Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1945 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 28, 2019 Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SCHA- KOWSKY, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. MOORE, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. FOSTER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. PA- NETTA, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. OMAR, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. RUSH, Mr. TONKO, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LYNCH, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. POCAN, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. THOMP- SON of Mississippi, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. HIMES, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. BEYER, Mr. KIND, Mr. PAYNE, and Mr. TED LIEU of California) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee 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 jurisdiction of the committee con- cerned 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 06:33 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1945 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 police are widely established 8 to be deeply corrupt and commit human rights 9 abuses, including torture, rape, illegal detention, and 10 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 police with documented 23 records of having committed gross human rights 24 abuses with impunity continue to serve in, and be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:33 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1945 IH appointed and reappointed to high positions with the 1 police. Former general in the Armed Forces Julian 2 Pacheco Tinoco, the Minister of Security, was the 3 highest ranking official in charge of the repression 4 of protesters by the police following the November 5 27, 2017, election, and has been twice named in 6 United States Federal court as overseeing drug traf- 7 ficking. He was reappointed to his position by Presi- 8 dent Juan Orlando Herna´ndez in December 2018. 9 (4) Other individuals who previously served in 10 high-ranking positions and who are documented to 11 have committed gross human rights abuses continue 12 in impunity. 13 (5) International human rights bodies have re- 14 ported that the Honduran military and police com- 15 mit human rights abuses, including killings, with im- 16 punity. The Associated Press has documented death 17 squad activity by police. Human Rights Watch has 18 reported: ‘‘The use of lethal force by the national po- 19 lice is a chronic problem.’’. In its report for 2018 it 20 concluded that ‘‘Violent crime is rampant in Hon- 21 duras’’. It noted that: ‘‘Marred by corruption and 22 abuse, the judiciary and police remain largely inef- 23 fective. Impunity for crime and human rights abuses 24 is the norm.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:33 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1945 IH (6) The Department of State’s 2018 Human 1 Rights Report for Honduras reported: ‘‘Civilian au- 2 thorities at times did not maintain effective control 3 over the security forces.’’. It summarized: ‘‘The most 4 significant human rights issues included alleged ar- 5 bitrary and unlawful killings; a complaint of torture; 6 harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbi- 7 trary arrest or detention; unlawful interference with 8 privacy; killings of and threats to media members,’’ 9 and other issues. 10 (7) Repeated efforts to clean up the Honduran 11 police have largely failed. A recent commission 12 charged with cleaning up the police reports that it 13 has cleaned up over 5,000 members, but the great 14 majority of those were separated for reasons of re- 15 structuring, retirements, or disabilities. Only ap- 16 proximately 100 cases of alleged criminal activity 17 have been forwarded to the Public Ministry for pros- 18 ecution. Few of those are being prosecuted. The ac- 19 tions and results of the police cleanup commission 20 have not been independently verified, moreover, and 21 its directors include Julian Pacheco Tinoco, the Min- 22 ister of Security, named as a drug trafficker, and 23 Vilma Morales, one of the top two negotiators for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:33 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1945 IH the leader of the 2009 coup. Long-lasting, funda- 1 mental reform of the police still needs to be enacted. 2 (8) Evidence indicates that topmost officials in 3 charge of the police have been allegedly involved in 4 drug trafficking. The National Director of the Police 5 and his top two lieutenants have been documented 6 by the Associated Press to have previously partici- 7 pated in cocaine trafficking. Julian Pacheco Tinoco, 8 the Minister of Security, reappointed in December 9 2018, has been twice named in United States Fed- 10 eral court as overseeing drug trafficking. 11 (9) Rights Action has documented that the Fif- 12 teenth Battalion of the Honduran Armed Forces al- 13 legedly participated with police and private security 14 forces in some of the killings of over 100 small-farm- 15 er activists in the Agua´n Valley beginning in 2010. 16 In 2015, Human Rights Watch confirmed that the 17 killings of Agua´n farmers were met with no con- 18 sequences. To date there has been one confirmed 19 conviction of a private security guard. Assassinations 20 of key activists continue. In October 2016, Jose´ 21 Angel Flores, the president of the Unified 22 Campesino Movement of the Agua´n (MUCA), and 23 Silmer Dionisio George, another MUCA member, 24 were assassinated, with impunity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:33 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1945 IH (10) Further examples abound of human rights 1 abuses by the military: in July 2013 members of the 2 Armed Forces shot and killed Toma´s Garcı´a, a 3 Lenca Indigenous activist, and injured his son while 4 they were peacefully protesting a dam project; in 5 May 2014, nine members of the Ninth Infantry re- 6 portedly tortured and killed Amado Maradiaga 7 Quiroz and tortured his son, Milton Noe Maradiaga 8 Varela. The cases remain in impunity. In an em- 9 blematic case, on December 27, 2015, the Honduran 10 Navy reportedly killed Joel Palacios Lino and Elvis 11 Armando Garcı´a, two Garı´funa Afro-Indigenous men 12 who were engaged in digging a car out of the sand 13 on a beach. Ten members of the Honduran military 14 were convicted of the killing of these 2 men, under- 15 scoring that egregious human rights are committed 16 by state security forces. 