[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 8 (Thursday, February 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: February 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
REPORT ON TRIP TO HONDURAS, EL SALVADOR, AND NICARAGUA
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, from December 6 to 9, 1993, I traveled to
Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua in my capacity as chairman of the
Foreign Operations Subcommittee. The purpose of my trip was to discuss
with local and U.S. officials the implications of the decline in U.S.
foreign assistance to these countries, as well as issues specific to
each country such as the elections and increase in violence in El
Salvador and the proposed release of $40 million in economic assistance
to Nicaragua. I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record at this
point the report on my trip which I submitted to the distinguished
chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
There being no objection, the report was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC, January 31, 1994.
Hon. Robert C. Byrd,
Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Bob: During the December recess, with your approval, I
traveled to Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. I am making
my trip report available to you in the hope that it will be
of use to the Appropriations Committee as it considers
continuing economic assistance to those three countries.
With best regards.
Sincerely,
Patrick Leahy,
Chairman;Foreign Operations Subcommittee.
____
Trip Report, Senator Patrick Leahy, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua,
December 6-9, 1993
From December 6-9, 1993, I traveled to Honduras, El
Salvador and Nicaragua in my capacity as chairman of the
Foreign Operations Subcommittee. The purpose of my trip was
to discuss with local and US officials the implications of
the decline in US foreign assistance to these countries, as
well as issues specific to each country such as the elections
and increase in violence in El Salvador and the proposed
release of $40 million in economic assistance to Nicaragua.
honduras
I spent one and a half days in Honduras. In addition to
receiving the country's highest award (the Grand Cross of the
Civil Order of Jose Cecilio del Valle) in recognition of the
Vermont-Honduras Partners, I met with President Callejas,
Foreign Minister Carias and other Cabinet members, the
Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights, US
Ambassador Pryce and other US officials.
Honduras recently held national elections which were
universally regarded as free and fair. The National Party,
which had held power, was defeated. The new Liberal Party
President, Carlos Roberto Reina, who is considered honest and
a strong advocate for human rights, will be inaugurated
January 28, 1994. He has said that his priorities will be
strengthening civilian control over the military, fighting
corruption, and reducing poverty.
In my meeting with President Callejas, I raised two cases
involving property owned by American citizens which have been
confiscated without compensation. With respect to the Louis
Vallentine case, although the Government concedes that
compensation is due, it says it does not have the necessary
funds. I was told by Callejas and the Mayor of Tegucigalpa
that the municipality is willing to provide Vallentine with
comparable property which he can then sell, although efforts
by the Embassy to secure such an offer in writing had so far
failed. The Holly Adams Damon case is significantly more
complicated since it involves confiscation of the property by
a former business partner and outgoing Member of Congress.
However, Callejas agreed to look into it further.
I also discussed with Callejas a case involving the
disappearance of two Honduran men which was the subject of a
claim in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Court
ordered the Honduran Government to pay compensation, but
because of the Government's delay and subsequent currency
devalutions, the Government failed to pay the full value of
the award. President Callejas did not dispute that the former
government had failed to pay on a timely basis, but he was
pessimistic that full compensation could be provided
because of the precedent he said this would set for others
who would claim to have been injured by the devaluations.
However, in later discussions of this matter with
Ambassador Pryce and Commissioner Valladares, Valladares
suggested that if the parties could agree on an amount to
resolve the case, incoming President Reina, formerly a
justice on the Inter-American Court, would probably
support legislation to provide this amount.
Callejas and Foreign Minister Carias asked me if the United
States would assist Honduras get rid of the landmines along
the Honduran-Nicaraguan border, which continue to kill and
maim civilians living in that area. I told them that since
the funds for demining had been included in the Defense
Appropriations and Foreign Operations legislation at my
initiative, I would pursue this with the Administration.
