Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1574 To suspend United States security assistance with Honduras until such time as human rights violations by Honduran security forces cease and their perpetrators are brought to justice. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 3, 2021 Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. OMAR, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KIND, Mr. KILMER, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MOULTON, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. OCASIO- CORTEZ, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. RUSH, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TONKO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. VARGAS, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To suspend United States security assistance with Honduras until such time as human rights violations by Honduran security forces cease and their perpetrators are brought to justice. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1574 IH Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Berta Ca´ceres Human 4 Rights in Honduras Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) The Honduran military and police are wide- 8 ly established to be deeply corrupt and commit 9 human rights abuses, including torture, rape, illegal 10 detention, and murder, with impunity. 11 (2) The New York Times revealed documents 12 on April 15, 2016, indicating that top officials of the 13 Honduran police ordered the killings of drug-crime 14 investigators Julia´n Arı´stides Gonza´les and Alfredo 15 Landaverde in 2009 and 2011, respectively, with the 16 subsequent knowledge of top police and, evidently, 17 high-ranking government officials. The Times sug- 18 gested in a subsequent article that the revelations 19 were being manipulated by the President of Hon- 20 duras for his own corrupt purposes. Both cases re- 21 main in impunity. 22 (3) Individuals in the military and police with 23 documented records of having committed gross 24 human rights abuses with impunity continue to serve 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1574 IH in, and be appointed and reappointed to high posi- 1 tions with state security forces. Former Army gen- 2 eral in the Armed Forces Julian Pacheco Tinoco, the 3 Minister of Security, was the highest ranking official 4 in charge of the repression of protesters by the po- 5 lice following the November 27, 2017, election, and 6 has been twice named in United States Federal 7 court as overseeing drug trafficking. He was re- 8 appointed to his position by President Juan Orlando 9 Herna´ndez in December 2018. 10 (4) Other individuals who previously served in 11 high-ranking positions and who are documented to 12 have committed gross human rights abuses continue 13 in impunity. In January 2021, United States Fed- 14 eral prosecutors filed new motions with the Depart- 15 ment of Justice in the Southern District of New 16 York that implicate senior military, police, political, 17 and business figures in laundering money, bribery, 18 and murder, including former head of National Po- 19 lice, Juan Carlos ‘‘El Tigre’’ Bonilla Valladares. 20 (5) International human rights bodies have re- 21 ported that the Honduran military and police com- 22 mit human rights abuses, including killings, with im- 23 punity. The Associated Press has documented death 24 squad activity by police. Human Rights Watch has 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1574 IH reported: ‘‘The use of lethal force by the national po- 1 lice is a chronic problem.’’. The United Nations 2 Working Group on Business and Human Rights 3 stated in 2019 that ‘‘numerous evictions, seeking to 4 allow business to operate, have been conducted with 5 the excessive use of force by police and military . . . 6 resulting in the loss of life and grave injury to peo- 7 ple’’. 8 (6) The Department of State’s 2019 Human 9 Rights Report for Honduras reported: ‘‘Civilian au- 10 thorities at times did not maintain effective control 11 over the security forces.’’. It summarized: ‘‘Signifi- 12 cant human rights issues included: unlawful or arbi- 13 trary killings, including extrajudicial killings; tor- 14 ture; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; 15 arbitrary arrest or detention.’’. In 2020, Human 16 Rights Watch reported that ‘‘Security forces com- 17 mitted abuses while enforcing a nationwide COVID– 18 19 lockdown that President Juan Orlando 19 Herna´ndez imposed in March.’’. 20 (7) Repeated efforts to clean up the Honduran 21 police have largely failed. A recent commission 22 charged with cleaning up the police reports that it 23 has cleaned up over 5,000 members, but the great 24 majority of those were separated for reasons of re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1574 IH structuring, retirements, or disabilities. Only ap- 1 proximately 100 cases of alleged criminal activity 2 have been forwarded to the Public Ministry for pros- 3 ecution. Few of those are being prosecuted. The ac- 4 tions and results of the police cleanup commission 5 have not been independently verified, moreover, and 6 its directors include Julian Pacheco Tinoco, the Min- 7 ister of Security, named as a drug trafficker, and 8 Vilma Morales, one of the top two negotiators for 9 the leader of the 2009 coup. Long-lasting, funda- 10 mental reform of the police still needs to be enacted. 11 UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human 12 rights defenders determined that, ‘‘progress (on po- 13 lice clean up) is diminished by the involvement of 14 the armed forces in carrying out police functions and 15 maintaining public order since 2011’’. In its report 16 for 2020, Human Rights Watch concludes: ‘‘Efforts 17 to reform public-security institutions have stalled. 18 Marred by corruption and abuse, the judiciary and 19 police remain largely ineffective. Impunity for 20 human rights abuses, violent crime, and corruption 21 remains the norm’’. 22 (8) Evidence indicates that topmost officials in 23 charge of the police have been allegedly involved in 24 drug trafficking. The National Director of the Police 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1574 IH and his top two lieutenants have been documented 1 by the Associated Press to have previously partici- 2 pated in cocaine trafficking. Julian Pacheco Tinoco, 3 the Minister of Security, reappointed in December 4 2018, has been twice named in United States Fed- 5 eral court as overseeing drug trafficking. United 6 States Federal prosecutors have released documents 7 implicating Honduran President Juan Orlando 8 Herna´ndez in a drug trafficking and money laun- 9 dering conspiracy with his brother Juan Antonio 10 Herna´ndez. In October 2019, Tony Herna´ndez was 11 convicted of drug conspiracy in United States Fed- 12 eral Court. 