[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 131 (Thursday, August 1, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5303-S5304]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                HONDURAS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, anyone who follows the situation in 
Honduras, as I and many Vermonters do, cannot help but be disappointed 
and concerned by what is happening there. I won't take the time to 
discuss in detail the lengthy litany of circumstances that have 
resulted in the deep social and political divisions, the rampant 
corruption, violence and insecurity, the prevalence of threats and 
assassinations by gangs, the dysfunctional justice system, and the 
sense of desperation and hopelessness that so many Hondurans are 
feeling, but I do want to mention several that should concern every 
Senator.
  To put the situation there in perspective, it is important to keep in 
mind what is happening in our own country.
  For purely political reasons, President Trump has directed his wrath 
and contempt on the thousands of Central American migrants seeking 
entry to the United States, many of whom are women and children and 
many of whom are from Honduras. Regrettably, his xenophobic attacks 
have encouraged other extreme voices demonizing migrants and asylum 
seekers. They have apparently forgotten that America is fundamentally a 
nation of immigrants.
  There is no question that our government is woefully unprepared to 
humanely and expeditiously handle this influx and that there is a 
humanitarian crisis at our southern border. We are each aware of the 
appalling treatment to which many of these desperate migrants have been 
subjected, both during the harrowing journey from their home countries 
to the U.S. border and in our government's custody--human beings 
trafficked, robbed, and sexually abused by unscrupulous smugglers; 
defenseless, impoverished people crammed into grossly overcrowded 
detention facilities; frightened children forcibly separated from their 
families and sleeping on cement floors in wire cages; a backlog of 
hundreds of thousands of asylum applications; and if that were not 
enough, racist and disparaging Facebook posts by U.S. Border Patrol 
officers about the people in their custody.
  This, not the Statue of Liberty, is what awaits the Hondurans who 
have abandoned their impoverished, violence-ridden communities in 
search of safety and a better life for themselves and their children. 
Yet they continue to come because remaining in Central America is a 
worse option.
  While the White House justifies its mistreatment of Central American 
migrants by falsely labeling them all as criminals who have engaged in 
asylum fraud, it has rightly asked Congress for millions of dollars to 
help care for refugees from Venezuela who are fleeing economic 
collapse, violence, and political chaos in that country. The 
similarities of the factors that are motivating the exodus of Hondurans 
and Venezuelans are far greater than their differences, which 
illustrates the blatant hypocrisy and unfairness of the 
administration's incoherent policies.
  Honduras has been in a state of convulsion since the coup that ousted 
President Manuel Zelaya in 2009 and

[[Page S5304]]

