IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 145 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the fight 

against corruption in Central America. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 

Mrs. TORRES (for herself, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. 

SIRES, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. POE of Texas, and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 

regarding the fight against corruption in Central America. 

Whereas according to Transparency International’s 2016 

Corruption Perception Index, the citizens of Honduras, 

Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama perceive high levels of government corruption; 

Whereas widespread corruption in Central America weakens 

citizens’ faith in public institutions, limits government capacity to advance development goals, and allows drug 

traffickers and other criminals to thrive; 

Whereas the International Commission against Impunity in 

Guatemala (CICIG) was created at the request of the 

Guatemalan Government in 2007, and has strengthened 


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•HRES 145 IH 

the capacity of Guatemalan institutions, especially the 

Office of the Attorney General, to combat corruption; 

Whereas the Office of the Attorney General of Guatemala, 

under the leadership of Thelma Aldana, and CICIG, 

under the leadership of Iva ́n Vela ́squez, have recently collaborated to investigate and prosecute a series of corruption cases involving high-level government officials, demonstrating that it is possible for governments in Central 

America to confront entrenched corruption, and that no 

one is above the law; 

Whereas the Attorney General of El Salvador, Douglas 

Mele ́ndez, has made significant progress in tackling corruption at the highest levels; 

Whereas after thousands of Hondurans joined street protests 

against corruption and in favor of an International Commission against Impunity in Honduras, the Honduran 

Government reached an agreement with the Organization 

of American States to create the Mission to Support the 

Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras 

(MACCIH); 

Whereas MACCIH, under the leadership of Juan Jime ́nez, 

has begun to assist the Office of the Attorney General of 

Honduras, under the leadership of Oscar Chinchilla, with 

the investigation into the more than $300,000,000 that 

was embezzled from the Institute of Social Security; and 

Whereas the leadership of CICIG and MACCIH and the attorneys general of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador have faced significant challenges, including credible 

threats against their lives, attempts to publicly discredit 

their work, or efforts to remove them from their posts: 

Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives, that— 

2 (1) combating corruption in the Northern Tri3 angle must remain a top policy priority for the 

4 United States in Central America; 

5 (2) the International Commission against Impu6 nity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the Mission to Sup7 port the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in 

8 Honduras (MACCIH) are important contributions to 

9 this effort; 

10 (3) the Government of Guatemala is urged to 

11 continue to cooperate with CICIG and the Govern12 ment of Honduras is urged to continue to cooperate 

13 with MACCIH; and 

14 (4) the Governments of Honduras, Guatemala, 

15 and El Salvador are urged to— 

16 (A) publicly support efforts to fight cor17 ruption; 

18 (B) respect the independence of the judi19 cial branch and the Office of the Attorney Gen20 eral; and 

21 (C) ensure that the Office of the Attorney 

22 General in each Northern Triangle country re23 ceives sufficient domestic budget allocations to 

24 carry out their core responsibilities and that 


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•HRES 145 IH 

1 budgeted funds are delivered in a timely man2 ner. 

Æ 


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