[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10798]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON EFFORTS TO CONTROL GUN VIOLENCE 
                              IN GUATEMALA

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign 
Relations Committee be discharged from consideration of S. Res. 155 and 
that the Senate proceed to its consideration.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 155) expressing the sense of the 
     Senate on efforts to control violence and strengthen the rule 
     of law in Guatemala.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, and that any statements relating thereto be 
printed in the Record as if read.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 155) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 155

       Whereas warring parties in Guatemala ended a 36-year 
     internal armed conflict with a peace agreement in 1996, but 
     the country has since faced alarming levels of violence, 
     organized crime, and corruption;
       Whereas the alleged involvement of senior officials of the 
     National Civilian Police in the murder of three Salvadoran 
     parliamentarians and their driver, and the subsequent killing 
     of four of the police officers while in custody underscored 
     the need to purge and strengthen law enforcement and judicial 
     institutions in Guatemala;
       Whereas high-level officials of the Government of Guatemala 
     have acknowledged the infiltration of organized criminal 
     networks into the state apparatus and the difficulty of 
     combating these networks when they are deeply entrenched in 
     public institutions;
       Whereas, in its 2006 Country Report on Human Rights 
     Practices in Guatemala, the Department of State noted that 
     police corruption was a serious problem in Guatemala and that 
     there were credible allegations of involvement by individual 
     police officers in criminal activity, including rapes, 
     killings, and kidnappings;
       Whereas, in its most recent report on Guatemala, the United 
     Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights notes that 
     impunity continues to undermine the credibility of the 
     justice system in Guatemala and that the justice system is 
     still too weak to confront organized crime and its powerful 
     structures; and
       Whereas, the Government of Guatemala and the United Nations 
     signed an agreement on December 12, 2006, to establish the 
     International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala 
     (Comision Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala--
     CICIG), to assist local authorities in investigating and 
     dismantling the illegal security groups and clandestine 
     organizations that continue to operate in Guatemala: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That--
       (1) it is the sense of the Senate that the International 
     Commission against Impunity in Guatemala is an innovative 
     mechanism to support local efforts to confront the entrenched 
     and dangerous problem posed by illegal armed groups and 
     clandestine security organizations in Guatemala and their 
     infiltration into state institutions;
       (2) the Senate commends the Government of Guatemala, local 
     civil society organizations, and the United Nations for such 
     a creative effort;
       (3) the Senate encourages the Guatemalan Congress to enact 
     necessary legislation required to implement the International 
     Commission against Impunity in Guatemala and other pending 
     legislation needed to fulfill the 1996 peace agreement;
       (4) the Senate calls on the Government of Guatemala and all 
     sectors of society in Guatemala to unreservedly support the 
     investigation and prosecution of illegal armed groups and 
     clandestine security organizations; and
       (5) the Senate reiterates its commitment to support the 
     Government of Guatemala in its efforts to strengthen the rule 
     of law in that country, including the dismantling of the 
     clandestine groups, the purging of the police and judicial 
     institutions, and the implementation of key justice and 
     police reforms.

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