[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).
                                 ______