13 (9) Human rights organizations have docu- 14 mented that the Fifteenth Battalion of the Hon- 15 duran Armed Forces allegedly participated with po- 16 lice and private security forces in some of the 17 killings of over 100 small-farmer, agrarian reform 18 activists in the Agua´n Valley beginning in 2010. In 19 2015, Human Rights Watch confirmed that the 20 killings of Agua´n farmers were met with no con- 21 sequences. To date there has been one confirmed 22 conviction of a private security guard. Assassinations 23 of key activists continue. In October 2016, Jose´ 24 Angel Flores, the president of the Unified 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1574 IH Campesino Movement of the Agua´n (MUCA), and 1 Silmer Dionisio George, another MUCA member, 2 were assassinated, with impunity. Local human 3 rights organizations report a chronic problem with 4 witness intimidation coupled with reports that the 5 identity of witnesses is leaked by police investigators. 6 Violence, threats, and criminalization of agrarian re- 7 form advocates in the region continues. 8 (10) Further examples abound of human rights 9 abuses by the military: in July 2013 members of the 10 Armed Forces shot and killed Toma´s Garcı´a, a 11 Lenca Indigenous activist, and injured his son while 12 they were peacefully protesting a dam project; in 13 May 2014, nine members of the Ninth Infantry re- 14 portedly tortured and killed Amado Maradiaga 15 Quiroz and tortured his son, Milton Noe Maradiaga 16 Varela. The case remains in impunity. In an em- 17 blematic case, on December 27, 2015, the Honduran 18 Navy reportedly killed Joel Palacios Lino and Elvis 19 Armando Garcı´a, two Garı´funa Afro-Indigenous men 20 who were engaged in digging a car out of the sand 21 on a beach. Ten members of the Honduran military 22 were convicted of the killing of these 2 men, under- 23 scoring that egregious human rights are committed 24 by state security forces. On June 20, 2019, Eblin 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1574 IH Noe Corea, a 17-year-old student leader was killed 1 by the military while participating in a protest with 2 the Platform in Defense of Health and Education. 3 On April 24, 2020, state security forces beat three 4 brothers in Omoa, Cortes, shooting two of them and 5 killing one after they were arbitrarily detained for 6 selling bread. A member of the Army assigned to the 7 Maya Chorti Task Force, is accused of the killing. 8 (11) The current Government of Honduras has 9 expanded the military’s reach into domestic policing, 10 including the creation of a 4,300-member Military 11 Police in clear violation of the Honduran constitu- 12 tion and with disastrous results, including the 13 killings of a 15-year-old boy, Ebed Yanes, in 2012 14 and a student, Erlin Misael Carı´as Moncada, in 15 2014, after they had passed unarmed through check- 16 points, and the January 2, 2017, killing of 17-year- 17 old Edgardo Moreno Rodriquez. While one member 18 of the armed forces was convicted and sentenced in 19 the case of Yanes, the case of the United States- 20 trained colonel who allegedly subsequently ordered a 21 cover-up remains in impunity. Since the creation of 22 the Military Police, ‘‘allegations of human rights 23 abuses by the military have increased notably’’, re- 24 ports Human Rights Watch. The Military Police 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1574 IH now count 9 battalions and plan 2 additional battal- 1 ions. 2 (12) During the crisis that erupted following 3 the highly contested November 2017 Presidential 4 election, massive protests against electoral fraud and 5 the constitutionality of disputed re-election campaign 6 of President Juan Orlando Herna´ndez emerged 7 throughout the country. The United Nations and the 8 Committee of Families of the Detained and Dis- 9 appeared in Honduras (COFADEH) have docu- 10 mented that in response, Honduran state security 11 forces killed at least 23 people, many of them pro- 12 testers and bystanders; one additional person re- 13 mains forcibly disappeared by state security forces. 14 The great majority of the victims, according to the 15 UN and COFADEH reports, were killed by the Mili- 16 tary Police. All these cases remain in impunity. In 17 addition, 3 people accused of crimes while protesting 18 were imprisoned for 2 years while awaiting trial 19 under dire, life-threatening conditions; 3 years later 20 they continue to be subjected to criminal proceedings 21 characterized by procedural delays and obstruction 22 of fundamental rights including the right to work. A 23 fourth remains in exile. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1574 IH (13) The Military Police continue to commit se- 1 rious human rights abuses. On November 30, 2017, 2 Daniel Isaac Varela, age 12, was wounded by mem- 3 bers of the military police in Comayagu¨ela during a 4 post-election demonstration while he was purchasing 5 candy with friends and the military opened fire. On 6 December 3, 2017, Manuel de Jesu´s Bautista Sal- 7 vador disappeared while held in detention by the 8 Military Police in Cofradı´a, Corte´s, and his where- 9 abouts remain unknown. In response to the COVID– 10 19 pandemic, the Government of Honduras declared 11 a state of emergency in March 2020 authorizing a 12 militarized lockdown and suspension of constitu- 13 tional guarantees resulting in an ‘‘alarming in- 14 crease’’ in human rights violations by state security 15 forces, including attacks on human rights defenders, 16 journalists, and citizens protesting for food. 17 COFADEH reports that with militarization of the 18 country, there has been a reactivation of death 19 squads resulting in 17 forced disappearances in 20 2020. 21 (14) The Honduran judicial system has been 22 widely documented to be rife with corruption. 23 Judges, prosecutors, and other officials are inter- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Apr 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1574.IH H1574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1574 IH connected with organized crime and drug traffickers, 1 contributing to near-complete impunity. 2 (15) The Department of State in its 2019 3 Human Rights Report for Honduras reports that 4 ‘‘there were several reports that the government or 5 its agents commi [Text truncated for display. 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