I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1299 

To suspend United States security assistance with Honduras until such time 

as human rights violations by Honduran security forces cease and their 

perpetrators are brought to justice. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 2, 2017 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. 

SERRANO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. LEE, Mrs. DAVIS of 

California, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. MOORE, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. LIPINSKI, 

Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. POCAN, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. 

BONAMICI, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. RUSH, Mr. TONKO, and Mr. GRIJALVA) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To suspend United States security assistance with Honduras 

until such time as human rights violations by Honduran 

security forces cease and their perpetrators are brought 

to justice. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1299 IH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Berta Ca ́ceres Human 

3 Rights in Honduras Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The Honduran police are widely established 

7 to be deeply corrupt and commit human rights 

8 abuses, including torture, rape, illegal detention, and 

9 murder, with impunity. 

10 (2) The New York Times revealed documents 

11 on April 15, 2016, indicating that top officials of the 

12 Honduran police ordered the killings of drug-crime 

13 investigators Julia ́n Arı ́stides Gonza ́les and Alfredo 

14 Landaverde in 2009 and 2011, respectively, with the 

15 subsequent knowledge of top police and, evidently, 

16 high-ranking government officials. The Times sug17 gested in a subsequent article that the revelations 

18 were being manipulated by the President of Hon19 duras for his own corrupt purposes. 

20 (3) Individuals in the police with documented 

21 records of having committed gross human abuses 

22 with impunity continue to be appointed to high posi23 tions within the police. 

24 (4) International human rights bodies have re25 ported that the Honduran military and police com26 mit human rights abuses, including killings, with imVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:01 Mar 07, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299

sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1299 IH

1 punity. The Associated Press has documented death 

2 squad activity by police. Human Rights Watch re3 ports: ‘‘The use of lethal force by the national police 

4 is a chronic problem. Investigations into the police 

5 abuses are marred by inefficiency and corruption, 

6 little information about them is made public; and 

7 impunity is the rule.’’. 

8 (5) The Department of State’s Honduran 

9 Human Rights Report for 2016 reports: ‘‘Impunity 

10 remains a serious problem, with prosecution in cases 

11 of military and police officials charged with human 

12 rights violations moving too slowly or remaining in13 conclusive.’’. 

14 (6) Repeated efforts to clean up the Honduran 

15 police have largely failed. A recent commission to 

16 clean up the police reports that it has separated a 

17 number of police. However, to date there has been 

18 minimal and only token progress in effectively pros19 ecuting members of the police involved in corruption 

20 and human rights abuses, and the reported separa21 tions have not been independently verified. More22 over, long-lasting, fundamental reform of the police 

23 still needs to be enacted. 

24 (7) Rights Action documented the Fifteenth 

25 Battalion of the Honduran Armed Forces allegedly 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1299 IH

1 participated with police and private security forces 

2 in some of the killings of over 100 small-farmer ac3 tivists in the Agua ́n Valley beginning in 2000. In 

4 2015, Human Rights Watch confirmed that the 

5 killings of Agua ́n farmers were met with no con6 sequences. To date there has been one confirmed 

7 conviction of a private actor. Assassinations of key 

8 activists continue. In October 2016, Jose ́ Angel Flo9 res, the president of the Unified Campesino Move10 ment of the Agua ́n (MUCA), and Silmer Dionisio 

11 George, another MUCA member, were assassinated. 

12 (8) Further examples abound of human rights 

13 abuses by the military: in July 2013 members of the 

14 Armed Forces shot and killed Toma ́s Garcı ́a, a 

15 Lenca Indigenous activist, and injured his son while 

16 they were peacefully protesting a dam project; in 

17 May 2014, nine members of the Ninth Infantry re18 portedly tortured and killed Amado Maradiaga 

19 Quiroz and tortured his son, Milton Noe Maradiaga 

20 Varela. The cases remain unresolved. In a recent 

21 emblematic case, on December 27, 2015, the Hon22 duran Navy reportedly killed Joel Palacios Lino and 

23 Elvis Armando Garcı ́a, two Garı ́funa Afro-Indige24 nous men who were engaged in digging a car out of 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1299 IH

1 the sand on a beach. The case remains in impunity 

2 over a year later. 

3 (9) The current Government of Honduras has 

4 expanded the military’s reach into domestic policing, 

5 including the creation of a 3,000-member Military 

6 Police in clear violation of the Honduran constitu7 tion and with disastrous results, including the 

8 killings of a 15-year-old boy, Ebed Yanes, in 2012 

9 and a student, Erlin Misael Carı ́as Moncada, in 

10 2014, after they had passed unarmed through check11 points, and the January 2, 2017, killing of 17-year12 old Edgardo Moreno Rodriquez. Since the creation 

13 of the Military Police ‘‘allegations of human rights 

14 abuses by the military have increased notably’’, re15 ports Human Rights Watch. In 2016 the creation of 

16 two new battalions of the Military Police was an17 nounced. 

18 (10) The Honduran judicial system has been 

19 widely documented to be rife with corruption. 

20 Judges, prosecutors and other officials are inter21 connected with organized crime and drug traffickers, 

22 contributing to near-complete immunity. 

23 (11) The Department of State in its 2015 

24 Human Rights Report for Honduras reports ‘‘corVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:01 Mar 07, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299

sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 1299 IH

1 ruption, intimidation, and institutional weakness of 

2 the justice system leading to widespread impunity.’’. 