the 2013 election that was plagued with vote buying, violence, and 
fraud and that ended with President Hernandez declared the winner. The 
situation was exacerbated by the 2017 election that was widely regarded 
as flawed before it even took place. After President Hernandez secured 
the support of the National Assembly, the electoral commission, and the 
Supreme Court, each of which was beholden to him, to change the 
Constitution so he could run for a second term, the election was marred 
by reports of egregious vote counting irregularities.
  Given these circumstances, after being sworn into office a second 
time, President Hernandez would have been wise to appoint a 
politically, ethnically, and geographically diverse cabinet and to 
promote policies designed to rebuild confidence and trust with the 
opposition and civil society. Instead, he and his government have often 
embraced policies and practices that have further deepened divisions in 
an already polarized society.
  Popular protests over election fraud, corruption, land disputes, and 
seemingly intractable poverty have been met with the indiscriminate use 
of live ammunition by the police and armed forces resulting in multiple 
deaths, arbitrary arrests, beatings, and prolonged detention without 
trial. Despite repeated appeals by the international community, 
including the United Nations and the U.S. Embassy, to the Honduran 
Government to respect the rule of law and use restraint against 
protesters, the situation has not improved, and those responsible have 
not been held accountable. The country is afflicted by near daily 
confrontations, and the number of people seeking refuge outside the 
country continues unabated.
  Many of us also remember the emblematic case of Berta Caceres, a 
courageous indigenous environmental activist who was repeatedly 
harassed and threatened and ultimately assassinated for opposing the 
illegal construction of a hydroelectric plant. After the police tried 
to cover up the crime, it was only thanks to international outrage that 
seven individuals, including an employee of the DESA hydroelectric 
company, a former security chief for the company who was an ex-U.S.-
trained army lieutenant, another U.S.-trained special forces major, and 
a former special forces sergeant, were arrested and convicted. Yet more 
than 3 years after that horrific crime, none of them has been 
sentenced. The prosecution of an eighth individual, David Castillo, the 
former DESA president who was also a U.S.-trained former military 
intelligence officer, has been stalled for months. It is also widely 
believed that there are other coconspirators who have not been charged. 
Scores of similar assassinations of social activists and independent 
journalists in the past 10 years have never even been investigated, 
much less resulted in prosecution or punishment. By its inaction, the 
Honduran Government is sending the unmistakable message that impunity 
for these crimes is acceptable.
  For many years, Vermont and Honduras were ``sister states.'' I have 
traveled there, as have many Vermonters, including some who have served 
as volunteers providing primary health care, education, and other 
humanitarian services to isolated rural communities. So I have a 
longstanding interest in Honduras and its people, and over the years I 
have supported hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance for 
Honduras.
  Yet today Honduras faces every imaginable problem. It is a 
transshipment point for Colombian cocaine and a haven for ruthless drug 
gangs. Millions of Hondurans live in dangerous, squalid conditions with 
no hope for the future. The police have a history of corruption and are 
mistrusted. Violent crimes are common and almost never result in 
conviction. And the government is plagued by corruption, its officials 
often seeming to be more concerned with staying in power and enriching 
themselves than addressing the needs of their people.
  Why is this? There are obviously many factors, but one is undoubtedly 
a failure of leadership in Honduras and in the United States. For too 
long, successive U.S. administrations made excuses for and continued to 
support Honduran Governments that were corrupt, ineffective, 
unaccountable, and whose commitment to fundamental rights and 
democratic principles was lacking. It was a waste of U.S. taxpayer 
dollars and a disservice to the Honduran people.
  In a reversal, the White House has suspended assistance for Honduras 
and the other Northern Triangle countries because President Trump says 
they have not done enough to stop the exodus of migrants. The President 
seems to believe that the Honduran Government should somehow prevent 
its citizens from leaving, even though they have a legal right to. At 
the same time, there is no doubt that the Honduran Government can and 
must do far more to address the violence, poverty, corruption, and 
injustice that cause people to seek refuge elsewhere. That includes 
firing corrupt officials, enacting and implementing the plea bargaining 
legislation that has been pending for years, strengthening the Mission 
to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity instead of 
weakening it, as the Honduran Government is trying, and defending civil 
society activists who are frequently harassed, threatened, arbitrarily 
arrested, and even assassinated.
  The United States has not had an Ambassador in Tegucigalpa for more 
than 2 years. The message this sends to the Honduran people is that it 
doesn't matter, that Honduras is not important. That is wrong. We need 
an ambassador who is a strong voice for good governance, for human 
rights, for accountability, and for defending the independence of the 
judiciary and other democratic institutions against fraud, 
exploitation, or improper influence.
  Those who were involved in conceiving, carrying out, and attempting 
to cover up the assassination of Berta Caceres should be brought to 
justice without further delay. The Honduran people also need to see 
justice done in the cases of excessive, deadly force against protesters 
by Honduran military police following the 2017 election. There needs to 
be fair trials of the protesters who were arrested and who have 
languished in jail without due process for a year and a half. Justice 
delayed is justice denied YET, unfortunately, that is the norm in 
Honduras.
  Finally, it is the Honduran Government's urgent responsibility to 
take whatever steps are necessary to reform Honduras election laws and 
procedures. The Honduran people need to have confidence that the next 
election--only 2\1/2\ years away--will be unlike the 2017 election, 
free and fair and will not result in more social upheaval, more 
excessive force by the police, more impunity, and a further exodus of 
people seeking safety and a better life.

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