daniel Isaac Varela, age
12, was wounded by members of the military police in
Comayaguela during a post-election demonstration while he was
purchasing candy with friends and the military opened fire. On
December 3, 2017, Manuel de Jesus Bautista Salvador disappeared
while held in detention by the Military Police in Cofradia,
Cortes, and his whereabouts remain unknown.
(14) The Honduran judicial system has been widely
documented to be rife with corruption. Judges, prosecutors, and
other officials are interconnected with organized crime and
drug traffickers, contributing to near-complete impunity.
(15) The Department of State in its 2018 Human Rights
Report for Honduras reports that ``Corruption and impunity
remained serious problems within the security forces.''. It
noted that ``Impunity existed in many cases . . . as evidenced
by lengthy judicial processes, few convictions of perpetrators,
and failures to prosecute intellectual authors of crimes.''.
(16) Overall, the judicial system remains ineffective and
corrupt. The Department of State reported for 2017 that it was
``often ineffective, and subject to intimidation, corruption,
politicization and patronage . . . Powerful special interests,
including organized crime groups, exercised influence on the
outcome of some court proceedings.''.
(17) Summarizing the situation, Human Rights Watch reported
for 2018 that ``Judges face interference from the executive
branch and others, including private actors with connections in
government.''. It concludes: ``Efforts to reform the
institutions responsible for providing public security have
made little progress. Married by corruption and abuse, the
judiciary and police remain largely ineffective.''.
(18) The March 2, 2016, assassination of prominent Lenca
Indigenous and environmental activist Berta Caceres, world-
renowned recipient of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for
her work defending Indigenous land rights against a
hydroelectric dam project, illustrates the human rights crisis
in Honduras, and the deep complicity of the Honduran
government. Caceres, the leader of COPINH, the Council of
Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras, had reported
to authorities 33 threats previous to her killing, but none had
been investigated, and the government had failed to provide
adequate protection measures as mandated by the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, with protection by Honduran
security being withdrawn the day of her death.
(19) As of November 2018, seven men have been convicted in
the killing of Caceres. One of them was an active duty officer
in the military at the time of his arrest and two others are
former military. A third former officer and the president of
the DESA Corporation, the dam construction company, has been
charged and is awaiting trial. The convictions raise serious
questions about the role of the Honduran military in her
assassination, including the higher chain of command within the
military as well as the identity of the intellectual authors of
the assassination. Evidence in the documents in the case file
indicate that members of the Honduran elite were responsible
for ordering Caceres's assassination, and remain in impunity.
Evidence also indicates possible involvement of individuals of
higher rank in the military, but there is no indication that
prosecutors are investigating these individuals.
(20) The Government of Honduras continues to unduly limit
legally mandated access by Ms. Caceres's family to
participation in the prosecution as permitted under Honduran
law.
(21) In this context of corruption and human rights abuses,
trade unionists, journalists, lawyers, Afro-Indigenous
activists, Indigenous activists, small-farmer activists, LGBTI
activists, human rights defenders, and critics of the
government remain at severe risk; and previous human rights
abuses against them remain largely unpunished.
(22) Journalists continue to be attacked with impunity. On
May 2, 2016, prominent opposition journalist Felix Molina was
shot multiple times in the legs hours after he had posted
information potentially linking Caceres's killing to a top
government official, members of an elite family, and one of the
prosecutors in the case. Those who report on protests against
the government are threatened and attacked by state security
forces. On November 26, 2018, journalist Geovanny Sierra from
the UNETV opposition television station was in the process of
reporting on the repression by security forces of a protest
marking the one-year anniversary of the disputed 2017 elections
when he was fired upon by members of the police assigned to the
National Penitentiary. He survived the attack but suffered
extensive injuries to his right arm. Both cases remain in
impunity.
(23) United States agencies allocated approximately $39
million that Congress appropriated through the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2017, to the Honduran police and military
for fiscal year 2017.
(24) The Inter-American Development Bank lent $60,000,000
to the Honduran police between 2012 and 2018, with United
States approval.
SEC. 3. SUSPENSION AND RESTRICTIONS OF SECURITY ASSISTANCE EXTENDED TO
REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS UNLESS CERTAIN CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN
MET.
(a) Suspension of Security Assistance.--No funds may be made
available to provide assistance for the police or military of the
Republic of Honduras, including assistance for equipment and training.
(b) Loans From Multilateral Development Banks.--The Secretary of
the Treasury shall instruct United States representatives at
multilateral development banks to vote no on any loans for the police
or military of the Republic of Honduras.
SEC. 4. CONDITIONS FOR LIFTING SUSPENSIONS AND RESTRICTIONS.
The provisions of this Act shall terminate on the date on which the
Secretary of State determines and certifies to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate that the Government of Honduras has--
(1) pursued all legal avenues to bring to trial and obtain
a verdict of all those who ordered and carried out--
(A) the March 2, 2016, murder of Berta Caceres;
(B) the killings of over 100 small-farmer activists
in the Aguan Valley;
(C) the killings of 22 people and forced
disappearance of 1 person by state security forces in
the context of the 2017 postelectoral crisis; and
(D) the May 3, 2016, armed attack on Felix Molina,
and the November 26, 2018, shooting of Geovanny Sierra.
(2) investigated and successfully prosecuted members of
military and police forces who are credibly found to have
violated human rights, and ensured that the military and police
cooperated in such cases, and that such violations have ceased;
(3) withdrawn the military from domestic policing, in
accordance with the Honduran Constitution, and ensured that all
domestic police functions are separated from the command and
control of the Armed Forces of Honduras and are instead
directly responsible to civilian authority;
(4) established that it protects effectively the rights of
trade unionists, journalists, human rights defenders, the
Indigenous, the Afro-Indigenous, small-farmers, LGBTI
activists, critics of the government, and other civil society
activists to operate without interference; and
(5) taken effective steps to fully establish the rule of
law and to guarantee a judicial system that is capable of
investigating, prosecuting, and bringing to justice members of
the police and military who have committed human rights abuses.
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