June 11, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 97 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S3324-S3325]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

     SENATE RESOLUTION 244--EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR FREE, FAIR, AND 
TRANSPARENT ELECTIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA IN ORDER TO INCREASE 
    PROSPERITY, SECURITY, AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR ALL GUATEMALANS

  Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Brown, Mr. 
Booker, and Mr. Van Hollen) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 244

       Whereas Guatemala will hold general elections on June 16, 
     2019, and more than 7,600,000 Guatemalans are registered to 
     vote for their next president, vice president, congressional 
     representatives, and more than 300 mayors around the country;
       Whereas, in the process leading up to the elections in 
     Guatemala, there have been a series of troubling developments 
     related to presidential candidates, with 6 of the 24 
     candidates facing allegations related to illicit activities, 
     and at least 4 candidates having been excluded from the race;
       Whereas, on April 17, 2019, Mario Estrada, a Guatemalan 
     presidential candidate with the center-right National Change 
     Union political party, was arrested in the United States and 
     charged by the Department of Justice with conspiring to 
     import cocaine into the United States, soliciting millions of 
     dollars from the Sinaloa Drug Cartel, and other firearms 
     offenses;
       Whereas the case of Mario Estrada highlights the existence 
     of linkages between certain Guatemalan political actors and 
     transnational criminal organizations, and

[[Page S3325]]

     the manner in which such criminal organizations have sought 
     to influence the Guatemalan political system;
       Whereas, on May 15, 2019, a Guatemalan court issued a 
     politically motivated ruling that Thelma Aldana--Guatemala's 
     former Attorney General who led efforts to tackle corruption 
     in Guatemala--was ineligible to run in Guatemala's 
     presidential election;
       Whereas, according to Guatemalan media, approximately 150 
     candidates running for a seat in Guatemala's legislature have 
     been cited with irregularities, including having received 
     suspicious government contracts, not meeting electoral 
     requirements, and possible linkages to narcotics trafficking;
       Whereas Guatemala has a long history of debilitating 
     corruption due to the pervasive influence of narcotics 
     trafficking and organized crime, with the Department of State 
     estimating earlier this decade that as much as 80 percent of 
     the cocaine that eventually reached the United States had 
     passed through Guatemala;
       Whereas Guatemala's endemic corruption and criminality led 
     to the 2006 agreement that established the United Nations 
     International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala 
     (CICIG) as an independent body tasked with working with the 
     Public Ministry to combat corruption, organized crime, and 
     institutional impunity;
       Whereas the United States Government provided considerable 
     funding and political support for CICIG during both 
     Republican and Democratic administrations, yet the Trump 
     Administration has been notably silent on President Morales' 
     efforts to undermine CICIG;
       Whereas a May 2019 report to Congress by the Department of 
     State report stated that Guatemala, with the support of CICIG 
     since 2007, previously took steps ``to root out clandestine 
     networks of corrupt actors, including the uncovering of a 
     massive corruption scheme in 2015 led by former President 
     Perez-Molina and former Vice President Baldetti'';
       Whereas the May 2019 report also noted setbacks to 
     Guatemala's fight against corruption and stated that ``since 
     announcing in 2018 it would not renew the [CICIG's] mandate, 
     the Guatemalan Government has impeded anti-corruption 
     efforts, attacked judicial independence, and misused U.S.-
     donated equipment'';
       Whereas setbacks to the fight against corruption weaken the 
     rule of law and democratic governance in Guatemala;
       Whereas weak rule of law, violence, corruption, human 
     rights abuses, impunity, and failure to take effective 
     actions to ameliorate widespread poverty in Guatemala 
     contribute to the outflow of refugees and migrants towards 
     the United States, including the more than 165,000 Guatemalan 
     nationals who have been apprehended on the United States-
     Mexico border during the current fiscal year alone;
       Whereas it is in the strategic interest of the United 
     States to support free, fair, and transparent elections and 
     encourage continued efforts to strengthen the rule of law and 
     democratic governance in Guatemala; and
       Whereas the Trump Administration announced in March 2019 
     that it will reprogram United States assistance for 
     Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, thereby undermining the 
     ability of the United States Government to address challenges 
     to security, the rule of law, and economic development in the 
     Northern Triangle of Central America: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) supports the people of Guatemala as they prepare to 
     exercise their fundamental democratic right to vote in their 
     country's upcoming June 16, 2019, general elections;
       (2) encourages all Guatemalan political actors and 
     institutions to take continued steps to uphold a free, fair, 
     and transparent electoral process;
       (3) expresses grave concerns about--
       (A) the involvement of certain Guatemalan presidential 
     candidates in illicit activities;
       (B) efforts by international criminal organizations to 
     influence the Guatemalan political system;
       (C) the politically motivated disqualification of certain 
     competitive, independent candidates in order to restrict the 
     choices available to the people of Guatemala; and
       (D) ongoing evidence of corruption of officials that 
     permitted an estimated 1400 metric tons of cocaine to pass 
     through Guatemala destined for the United States last year;
       (4) encourages Guatemalan presidential candidates to commit 
     to taking strong and sustained action following the election 
     to strengthen the rule of law, combat corruption and 
     impunity, and address human rights abuses and the underlying 
     conditions of poverty in the country;
       (5) urges the next president of Guatemala to take effective 
     steps to strengthen the rule of law, address the influence of 
     criminal organizations and drug cartels on Guatemala's 
     political system, and combat corruption and impunity, 
     including by reestablishing the mandate of the United Nations 
     International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala 
     (CICIG);
       (6) condemns the efforts of President of Guatemala Jimmy 
     Morales to expel and undermine CICIG;
       (7) expresses dismay about the Trump Administration's 
     failure to demonstrate America's commitment to democracy, 
     human rights, and the rule of law in Guatemala; and
       (8) opposes the Trump Administration's decision to 
     reprogram United States assistance to Guatemala, El Salvador, 
     and Honduras.

                          ____________________