17 (11) The current Government of Honduras has 18 expanded the military’s reach into domestic policing, 19 including the creation of a 4,300-member Military 20 Police in clear violation of the Honduran constitu- 21 tion and with disastrous results, including the 22 killings of a 15-year-old boy, Ebed Yanes, in 2012 23 and a student, Erlin Misael Carı´as Moncada, in 24 2014, after they had passed unarmed through check- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Apr 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1945 IH points, and the January 2, 2017, killing of 17-year- 1 old Edgardo Moreno Rodriquez. While one member 2 of the armed forces was convicted and sentenced in 3 the case of Yanes, the case of the United States- 4 trained colonel who allegedly subsequently ordered a 5 cover-up remains in impunity. Since the creation of 6 the Military Police, ‘‘allegations of human rights 7 abuses by the military have increased notably’’, re- 8 ports Human Rights Watch. The Military Police 9 now count 9 battalions and plan 2 additional battal- 10 ions. 11 (12) During the crisis that erupted following 12 the highly contested November 2017 Presidential 13 election, massive protests against electoral fraud and 14 the disputed re-election campaign of President Juan 15 Orlando Herna´ndez emerged throughout the coun- 16 try. The United Nations and the Committee of Fam- 17 ilies of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras 18 (COFADEH) have documented that in response, 19 Honduran state security forces killed at least 16 20 people, many of them protesters and bystanders; one 21 additional person remains forcibly disappeared by 22 state security forces. The great majority of the vic- 23 tims, according to the UN and COFADEH reports, 24 were killed by the Military Police. All these cases re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Apr 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 1945 IH main in impunity. In addition, 3 people accused of 1 crimes while protesting remain in prison awaiting 2 trial under dire, life-threatening conditions and a 3 fourth remains in exile. 4 (13) The Military Police continue to commit se- 5 rious human rights abuses. On November 30, 2017, 6 Daniel Isaac Varela, age 12, was wounded by mem- 7 bers of the military police in Comayagu¨ela during a 8 post-election demonstration while he was purchasing 9 candy with friends and the military opened fire. On 10 December 3, 2017, Manuel de Jesu´s Bautista Sal- 11 vador disappeared while held in detention by the 12 Military Police in Cofradı´a, Corte´s, and his where- 13 abouts remain unknown. 14 (14) The Honduran judicial system has been 15 widely documented to be rife with corruption. 16 Judges, prosecutors, and other officials are inter- 17 connected with organized crime and drug traffickers, 18 contributing to near-complete impunity. 19 (15) The Department of State in its 2018 20 Human Rights Report for Honduras reports that 21 ‘‘Corruption and impunity remained serious prob- 22 lems within the security forces.’’. It noted that ‘‘Im- 23 punity existed in many cases . . . as evidenced by 24 lengthy judicial processes, few convictions of per- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Apr 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 1945 IH petrators, and failures to prosecute intellectual au- 1 thors of crimes.’’. 2 (16) Overall, the judicial system remains inef- 3 fective and corrupt. The Department of State re- 4 ported for 2017 that it was ‘‘often ineffective, and 5 subject to intimidation, corruption, politicization and 6 patronage . . . Powerful special interests, including 7 organized crime groups, exercised influence on the 8 outcome of some court proceedings.’’. 9 (17) Summarizing the situation, Human Rights 10 Watch reported for 2018 that ‘‘Judges face inter- 11 ference from the executive branch and others, in- 12 cluding private actors with connections in govern- 13 ment.’’. It concludes: ‘‘Efforts to reform the institu- 14 tions responsible for providing public security have 15 made little progress. Married by corruption and 16 abuse, the judiciary and police remain largely inef- 17 fective.’’. 18 (18) The March 2, 2016, assassination of 19 prominent Lenca Indigenous and environmental ac- 20 tivist Berta Ca´ceres, world-renowned recipient of the 21 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her work 22 defending Indigenous land rights against a hydro- 23 electric dam project, illustrates the human rights cri- 24 sis in Honduras, and the deep complicity of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:33 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 1945 IH Honduran government. Ca´ceres, the leader of 1 COPINH, the Council of Indigenous and Popular 2 Organizations of Honduras, had reported to authori- 3 ties 33 threats previous to her killing, but none had 4 been investigated, and the government had failed to 5 provide adequate protection measures as mandated 6 by the Inter-American Commission on Human 7 Rights, with protection by Honduran security being 8 withdrawn the day of her death. 9 (19) As of November 2018, seven men have 10 been convicted in the killing of Ca´ceres. One of them 11 was an active duty officer in the military at the time 12 of his arrest and two others are former military. A 13 third former officer and the president of the DESA 14 Corporation, the dam construction company, has 15 been charged and is awaiting trial. The convictions 16 raise serious questions about the role of the Hon- 17 duran military in her assassination, including the 18 higher chain of command within the military as well 19 as the identity of the intellectual authors of the as- 20 sassination. Evidence in the documents in the case 21 file indicate that members of the Honduran elite 22 were responsible for ordering Ca´ceres’s assassina- 23 tion, and remain in impunity. Evidence also indi- 24 cates possible involvement of individuals of higher 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Apr 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1945.IH H1945 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 1945 IH rank in the military, but there is no indication that 1 prosecutors are investigating these individuals. 2 (20) The Government of Honduras continues to 3 unduly limit legally mandated access by Ms. 4 Ca´ceres’s family to participation in the prosecution 5 as permitted under Honduran law. 6 (21) In this context of corruption and human 7 rights [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]