[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 191 (Monday, November 1, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7543-S7544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 4072. Mr. MERKLEY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
to amendment SA 3867 submitted by Mr. Reed and intended to be proposed
to the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle G of title XII, add the following:
SEC. 1283. SUSPENSION OF CERTAIN UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO
HONDURAS.
(a) Prohibition on Commercial Export of Covered Defense
Articles and Services and Covered Munitions Items to the
Honduran Police or Military.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 30 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall prohibit the
issuance of licenses to export covered defense articles and
services and covered munitions items to the police or
military of the Republic of Honduras.
(2) Termination.--The prohibition under paragraph (1) shall
terminate on the date on which the President determines and
reports to the appropriate congressional committees that the
police or military of the Republic of Honduras have not
engaged in gross violations of human rights during the one-
year period ending on the date of such determination.
(3) Waiver.--The prohibition under paragraph (1) shall not
apply to the issuance of a license with respect to which the
President submits to the appropriate congressional committees
a written certification that the exports to be covered by
such license are important to the national interests and
foreign policy goals of the United States, including a
description of the manner in which such exports will promote
such interests and goals.
(4) Definitions.--In this subsection:
(A) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(i) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate; and
(ii) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
(B) Covered defense articles and services.--The term
``covered defense articles and services'' means defense
articles and defense services designated by the President
under section 38(a)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act (22
U.S.C. 2778(a)(1)).
(C) Covered munitions items.--The term ``covered munitions
items'' means tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, foam
rounds, bean bag rounds, pepper balls, water cannons,
handcuffs, shackles, stun guns, tasers, semi-automatic
firearms, and their associated munitions not included in the
definition under subparagraph (B).
(b) Suspension and Restrictions of Security Assistance
Extended to the Republic of Honduras Unless Certain
Conditions Are Met.--
(1) Suspension of security assistance.--No assistance may
be made available for the police or military of the Republic
of Honduras, including assistance for equipment and training.
(2) Loans from multilateral development banks and the
united states international development finance
corporation.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall--
(A) instruct United States representatives at multilateral
development banks to use their voice and vote to oppose any
loans for the police or military of the Republic of Honduras;
and
[[Page S7544]]
(B) instruct the United States Executive Director of each
international financial institution and the Chief Executive
Officer of the United States International Development
Finance Corporation to promote human rights due diligence and
risk management in connection with any loan, grant, policy,
or strategy related to the Republic of Honduras, in
accordance with the criteria specified in subsection 7029(d)
of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, 2020 (division G of Public Law
116-94; 133 Stat. 2863) and accompanying report.
(3) Conditions for lifting suspensions and restrictions.--
The provisions of this subsection shall terminate on the date
on which the Secretary of State determines and reports to the
Committees on Foreign Relations and Appropriations of the
Senate and the Committees on Foreign Affairs and
Appropriations of the House of Representatives that the
Government of Honduras has--
(A) pursued all legal avenues to bring to trial and obtain
a verdict of all those who ordered, carried out, and covered
up--
(i) the March 2, 2016, murder of Berta Caceres;
(ii) the killings of over 100 small-farmer activists in the
Aguan Valley;
(iii) the killings of 22 people and forced disappearance of
1 person by state security forces in the context of the 2017
post-electoral crisis;
(iv) the killings of at least 6 people by state security
forces in the context of anti-government demonstrations
between March and July of 2019;
(v) the killings of at least 21 journalists and media
workers between October 2016 and July 2020;
(vi) the July 18, 2020, forced disappearances of 4 Garifuna
community leaders from Triunfo de la Cruz; and
(vii) the December 26, 2020, killing of indigenous Lenca
leader and environmental activist Felix Vasquez at his home
in La Paz, and the December 29, 2020, killing of indigenous
Tolupan leader and environmental activist Adan Mejia in Yoro;
(B) investigated and successfully prosecuted members of
military and police forces who are credibly found to have
violated human rights and ensured that the military and
police cooperated in such cases, and that such violations
have ceased;
(C) withdrawn the military from domestic policing and
ensured that all domestic police functions are separated from
the command and control of the Armed Forces of Honduras and
are instead directly responsible to civilian authority;
(D) established that it protects effectively the rights of
trade unionists, journalists, small farmers, human rights and
environmental defenders, indigenous and Afro-indigenous
community members and rights activists, women's and LGBTQI
rights activists, critics of the government, and other
members of civil society to operate without interference or
repression; and
(E) taken effective steps to establish the rule of law and
to guarantee a judicial system that is capable of
investigating, prosecuting, and bringing to justice members
of the police and military who have committed human rights
abuses.
(c) Police or Military of the Republic of Honduras
Defined.--In this section, the term ``police or military of
the Republic of Honduras'' means--
(1) the Honduran National Police;
(2) the Honduran Armed Forces;
(3) the Military Police of Public Order of the Republic of
Honduras; or
(4) para-police or paramilitary elements, acting under
color of law or having received financing, training, orders,
intelligence, weapons, or other forms of material assistance
from the forces identified in paragraphs (1) through (3).
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