Urging the United States Secretary of State to take action regarding unpaid Peruvian agrarian reform bonds.

IV 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 289 Urging the United States Secretary of State to take action regarding unpaid Peruvian agrarian reform bonds. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 1, 2021 Mr. NORCROSS (for himself, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. RUPPERS- BERGER, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. KATKO, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. TURNER, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. SIRES, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. SUOZZI, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, and Mr. KEATING) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Urging the United States Secretary of State to take action regarding unpaid Peruvian agrarian reform bonds. Whereas, beginning in 1969, Peruvian General Juan Velasco Alvarado and his military government expropriated mil- lions of acres of agricultural land as part of a broad agrarian reform, and compensated thousands of land- holders with agrarian reform bonds; Whereas, in the 1980s and 1990s, Peru experienced severe hyperinflation and twice changed its currency, leaving the agrarian reform bonds worthless; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Apr 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR289.IH HR289 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 289 IH Whereas, during the 1980s, Peru defaulted on the agrarian reform bonds, and by 1992, Peru’s Government had ceased making payments on the agrarian reform bonds; Whereas Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal has repeatedly ruled that the agrarian reform bonds should be fully reim- bursed by the Peruvian Government; Whereas despite this court ruling, Peru has begun a process of payment to bondholders based on a valuation that is not consistent with the current value set by Peru’s Con- stitutional Tribunal in 2001; Whereas Peru values the agrarian reform bonds at only tens of millions of dollars, even though most outside estimates of the current value of the bonds range from between $1 billion and $10 billion; Whereas, since the 1990s, Peru has become one of Latin America’s fastest growing economies, with free-trade agreements with China and countries in Europe; Whereas Peruvian agrarian reform bonds are beneficially owned by institutional investors that include not fewer than 200 American State, municipal, union, and other pension funds located in at least 25 States; and Whereas the failure of the Peruvian Government to repay the agrarian reform bonds at their current value affects the retirement of over 5,000,000 United States pensioners: Now, therefore be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives urges 1 the Secretary of State to take action concerning unpaid 2 Peruvian agrarian reform bonds to ensure the retirement 3 security of over 5,000,000 United States pensioners across 4 the Nation, by encouraging the Peruvian Government to 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Apr 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR289.IH HR289 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 289 IH negotiate in good faith with United States bondholders, 1 including pension funds, regarding payment of the agrar- 2 ian reform bonds. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Apr 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR289.IH HR289 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS