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[Page S1837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GUATEMALA
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, for the past dozen years, the International
Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, with financial support from
the United States and other countries, has worked in collaboration with
Guatemala's Public Ministry. That partnership has enabled courageous
Guatemalan prosecutors to investigate and bring to trial cases they
never could have pursued without the international ``shield'' and
assistance provided by CICIG. It has also enabled courageous
constitutional court magistrates to defend Guatemala's weak judicial
institutions. In a country where throughout its history high-ranking
public officials, including senior military officers, and corporate
elites have enjoyed near total impunity for corrupt acts and violent
crimes, the Guatemalan people finally saw that justice is possible.
Not surprisingly, that collaboration encountered fierce opposition
from its inception. The same high-ranking officials and elites who
feared becoming the targets of corruption investigations sought to
curtail CICIG's role. Last year, that opposition culminated in
President Morales expelling the CICIG commissioner and subsequently
announcing that the agreement establishing CICIG would be terminated,
effective immediately. That announcement was made, without warning,
after months of negotiations between Guatemalan, UN, and U.S. officials
on reforms requested by the Morales government, which would have
established the position of Deputy Commissioner as well as certain
reporting and oversight requirements.
In response to that announcement, as well as other worrisome trends
in Guatemala, last week Senator Cardin and I, along with
Representatives Torres and McGovern, introduced legislation in the
Senate and House entitled the ``Guatemala Rule of Law Accountability
Act.'' Its purpose is to respond to the flagrant actions by the Morales
government to subvert the rule of law, including its campaign against
CICIG.
In fact, the Morales government lacks authority to unilaterally
curtail an agreement with the United Nations, a point that was made
clear by the UN Secretary General. CICIG's mandate continues in effect
until September 2019, at which point it may or may not be renewed.
However, I am concerned that there are some, including at the UN, who
believe CICIG should significantly reduce its activities and, for all
intents and purposes, fade into the sunset. This would mean that, for
the remaining 6 months of its current mandate, CICIG personnel would no
longer attend trials or engage in further investigations. Essentially,
CICIG would discontinue its public activities and its personnel would
be limited to preparing for the shutdown that would presumably occur in
September.
This is extremely worrisome for several reasons. First, donors would
be paying to simply keep the lights on. Second, CICIG would cease to
function half a year before the end of its mandate. This would be an
enormous waste of time and resources that could be used to continue
pursuing important cases and to ensure their proper hand-off to the
public ministry. Third, it would send a terrible message to the
Guatemalan people, especially to the families of the victims.
CICIG's work under Commissioner Ivan Velazquez has been important not
only for Guatemala, but for all of Central America. There are still
many cases under investigation. Abandoning these cases would be a grave
mistake. It would signal that the Morales government's tactics of
intimidation and obstruction of justice paid off. It would undermine
future anticorruption efforts in Guatemala, as well as send a terrible
message to anticorruption effort's in Honduras and fledgling efforts in
El Salvador. The United Nations and the international community have a
responsibility to do everything possible to prevent this result.
On a related topic, the Guatemalan Congress is about to debate, for
the third and final time, legislation to grant amnesty to former
military personnel who are charged with or convicted of war crimes and
crimes against humanity. If the amnesty legislation is approved, those
serving prison sentences will reportedly be released within 24 hours.
The Guatemalan Congress has long had a reputation for being corrupt,
and absolving military officers who engaged in heinous crimes is
clearly a payoff to obstruct justice and undermine the rule of law.
We remember that Guatemala was ravaged by three decades of an
internal armed conflict that included crimes of genocide. An estimated
200,000 people, mostly rural Mayan villagers, were killed, and,
according to the United Nations, more than 90 percent of those killings
were committed by the army. The peace accords that ended that disaster
were never implemented, and for decades, the victims of those crimes
were denied justice. Now the Guatemalan Congress, with the support of
President Morales, is on the verge of adding insult to injury by
freeing the few army officers who were sent to prison. If that happens,
the Guatemalan Government will join other pariah governments that fail
to uphold their most sacred obligation to provide security and justice
for their citizens.
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