[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 244 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 11, 2019

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  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.

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 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 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.
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