I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5474 

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 

JUNE 14, 2016 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. SERRANO, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Rights in Honduras Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The Honduran police are widely established 

4 to be deeply corrupt and commit human rights 

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

6 murder, with impunity. 

7 (2) The New York Times revealed documents 

8 on April 15 indicating that top officials of the Hon9 duran police ordered the killings of drug-crime inves10 tigators Julia ́n Arı ́stides Gonza ́les and Alfredo 

11 Landaverde in 2009 and 2011, respectively, with the 

12 subsequent knowledge of top police and, evidently, 

13 high-ranking government officials. The Times sug14 gested in a subsequent article that the revelations 

15 were being manipulated by the President of Hon16 duras for his own corrupt purposes. 

17 (3) Individuals in the police with documented 

18 records of having committed gross human abuses 

19 with impunity continue to be appointed to top posi20 tions within the police. 

21 (4) International human rights bodies have re22 ported that the Honduran military and police com23 mit human rights abuses, including killings, with im24 punity. The Associated Press has documented death 

25 squad activity by police. Human Rights Watch re26 ports: ‘‘The use of lethal force by the national police 


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1 is a chronic problem. Investigations into the police 

2 abuses are marred by inefficiency and corruption, 

3 little information about them is made public; and 

4 impunity is the rule.’’. 

5 (5) The Department of State’s Honduran 

6 Human Rights Report for 2016 reports: ‘‘Impunity 

7 remains a serious problem, with prosecution in cases 

8 of military and police officials charged with human 

9 rights violations moving too slowly or remaining in10 conclusive.’’. 

11 (6) Repeated efforts to clean up the Honduran 

12 police have failed. 

13 (7) Human Rights Action documented the Fif14 teenth Battalion of the Honduran Armed Forces al15 legedly participated with police and private security 

16 forces in some of the killings of over 100 small-farm17 er activists in the Agua ́n Valley beginning in 2000. 

18 Human Rights Watch confirms that the killings of 

19 Agua ́n farmers were met with no consequences. 

20 (8) Further examples abound of human rights 

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

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

23 Lenca Indigenous activist, and injured his son while 

24 they were peacefully protesting a dam project; in 

25 May 2014, nine members of the Ninth Infantry reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Jun 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5474.IH H5474

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1 portedly tortured and killed Amado Maradiaga 

2 Quiroz and tortured his son, Milton Noe Maradiaga 

3 Varela. The cases remain unresolved. In a recent 

4 emblematic case, on December 27, 2015, the Hon5 duran Navy reportedly killed Joel Palacios Lino and 

6 Elvis Armando Garcı ́a, two Garı ́funa Afro-Indige7 nous men who were engaged in digging a car out of 

8 the sand on a beach. 

9 (9) The current Government of Honduras has 

10 expanded the military’s reach into domestic policing, 

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

12 Police in clear violation of the Honduran constitu13 tion and with disastrous results, including the 

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

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

16 2014, after they had passed unarmed through check17 points. Since the creation of the Military Police ‘‘al18 legations of human rights abuses by the military 

19 have increased notably’’, reports Human Rights 

20 Watch. 

21 (10) The Honduran judicial system has been 

22 widely documented to be rife with corruption. 

23 Judges, prosecutors and other officials are inter24 connected with organized crime and drug traffickers, 

25 contributing to near-complete immunity. 


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1 (11) The Department of State in its 2015 

2 Human Rights Report for Honduras reports ‘‘cor3 ruption, intimidation, and institutional weakness of 

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

5 (12) Summarizing the situation, Human Rights 

6 Watch reports in 2016 that ‘‘Rampant crime and 

7 impunity for human rights abuses remain the norm 

8 in Honduras . . . Efforts to reform the institutions 

9 responsible for providing public security have made 

10 little progress. Marred by corruption and abuse, the 

11 judiciary and police remain largely ineffective.’’. 

12 (13) The March 3, 2016, assassination of 

13 prominent Lenca Indigenous and environmental ac14 tivist Berta Ca ́ceres, world-renowned recipient of the 

15 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her work 

16 defending Indigenous land rights against a hydro17 electric dam project, illustrates the human rights cri18 sis in Honduras, and the deep complicity of the 

19 Honduran government. Ca ́ceres, the leader of 

20 COPINH, the Council of Indigenous and Popular 

21 Organizations of Honduras, had reported to authori22 ties 33 threats previous to her killing, but none had 

23 been investigated, and the government had failed to 

24 provide adequate protection measures as mandated 

25 by the Inter-American Commission on Human 


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1 Rights, with protection by Honduran security being 

2 withdrawn the day of her death. 

