[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 120 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 120
Recognizing the Ninth Summit of the Americas and reaffirming the
commitment of the United States to a more prosperous, secure, and
democratic Western Hemisphere.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 17 (legislative day, March 16), 2021
Mr. Risch (for himself, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Kaine, and Mr.
Cassidy) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations
March 24, 2021
Reported by Mr. Menendez, without amendment and with an amendment to
the preamble
May 12, 2021
Considered and agreed to with an amended preamble
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the Ninth Summit of the Americas and reaffirming the
commitment of the United States to a more prosperous, secure, and
democratic Western Hemisphere.
Whereas the United States has pursued multiple collaborative initiatives to
advance the region's enduring and shared interest in a more secure,
prosperous, and democratic Western Hemisphere;
Whereas the United States will host the Ninth Summit of the Americas for the
first time since it hosted the inaugural Summit in Miami, Florida in
1994;
Whereas, since 1994, the Summit of the Americas is a valuable forum for
democratically elected heads of state and governments of the Western
Hemisphere to discuss common policy issues, affirm shared values, and
commit to concerted actions at the national and regional level to
address the novel and existing challenges facing the Americas;
Whereas the First and Second Summits of the Americas advanced commitments to
lower trade barriers, improve transparency and market access, and
facilitate economic integration, and, following those Summits, the
United States has signed free trade agreements with 12 of the 35
countries in the region;
Whereas, since 2018, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica,
Panama, Suriname, and Uruguay have signed Memorandums of Understanding
with the United States under the America Crece Program to leverage
private investment in energy and infrastructure projects and advance
economic prosperity, security, and good governance;
Whereas, during the 2018 Summit of the Americas, the United States announced
additional humanitarian assistance for Venezuelans who have fled their
country as a result of the political, economic, and security crises
created by the regime of Nicolas Maduro, including support for the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) response to assist
Venezuelan refugees in Colombia and Brazil;
Whereas Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and their involvement in
money laundering and the trafficking of people, narcotics, and weapons
in the region pose complex transnational threats to United States public
health and national security, as well as the stability of the Americas,
by undermining citizen security, basic human rights, the rule of law,
good governance, and economic development;
Whereas the United States has sought to improve regional security through
friendly and sustained relationships that build interoperability,
readiness, and capability with regional security partners, including
through programs such as Plan Colombia, the Merida Initiative, the
Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), and the Caribbean
Basin Initiative (CBI);
Whereas the pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (commonly referred to as
``COVID-19'') has had devastating health and socioeconomic consequences
for the states and peoples of the Americas that have--
(1) overwhelmed health systems;
(2) led to the worsening of economic conditions and contraction of
gross domestic product per capita;
(3) led to an increase in unemployment, especially for individuals
working in small- and medium-size businesses and large informal sectors
across the region, and a rise in the number of people living in poverty;
and
(4) created conditions that have strengthened the illicit activities of
criminal organizations;
Whereas the United States Government remains deeply concerned about the
negative, often predatory effects of China's growing political,
economic, military, and technological influence throughout the region,
including significant illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing
activities in the Southern Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Pacific Ocean and
opaque infrastructure investments that impose unsustainable financial
burdens on recipient countries, enable corruption, and undermine good
governance;
Whereas the United States Government is deeply concerned about the Government of
the Russian Federation's employment of a wide array of diplomatic,
military, intelligence, cyber, misinformation, and commercial tools to
undermine democratic systems in the region, including through its
deepening political, economic, and security support for the Maduro
regime in Venezuela;
Whereas the United States Government is deeply concerned about efforts by the
Government of Iran to expand its political, economic, and security
presence in the region, including through its deepening ties with the
Maduro regime in Venezuela;
Whereas the regimes of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Miguel Diaz-Canel in Cuba,
and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, have systematically eroded democratic
institutions, commit widespread human rights violations, draw lessons
from one another to sharpen state-sponsored repression and internal
control mechanisms, and receive the support of malign state and non-
state actors, which pose a challenge to United States national security
and national interests;
Whereas entrenched corruption, linkages between transnational criminal
organizations and political actors, and the harassment and murder of
journalists, human rights defenders, environmental activists, and civil
society leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean weaken citizens'
confidence in democracy and negatively affect United States national
interests; and
Whereas weak rule of law, elevated levels of criminal violence, and systemic
corruption in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras fuel irregular
migration that affects regional stability: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) commemorates the occasion of the United States hosting
the Ninth Summit of the Americas;
(2) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to
promote economic prosperity, security, and democratic
governance throughout the Americas; and
(3) calls on the President to lead a strong and coordinated
diplomatic effort during the Summit process to ensure the Ninth
Summit of the Americas--
(A) strengthens democratic governance by building
on the 2018 Lima Commitment to--
(i) reduce bureaucracy;
(ii) strengthen the independence of
judiciaries;
(iii) increase transparency through the use
of new technologies;
(iv) encourage private sector participation
in the formulation of public anti-corruption
policies;
(v) protect whistleblowers, journalists,
and law enforcement officials;
(vi) work towards preventing regional
financial systems from being used to transfer
and conceal illicit funds; and
(vii) identify resources to strengthen
hemispheric anticorruption mechanisms;
(B) strengthens post-COVID-19 pandemic economic
recovery efforts by outlining specific commitments to
deepen trade and investment integration throughout the
Americas and pursuing effective nearshoring and
reshoring initiatives;
(C) builds upon United States efforts to enhance
the institutional capacity and technical capabilities
of partner countries to strengthen the rule of law,
civilian security, respect of human rights, and
government transparency;
(D) builds upon United States efforts to enhance
regional cooperation to disrupt, degrade, and dismantle
malign state and non-state influences, including
transnational organized criminal networks, and
terrorist organizations;
(E) reinforces the capacity of member states to--
(i) implement actions and initiatives in
support of peaceful and democratic efforts of
the people of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela,
who desire to hold free and fair elections and
restore democratic order and the rule of law in
their respective countries; and
(ii) support the people of El Salvador,
Guatemala, and Honduras as they strive to
address weak democratic governance and the
elevated levels of corruption, violence, and
criminality that drive irregular migration; and
(F) explores a comprehensive approach to forced
displacement and migration challenges in the Western
Hemisphere, takes stock of humanitarian crises and
flashpoints in the region, and mobilizes member state
commitments to advocate for and support multilateral
humanitarian and development responses.
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