I traveled to Lake Yojoa, where I met with representatives
of US AID, an NGO named ``Global Village,'' and the Peace
Corps. They are collectively supporting a rural education
project designed to assist local communities in protecting
the threatened watershed of the Lake Yojoa region. I also
visited Santa Rosa de Copan, to observe a road construction
project financed by US AID.
el salvador
I spent one day and a night in El Salvador. I delivered a
speech to several hundred recruits at the National Police
Academy, visited the Divine Providence Orphanage in Santa
Tecla, visited a prosthetics workshop for war wounded, met
with President Cristiani, had lunch with approximately 30
government, FMLN, church, business and other private sector
leaders, and met privately with Ambassador Flanigan, other
Embassy officials, and members of the foreign press.
El Salvador is in the midst of an historic election
campaign. I found general agreement that, after a slow start,
the process of registering voters was a success. (Some
observers believe that the Government's effort to register
large numbers of eligible voters in the three months before
the November 20th deadline was due in large part to the
withholding of economic assistance by the Congress.)
Approximately 588,000 of the 785,000 newly registered voters
are first-time registrants. According to the Embassy, if all
those who registered actually vote, the number who vote will
exceed 80 percent of eligible voters. However, Ambassador
Flanigan agreed with me that if the Government is unable to
provide voting cards to all registered voters, any person who
can prove he or she has registered should be permitted to
vote. I was told that the UN also takes this position, and I
stressed the importance of all registered voters being
permitted to vote in my meeting with President Cristiani.
In addition to the upcoming elections, a focus of my
discussions was the recent resurgence of violence, some of
which appear to be politically motivated. Several FMLN
leaders have been assassinated, including one candidate
for the Central American Parliament who was gunned down
the morning I left El Salvador. I was told, belatedly,
that earlier on the day of my visit President Cristiani
had met with members of the foreign press who he blamed
for suggesting that the recent killing may have been
committed by right-wing death squads, a suggestion he
denied. President Cristiani told me that there is evidence
that the murder of FMLN leader Francisco Velis, was a
common crime. I was later told by an Embassy official that
the Embassy does not give much weight to this view.
Apparently, the evidence President Cristiani was referring
to is that the gunman, before shooting Velis, demanded his
car. The gunman then got into a getaway car and fled
without Velis' car.
I also discussed with President Cristiani the decline in US
foreign assistance to El Salvador. I said that this trend
will continue due to overall cuts in foreign aid and the
shift in the Congress' attention to Russia, although I
believe the US still has significant interests in Central
America that warrant continued US assistance.
nicaragua
I spent a half day in Nicaragua, where I met with
Ambassador Maisto, US AID Mission Director Ballantyne, other
Embassy officials, President Chamorro, and members of her
cabinet.
President Chamorro, the UNO and Sandinista parties have
been locked in a political stalemate for close to a year. I
was told by Ambassador Maisto that in the meantime, although
inflation has been cut to almost zero, the economy has
continued to weaken, unemployment remain high, poverty has
increased, human rights abuses have gone unpunished, and the
investigation of the May 1993 arms cache explosion is still
incomplete. US officials said the Government was making
progress in resolving the American property cases, although
it was not moving as fast as it should particularly on cases
involving confiscation by the Government. Ambassador Maisto
argued that despite the generally gloomy picture it was
essential that $40 million in Economic Support Funds be
released to demonstrate continued US support for President
Chamorro. He said that the political stalemate was largely
due to extremists on the right and left who believe that the
US no longer supports her, and that if they refuse to
compromise her government may fall.
In contrast, Nicaraguan officials insisted that they are on
the right track and the economy is on the mend. Whether or
not this is true, shortly after my trip, a compromise was
reached which may break the logjam in the National Assembly
and permit the legislature to function again.
I told US AID Mission Director Ballantyne that the emphasis
of the US assistance program should be on addressing urgent
social needs such as health, education, and unemployment. She
said this will be the focus in the future.
I told President Chamorro that support for substantial aid
to Nicaragua has all but evaporated in the Congress. I said
that while I recognize a strong case can be made for the
release of the $40 million requested by the Administration, I
do not expect such large amounts of aid to be provided in the
future. I also stressed that I believe the Government needs
to put more effort into investigating and prosecuting human
rights cases.
____________________