3 (12) Summarizing the situation, Human Rights 

4 Watch reports in 2016 that ‘‘Rampant crime and 

5 impunity for human rights abuses remain the norm 

6 in Honduras . . . Efforts to reform the institutions 

7 responsible for providing public security have made 

8 little progress. Marred by corruption and abuse, the 

9 judiciary and police remain largely ineffective.’’. 

10 (13) The March 2, 2016, assassination of 

11 prominent Lenca Indigenous and environmental ac12 tivist Berta Ca ́ceres, world-renowned recipient of the 

13 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her work 

14 defending Indigenous land rights against a hydro15 electric dam project, illustrates the human rights cri16 sis in Honduras, and the deep complicity of the 

17 Honduran government. Ca ́ceres, the leader of 

18 COPINH, the Council of Indigenous and Popular 

19 Organizations of Honduras, had reported to authori20 ties 33 threats previous to her killing, but none had 

21 been investigated, and the government had failed to 

22 provide adequate protection measures as mandated 

23 by the Inter-American Commission on Human 

24 Rights, with protection by Honduran security being 

25 withdrawn the day of her death. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 1299 IH

1 (14) As of February 2017, eight suspects, four 

2 of whom have ties to the Honduran military, have 

3 been arrested in the killing of Ca ́ceres, one of whom 

4 is a current officer in the military and three others 

5 are former military. These arrests raise serious 

6 questions about the role of the Honduran military in 

7 her assassination, including the chain of command 

8 within the military as well as the identity of the true 

9 authors of the assassination. 

10 (15) The Government of Honduras continues to 

11 unduly limit legally mandated access by Ms. Ca ́ceres’ 

12 family to the case file. In late September 2016, the 

13 original case file was allowed to leave the Public 

14 Ministry and was stolen. 

15 (16) Despite calls from 62 Members of Con16 gress, members of the family of Berta Ca ́ceres, 

17 COPINH, leaders of the European Union, the Vati18 can Pontifical Council on Peace and Justice, and 

19 many others, the Honduran government has not per20 mitted the Inter-American Commission on Human 

21 rights to conduct an independent investigation of the 

22 case. 

23 (17) In this context of corruption and human 

24 rights abuses, trade unionists, journalists, lawyers, 

25 Afro-Indigenous activists, Indigenous activists, 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 1299 IH

1 small-farmer activists, LGBTI activists, human 

2 rights defenders, and critics of the government re3 main at severe risk; and previous human rights 

4 abuses against them remain largely unpunished. 

5 (18) The May 2, 2016, shooting of prominent 

6 opposition journalist Fe ́lix Molina illustrates the con7 tinued risk facing activists. Hours before he was 

8 shot, Molina had posted information potentially link9 ing Ca ́ceres’s killing to a top government official, 

10 members of an elite family, and one of the prosecu11 tors in the case. 

12 (19) The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

13 2016 allocated approximately $18,000,000 to the 

14 Honduran police and military, in addition to the Na15 tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

16 2016 authorizing additional funding. The Adminis17 tration’s funding request for fiscal year 2017 also 

18 calls for an increase in security funding for Hon19 duras. 

20 (20) The Inter-American Development Bank in 

21 2012 lent $59,800,000 to the Honduran police, with 

22 United States approval. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 1299 IH

1 SEC. 3. SUSPENSION AND RESTRICTIONS OF SECURITY AS2 SISTANCE EXTENDED TO REPUBLIC OF HON3 DURAS UNLESS CERTAIN CONDITIONS HAVE 

4 BEEN MET. 

5 (a) SUSPENSION OF SECURITY ASSISTANCE.—No 

6 funds may be made available to provide assistance for the 

7 police or military of the Republic of Honduras, including 

8 assistance for equipment and training. 

9 (b) LOANS FROM MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT

10 BANKS.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct 

11 United States representatives at multilateral development 

12 banks to vote no on any loans for the police or military 

13 of the Republic of Honduras. 

14 SEC. 4. CONDITIONS FOR LIFTING SUSPENSIONS AND RE15 STRICTIONS. 

16 The provisions of this Act shall terminate on the date 

17 on which the Secretary of State determines and certifies 

18 to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep19 resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

20 the Senate that the Government of Honduras has— 

21 (1) pursued all legal avenues to bring to trial 

22 and obtain a verdict of those who ordered and car23 ried out— 

24 (A) the March 2, 2016, murder of Berta 

25 Ca ́ceres; 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 1299 IH

1 (B) the killings of over 100 small-farmer 

2 activists in the Agua ́n Valley; 

3 (C) the December 27, 2015, killings of 

4 Joel Palacios Lino and Elvis Armando Garcı ́a; 

5 and 

6 (D) the May 3, 2016, armed attack on 

7 Fe ́lix Molina; 

8 (2) investigated and successfully prosecuted 

9 members of military and police forces who are 

10 credibly found to have violated human rights, and 

11 ensured that the military and police cooperated in 

12 such cases, and that such violations have ceased; 

13 (3) withdrawn the military from domestic polic14 ing, in accordance with the Honduran Constitution, 

15 and ensured that all domestic police functions are 

16 separated from the command and control of the 

17 Armed Forces of Honduras and are instead directly 

18 responsible to civilian authority; 

19 (4) established that it protects effectively the 

20 rights of trade unionists, journalists, human rights 

21 defenders, Indigenous, Afro-Indigenous, small-farm22 er, and LGBTI activists, critics of the government, 

23 and other civil society activists to operate without in24 terference; and 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 1299 IH

1 (5) taken effective steps to fully establish the 

2 rule of a law and to guarantee a judicial system that 

3 is capable of investigating, prosecuting, and bringing 

4 to justice members of the police and military who 

5 have committed human rights abuses. 

Æ 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS