[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 56 (Thursday, March 30, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S2148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             JUSTICE AND THE RULE OF LAW IN CENTRAL AMERICA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, last week I spoke about the importance of 
the rule of law in Guatemala and praised the work of Attorney General 
Thelma Aldana and the commissioner of the International Commission 
Against Impunity in Guatemala, Ivan Velasquez. These two individuals 
have helped to create hope among the Guatemalan people in the 
possibility of justice in a country where the justice system has too 
often been used to perpetuate corruption, impunity, and inequality.
  The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG, 
has been strongly supported by the United States. I commended President 
Morales when, shortly after taking office last January, he extended 
CICIG's mandate. He has affirmed that he supports CICIG's mandate 
through September 2019, for which, again, I commend him.
  Last week, I expressed a concern that had been conveyed to me by 
several individuals that President Morales might recommend against 
renewal of Mr. Velasquez as commissioner beyond September 2017, when 
Mr. Velasquez's current term expires. In response, according to press 
reports, President Morales denied this and said he supports Mr. 
Velasquez for as long as Mr. Velasquez does the job he is supposed to 
do.
  Ivan Velasquez is a respected former judge from Colombia who has 
carried out his responsibilities as the commissioner of CICIG with 
professionalism. He and Attorney General Aldana have collaborated on 
sensitive, complex cases, which until recently would never have been 
prosecuted in Guatemala, given its history of impunity. It is important 
that their collaboration continue for as long as possible.
  I welcome President Morales's public statement of support for CICIG 
and for Mr. Velasquez, particularly at a time when the U.S. Congress is 
again being asked to provide hundreds of millions of dollars to support 
the Alliance for Prosperity Plan. That plan, which is in its early 
stages, has the potential to make progress in combating the poverty, 
lack of opportunity, inequality, violence, and impunity that are among 
the key contributors to migration from Central America to the United 
States. These are deeply rooted problems that the Central American 
countries and the United States have a strong interest in working 
together to address.
  For the Alliance for Prosperity Plan to succeed, each of the Central 
American governments needs to take steps that their predecessors were 
unwilling or unable to take. Those steps include ensuring that senior 
government officials and their advisers are people of integrity; 
redefining the antagonistic relationship between government and civil 
society, to one of mutual respect for each other's legitimate role; 
fully supporting efforts to combat corruption by CICIG and by the 
Mission to Support the Fight Against Corruption and Impunity in 
Honduras--El Salvador should also recognize the important role these 
entities are playing and support the establishment of a similar 
commission to combat corruption and impunity in that country--
increasing the budget of the Office of the Attorney General, so they 
have the necessary personnel, training, equipment, and protection to 
carry out their responsibilities throughout the country, especially in 
areas where they have never had the resources to operate; supporting 
the independence of the judiciary, including the selection of judges 
based on their qualifications and the principle of equal access to 
justice; and building transparent and accountable institutions of 
democracy that can withstand attempts to subvert the rights of the 
people, including demilitarizing law enforcement and building 
professional, civilian police forces.
  It is the responsibility of the Central American governments to take 
these steps and, by doing so, create the conditions for building more 
prosperous, equitable, and just societies. If they do that and they 
meet the other conditions in U.S. law, the United States should support 
them.

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