[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 21, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5203-S5204]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               GUATEMALA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, with the Congress focused on the U.S.-Iran 
nuclear agreement, it is not surprising that recent developments in 
Guatemala have not received the attention they deserve, either here or 
in the international press. I want to speak briefly about this as it 
should interest all Senators, particularly at a time when the 
governments of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras are seeking 
significant U.S. funding to support the Plan of the Alliance for 
Prosperity in the Northern Triangle of Central America.
  The Cold War history of U.S. involvement in Guatemala is not one we 
can be overly proud of. The role of the United Fruit Company, the CIA, 
Guatemala's landholding elite, and others in orchestrating the removal 
of democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in 1954, the 
training and equipping of the Guatemalan military that carried out a 
scorched earth campaign against a rebel insurgency and the rural 
indigenous population in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and policies 
favoring the financial and political elite who perpetuated the racism, 
social and economic inequities, corruption, violence, and impunity that 
persist to this day, are all part of that collective experience.
  One of the vestiges of that period is the continuing harassment, 
vilification, death threats, and even malicious prosecutions of human 
rights defenders and other social activists. It is regrettable that 
Guatemala's authorities have failed to condemn or take effective steps 
to stop this pattern and practice of threats and abuse of the justice 
system.
  Yet while the 1996 Peace Accords that finally ended 36 years of armed 
conflict were, for the most part, not implemented, since then the 
United States has sought to help address the causes of poverty, 
inequality, and injustice in Guatemala. We have funded child nutrition 
and public health programs, bilingual education for indigenous 
children, efforts to reform and professionalize the police, prevent 
violence against women, strengthen the institutional capacity of the 
Public Ministry, locate and identify the remains of thousands of people 
who disappeared during the war and ended up in mass graves, support 
reparations for victims of the Chixoy massacres, protect biodiversity 
and preserve pre-Columbian archeological sites in Peten. The results of 
these efforts have been mixed, but they do signify a positive trend in 
our relations with Guatemala in recent years for which the Department 
of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Inter-
American Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, and others 
deserve credit.
  President Perez Molina also deserves credit for supporting the 
agreement to finance the Chixoy reparations plan, which some in his own 
government opposed. It is now essential that the agreement is 
implemented so the communities who suffered losses are compensated.
  The United States has also been a strong supporter of the 
International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, otherwise known 
as CICIG, which, in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney 
General, has played an indispensable role in investigations and 
prosecutions of cases of corruption, organized crime, and clandestine 
groups, as well as crimes against humanity and other human rights 
atrocities dating to the civil war. I commend the way CICIG 
Commissioner Ivan Velasquez and Attorney General Thelma Aldana are 
working together to address these issues.
  Each year since CICIG's inception in 2007, as either chairman or 
ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee that funds U.S. 
foreign aid programs and as a former prosecutor and chairman or ranking 
member of the Judiciary Committee, I have included a U.S. contribution 
to CICIG. I have also twice supported the extension of CICIG when it 
was nearing the end of its mandate. Most recently, when President Otto 
Perez Molina indicated that he did not intend to renew CICIG's mandate, 
I argued that the weakness of Guatemala's justice system and the 
continuing high levels of corruption and impunity were compelling 
reasons to extend CICIG. I was gratified that earlier this year its 
mandate was extended until 2017.
  While Guatemala's justice system remains fragile, the partnership 
between CICIG and the Public Ministry has played a critical role in 
advancing the cause of justice in Guatemala. But Guatemala's problems 
are not unique. Honduras and El Salvador suffer from many of the same 
conditions--weak justice systems that lack credibility, rampant 
corruption, threats and assassinations of human rights defenders, 
journalists, and even prosecutors, and a history of impunity. I hope 
those governments look to CICIG as a model for how they could benefit 
from the technical expertise and independence of the international 
community to help address these deeply rooted problems.
  Simultaneous with President Perez Molina's decision to extend CICIG's 
mandate, the need for CICIG became even more apparent. As a result of 
its investigations, high-ranking officials in the Perez Molina 
government, including Vice President Roxana Baldetti and one of her top 
aides, as well as the President's chief of staff and other senior 
officials, have either resigned or been arrested due to allegations of 
bribery and other corruption related to customs and social security. In 
addition, a leading Vice Presidential candidate of the Lider Party has 
been implicated. This may only be the tip of the iceberg, as it is 
common knowledge that corruption is widespread in Guatemala.
  Such scandals involving powerful public figures are by no means 
unprecedented, as other Guatemalan officials--including a former 
President and Minister of Interior--have been implicated in such crimes 
and became fugitives from justice. But unlike in the past, these latest 
scandals have galvanized a diverse spectrum of civil society to join in 
peaceful public demonstrations over a period of several months calling 
for an end to corruption and impunity and for the resignation of the 
President who would be replaced by a transition government in 
accordance with Guatemala's Constitution.
  The timing of these protests is significant, as Presidential 
elections are scheduled for September 6 and speculation is rife as to 
whether or not President Perez Molina will serve out his term.
  The United States has a strong interest in democracy and justice in 
Guatemala, as well as a better life for the millions of Guatemala's 
citizens, particularly indigenous and other historically marginalized 
groups, who live in poverty. Many, with only a few years of formal 
education and no reliable source of income, including victims of ethnic 
discrimination, gangs and violent crime, have risked life and limb in 
search of opportunities in the United States. It is our hope that the 
Plan of the Alliance for Prosperity, with complementary and balanced 
investments

[[Page S5204]]

in governance, prosperity, and security, will begin to provide the 
economic opportunities and address these difficult social and law 
enforcement challenges in a sustainable way. I look forward to 
discussing these issues with our friends in the House of 
Representatives later this year.
  More immediately, it is important that the United States carefully 
calibrates its response to the popular demands for reform. What is 
happening in Guatemala today is both unique and encouraging in the way 
it has inspired and united, for the first time in Guatemala's history, 
indigenous and non-indigenous, both rural and urban groups, poor and 
middle class who previously did not share a common agenda. This has 
enhanced the prospects for real change in a country that has been 
plagued for two decades by the divisive, tragic legacies of the war and 
by powerful forces in government and the private sector resistant to 
change for generations.
  In this context, civil society requires support and protection, 
taking into account Guatemala's past history of repression and 
violence. I urge U.S. officials to make clear that the United States 
unequivocally supports the aspirations of Guatemalan civil society that 
is now struggling for the right of all the Guatemalan people to have 
transparent and accountable government, including honest and 
professional police and an independent judiciary.
  Guatemala is a country with an extraordinarily rich culture, natural 
resources, and human potential. But without respect for human rights 
and the rule of law and real change that provides for equitable 
economic opportunities and political representation, that potential 
will remain unfulfilled. It is long past time for an end to impunity, 
including for public officials who misuse their office to enrich 
themselves, their families, and their friends, and for a new era of 
effective governance, prosperity, and freedom from fear for all 
Guatemalans.

                          ____________________