[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 164 (Wednesday, November 4, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1585-E1586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONDURAN CIVIL SOCIETY DEMANDS INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION TO 
              INVESTIGATE AND END CORRUPTION AND IMPUNITY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 4, 2015

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, in September I traveled to Honduras as 
part of a fact-finding delegation organized by the Washington Office on 
Latin America. Everywhere we went we heard about people's concern over 
endemic corruption and impunity.
  An unprecedented citizens' movement has inspired thousands of 
Hondurans to take to the street in peaceful protest marches demanding 
that Honduras establish an international, independent commission with 
the mandate to investigate crimes of corruption and impunity and the 
ability to participate in their prosecution. This type of a commission 
is modeled on the successful work over the past decade of the ``CICIG'' 
in Guatemala.
  This movement is called the ``outraged opposition,'' or ``Oposicion 
Indignada.'' They are led, in large part, by an intelligent, thoughtful 
and politically diverse group of young people who organize using social 
media and who have come together because of their shared desire to end 
corruption in their country. They now face constant threats for their 
initiative, and I hope that the Honduran government will ensure their 
protection and investigate the threats against them so that they may 
continue to exercise their basic rights to freedom of speech and 
association.
  On September 28th, the Organization of American States presented to 
the Honduran president a proposal for a commission that would help the 
notoriously weak Honduran judicial system to gain capacity to carry out 
its responsibilities. Regrettably, I believe this proposal falls 
woefully short of what is required to break the culture of corruption 
and impunity that so characterizes the Honduran State. As we learned 
from Guatemala, to successfully bring to justice those who benefit from 
corruption and impunity, a commission must be truly independent with a 
mandate to investigate exemplar cases wherever the evidence warrants 
and participate in the prosecution of those cases under national law.
  Last week, on October 28th, a broad coalition of Honduran civil 
society, the Coalition Against Impunity, issued a statement declaring 
that the mission proposed by the OAS and the government is itself an 
obstacle to creating a genuine, independent commission that can truly 
tackle the rampant corruption and impunity in Honduras. Earlier, on 
October 4th, the ``Indignados'' issued a similar critique, pointing out 
the weaknesses of the OAS proposal to independently investigate crimes 
of corruption and ensure their prosecution.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit a copy of the letter addressed to 
the OAS by the Oposicion Indignada that outlines their concerns with 
that proposal. It is my hope that the OAS will listen seriously to this 
unprecedented citizens' movement and ensure that any commission that 
comes into being in Honduras will be truly politically and financially 
independent, and have the mandate to undertake independent 
investigations into crimes of corruption and impunity and ensure their 
prosecution.
  (English translation of the letter written in Spanish is as follows:)


[[Page E1586]]




                                        Tegucigalpa, Honduras,

                                             4 de octubre de 2015.
     Mr. Luis Almagro,
     Secretary General of the Organization of American States 
         (OAS), Washington, DC.
       We respectfully write to you to provide an official 
     response to the proposal made by the Organization of American 
     States (OAS) to create a ``Support Mission against Corruption 
     and Impunity'' or ``MACCIH'' in Honduras. We consider the 
     proposal to contain many weaknesses and insufficient to 
     combat corruption in Honduras.
       The weaknesses we see in the proposal include:
       1. It lacks an independent and impartial investigative unit 
     capable of carrying out investigations of cases of 
     corruption. Such a unit needs to be financially and 
     politically independent and be comprised of international 
     investigators and lawyers who can work with national 
     prosecutors in the prosecution of high-level corruption 
     cases.
       2. The recommendations that will flow from the evaluations 
     to be carried out by the MACCIH are not binding. It is 
     essential to ensure the legal commitment of the Honduran 
     government to implementing the recommendations. Recent 
     history has shown that the government of Honduras often fails 
     to comply with the recommendations of international bodies. 
     An illustrative example was the failure to comply with the 
     47th recommendation of the Truth and Reconciliation 
     Commission which called for the creation of an International 
     Commission against Impunity in Honduras.
       3. Since 1998, Honduras has participated in three of the 
     four rounds of the MESICIC (Follow-up mechanism for 
     implementations of the Inter-American Convention Against 
     Corruption. Despite this participation, the country is in a 
     state of deep social crisis with endemic levels of the 
     corruption and impunity [and so the proposal to develop a 
     plan for implementing the MESICIC does not seem likely to 
     lead to action.]
       4. The presentation of bi-annual reports by the Secretary 
     General of the OAS represents an unnecessary delay in 
     addressing the impunity and corruption crisis.
       Considering these weaknesses, any proposal intended to lead 
     to real results in the fight against corruption needs to have 
     at least two essential components:
       1. A politically and financially independent investigative 
     unit able to initiate and help prosecute high-level 
     corruption cases.
       2. A mechanism by which recommendations have a binding 
     character in order to ensure the implementation of reforms to 
     our justice system.
       If the OAS proposal fails to include the characteristics 
     needed to make a valuable contribution to the corruption and 
     impunity crisis in Honduras, we will ask the international 
     community not to support the proposal financially or 
     politically. We need a proposal that can help bring about 
     changes in our society; we want justice and democracy.
     Citizen Movement ``Oposicion Indignada,''
     Paul Emilio Zepeda,
     Gabriela Liliana Blen,
     Marcela Alejandra Ortega,
     Ariel Fabricio Varela.
                                  ____
                                  