3 (14) Five suspects have been arrested in the 

4 killing of Ca ́ceres, one of whom is a current officer 

5 in the military and two others are retired military. 

6 These arrests raise serious questions about the role 

7 of the Honduran military in her assassination, in8 cluding the chain of command within the military as 

9 well as the identity of the true authors of the assas10 sination. 

11 (15) Despite calls from 62 Members of Con12 gress, members of the family of Berta Ca ́ceres, 

13 COPINH, leaders of the European Union, the Vati14 can Pontifical Council on Peace and Justice, and 

15 many others, the Honduran government has not per16 mitted the Inter-American Commission on Human 

17 rights to conduct an independent investigation of the 

18 case. 

19 (16) In this context of corruption and human 

20 rights abuses, trade unionists, journalists, lawyers, 

21 Afro-Indigenous activists, Indigenous activists, 

22 small-farmer activists, LGBTI activists, human 

23 rights defenders, and critics of the government re24 main at severe risk; and previous human rights 

25 abuses against them remain largely unpunished. 


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1 (17) The May 2, 2016, shooting of prominent 

2 opposition journalist Fe ́lix Molina illustrates the con3 tinued risk facing activists. Hours before he was 

4 shot, Molina had posted information potentially link5 ing Ca ́ceres’s killing to a top government official, 

6 members of an elite family, and one of the prosecu7 tors in the case. 

8 (18) The 2016 Appropriations Act allocates ap9 proximately $18,000,000 to the Honduran police 

10 and military, in addition to funding in the 2016 Na11 tional Defense Appropriations Act; the President’s 

12 funding request for fiscal year 2017 calls for an in13 crease in security funding for Honduras. 

14 (19) The Inter-American Development Bank in 

15 2012 lent $59,800,000 to the Honduran police, with 

16 the United States approval. 

17 SEC. 3. SUSPENSION AND RESTRICTIONS OF SECURITY AID 

18 EXTENDED TO REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS UN19 LESS CERTAIN CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN MET. 

20 (a) SUSPENSION OF SECURITY ASSISTANCE.—No 

21 funds may be made available to the Republic of Honduras 

22 for the police and military, including funds for equipment 

23 and training. 

24 (b) LOANS FROM MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT

25 BANKS.—The Department of the Treasury shall be inVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Jun 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5474.IH H5474

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1 structed to vote no on any and all loans to the Republic 

2 of Honduras for its police and military. 

3 SEC. 4. CONDITIONS FOR LIFTING SUSPENSIONS AND RE4 STRICTIONS. 

5 The provisions of this Act shall terminate on the date 

6 on which the Department of State determines and certifies 

7 to the appropriate congressional committees that the Gov8 ernment of Honduras has— 

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

10 and obtain a verdict of those who ordered and car11 ried out— 

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

13 Ca ́ceres; 

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

15 activists in the Agua ́n Valley; 

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

17 Joel Palacios Lino and Elvis Armando Garcı ́a; 

18 and 

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

20 Fe ́lix Molina; 

21 (2) investigated and successfully prosecuted 

22 members of military and police forces who are 

23 credibly found to have violated human rights, and 

24 ensured that the military and police cooperated in 

25 such cases, and that such violations have ceased; 


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1 (3) withdrawn the military from domestic polic2 ing, in accordance with the Honduran Constitution, 

3 and ensured that all domestic police functions are 

4 separated from the command and control of the 

5 Armed Forces of Honduras and are instead directly 

6 responsible to civilian authority; 

7 (4) established that it protects effectively the 

8 rights of trade unionists; journalists; human rights 

9 defenders; Indigenous, Afro-Indigenous, small-farm10 er, and LGBTI activists; critics of the government; 

11 and other civil society activists to operate without in12 terference; and 

13 (5) taken effective steps to fully establish the 

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

15 is capable of investigating, prosecuting, and bringing 

16 to justice members of the police and military who 

17 have committed human rights abuses. 

Æ 


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