                                        Tegucigalpa, Honduras,

                                             4 de octubre de 2015.
     Sr. Luis Almagro,
     Secretario General de la Organizacion de Estados Americanos 
         Su despacho.
       Nos dirigimos respetuosamente a usted a fin de senalar 
     nuestras observaciones a la propuesta generada por la 
     Organizacion de Estados Americanos (OEA) ante la crisis 
     social provocada por las altas tasas de corrupcion e 
     impunidad que aquejan al Estado de Honduras, propuesta 
     denominada ``MACCIH'', misma que cuenta con una serie de 
     debilidades que nos preocupan seriamente como herramienta 
     para luchar contra la corrupcion y la impunidad en Honduras, 
     subrayando:
       1. No cuenta con un ente independiente e imparcial de 
     investigacion de los casos de corrupcion. Es de vital 
     importancia contar con una unidad con independencia 
     presupuestaria y jerarquica donde investigadores y abogados 
     internacionales junto con fiscales hondurenos de reconocida 
     capacidad puedan realizar la investigacion y judicializacion 
     de actos de corrupcion.
       2. Las recomendaciones producto de los diagnosticos a 
     realizarse no tienen caracter vinculante. Es necesario que 
     exista obligacion por parte del Estado de Honduras para el 
     cumplimiento de las recomendaciones a traves del documento 
     legal pertinente, la historia reciente ha demostrado que el 
     Gobierno de Honduras no cumple las recomendaciones de 
     organismos internacionales, resaltamos como ejemplo la 
     recomendacion numero 47 de la Comision de la Verdad y 
     Reconciliacion, que expresaba el establecimiento de una 
     Comision Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Honduras, hecha 
     publica en Tegucigalpa, el 7 se Julio de 2011, en acto al 
     cual asistieron el presidente de dicha comision, Sr. Eduardo 
     Stein, el Secretario General de la OEA en ese momento Sr. 
     Jose Miguel Insulza y el entonces Presidente de Honduras, Sr. 
     Porfirio Lobo Sosa.
       3. Los resultados de la participacion de Honduras desde 
     1998 en 3 de las 4 rondas del MESICIC, es un estado en crisis 
     profunda de Impunidad y corrupcion consecuencia de lo 
     senalado anteriormente, por la falta de voluntad de los 
     gobernantes en el cumplimiento de recomendaciones no 
     vinculantes.
       4. La creacion de informes de manera semestral al 
     Secretario General de la OEA para senalar obstaculos no 
     resueltos por el enlace de gobierno, representa una 
     dilatacion enorme a la solucion de la crisis de impunidad y 
     corrupcion en Honduras, sobretodo porque al carecer de 
     vinculacion el obstaculo no podra resolverse aun este se vea 
     reflejado en dichos informes.
       En vista de lo anteriormente expuesto, consideramos que 
     toda propuesta que busque resultados reales en la lucha 
     contra la corrupcion, debe contar con dos elementos 
     esenciales:
       1. Un ente de investigacion independiente politica y 
     economicamente, que se encargue de esclarecer y llevar a 
     juicio a los implicados en los casos de corrupcion que 
     sacuden nuestra sociedad.
       2. Caracter de cumplimiento obligatorio a las 
     recomendaciones que resulten de los diagnosticos al Estado de 
     Honduras, si no hay una obligacion no hay seguridad que las 
     recomendaciones se ejecuten y por consiguiente la crisis 
     continuara.
       En caso de que esta iniciativa no logre implementar 
     caracteristicas que le permitan aportar a resolver la crisis 
     de Impunidad y Corrupcion que enfrenta Honduras, rechazamos 
     formalmente dicha propuesta.
       Finalmente, senalar que la propuesta de una Comision 
     Internacional Contra la Impunidad (CICI) se mantiene vigente 
     como una herramienta eficiente y como un caso de exito 
     internacionalmente comprobado, ya que cuenta con 
     caracteristicas de investigacion y fortalecimiento de las 
     capacidades nacionales para la lucha contra la Impunidad y 
     Corrupcion, en contextos institucionales similares a los que 
     tenemos en Honduras, a diferencia de la denominada MACCIH que 
     aun es solo un ensayo no comprobado y que carece de las 
     caracteristicas previamente senaladas.
       Sin otro particular y expresando nuestras mas altas 
     muestras de respeto y estima, nos despedimos de usted.
           Atentamente,
     Oposicion Indignada,
     Paul Emilio Zepeda,
     Gabriela Liliana Blen,
     Marcela Alejandra Ortega,
     Ariel Fabricio Varela.

                          ____________________