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[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 120 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 120

   Recognizing the Ninth Summit of the Americas and reaffirming the 
   commitment of the United States to a more prosperous, secure, and 
                     democratic Western Hemisphere.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

               March 17 (legislative day, March 16), 2021

  Mr. Risch (for himself, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Kaine, and Mr. 
Cassidy) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
   Recognizing the Ninth Summit of the Americas and reaffirming the 
   commitment of the United States to a more prosperous, secure, and 
                     democratic Western Hemisphere.

Whereas the United States has pursued multiple collaborative initiatives to 
        advance the region's enduring and shared interest in a more secure, 
        prosperous, and democratic Western Hemisphere;
Whereas the United States will host the Ninth Summit of the Americas for the 
        first time since it hosted the inaugural Summit in Miami, Florida in 
        1994;
Whereas, since 1994, the Summit of the Americas is a valuable forum for 
        democratically elected heads of state and governments of the Western 
        Hemisphere to discuss common policy issues, affirm shared values, and 
        commit to concerted actions at the national and regional level to 
        address the novel and existing challenges facing the Americas;
Whereas the First and Second Summits of the Americas advanced commitments to 
        lower trade barriers, improve transparency and market access, and 
        facilitate economic integration, and, following those Summits, the 
        United States has signed free trade agreements with 12 of the 35 
        countries in the region;
Whereas, since 2018, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El 
        Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Suriname, and 
        Uruguay have signed Memorandums of Understanding with the United States 
        under the America Crece Program to leverage private investment in energy 
        and infrastructure projects and advance economic prosperity, security, 
        and good governance;
Whereas, during the 2018 Summit of the Americas, the United States announced 
        additional humanitarian assistance for Venezuelans who have fled their 
        country as a result of the political, economic, and security crises 
        created by the regime of Nicolas Maduro, including support for the 
        United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) response to assist 
        Venezuelan refugees in Colombia and Brazil;
Whereas Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and their involvement in 
        money laundering and the trafficking of people, narcotics, and weapons 
        in the region pose complex transnational threats to United States public 
        health and national security, as well as the stability of the Americas, 
        by undermining citizen security, basic human rights, the rule of law, 
        good governance, and economic development;
Whereas the United States has sought to improve regional security through 
        friendly and sustained relationships that build interoperability, 
        readiness, and capability with regional security partners, including 
        through programs such as Plan Colombia, the Merida Initiative, the 
        Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), and the Caribbean 
        Basin Initiative (CBI);
Whereas the pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (commonly referred to as 
        ``COVID-19'') has had devastating health and socioeconomic consequences 
        for the states and peoples of the Americas that have--

    (1) overwhelmed health systems;

    (2) led to the worsening of economic conditions and contraction of 
gross domestic product per capita;

    (3) led to an increase in unemployment, especially for individuals 
working in small- and medium-size businesses and large informal sectors 
across the region, and a rise in the number of people living in poverty; 
and

    (4) created conditions that have strengthened the illicit activities of 
criminal organizations;

Whereas the United States Government remains deeply concerned about the 
        negative, often predatory effects of China's growing political, 
        economic, military, and technological influence throughout the region, 
        including significant illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing 
        activities in the Southern Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Pacific Ocean and 
        opaque infrastructure investments that impose unsustainable financial 
        burdens on recipient countries, enable corruption, and undermine good 
        governance;
Whereas the United States Government is deeply concerned about the Government of 
        the Russian Federation's employment of a wide array of diplomatic, 
        military, intelligence, cyber, misinformation, and commercial tools to 
        undermine democratic systems in the region, including through its 
        deepening political, economic, and security support for the Maduro 
        regime in Venezuela;
Whereas the United States Government is deeply concerned about efforts by the 
        Government of Iran to expand its political, economic, and security 
        presence in the region, including through its deepening ties with the 
        Maduro regime in Venezuela;
Whereas the regimes of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Miguel Diaz-Canel in Cuba, 
        and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, have systematically eroded democratic 
        institutions, commit widespread human rights violations, draw lessons 
        from one another to sharpen state-sponsored repression and internal 
        control mechanisms, and receive the support of malign state and non-
        state actors, which pose a challenge to United States national security 
        and national interests;
Whereas entrenched corruption, linkages between transnational criminal 
        organizations and political actors, and the harassment and murder of 
        journalists, human rights defenders, environmental activists, and civil 
        society leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean weaken citizens' 
        confidence in democracy and negatively affect United States national 
        interests; and
Whereas weak rule of law, elevated levels of criminal violence, and systemic 
        corruption in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras fuel irregular 
        migration that affects regional stability: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commemorates the occasion of the United States hosting 
        the Ninth Summit of the Americas;
            (2) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to 
        promote economic prosperity, security, and democratic 
        governance throughout the Americas; and
            (3) calls on the President to lead a strong and coordinated 
        diplomatic effort during the Summit process to ensure the Ninth 
        Summit of the Americas--
                    (A) strengthens democratic governance by building 
                on the 2018 Lima Commitment to--
                            (i) reduce bureaucracy;
                            (ii) strengthen the independence of 
                        judiciaries;
                            (iii) increase transparency through the use 
                        of new technologies;
                            (iv) encourage private sector participation 
                        in the formulation of public anti-corruption 
                        policies;
                            (v) protect whistleblowers, journalists, 
                        and law enforcement officials;
                            (vi) work towards preventing regional 
                        financial systems from being used to transfer 
                        and conceal illicit funds; and
                            (vii) identify resources to strengthen 
                        hemispheric anticorruption mechanisms;
                    (B) strengthens post-COVID-19 pandemic economic 
                recovery efforts by outlining specific commitments to 
                deepen trade and investment integration throughout the 
                Americas and pursuing effective nearshoring and 
                reshoring initiatives;
                    (C) builds upon United States efforts to enhance 
                the institutional capacity and technical capabilities 
                of partner countries to strengthen the rule of law, 
                civilian security, respect of human rights, and 
                government transparency;
                    (D) builds upon United States efforts to enhance 
                regional cooperation to disrupt, degrade, and dismantle 
                malign state and non-state influences, including 
                transnational organized criminal networks, and 
                terrorist organizations;
                    (E) reinforces the capacity of member states to--
                            (i) implement actions and initiatives in 
                        support of peaceful and democratic efforts of 
                        the people of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, 
                        who desire to hold free and fair elections and 
                        restore democratic order and the rule of law in 
                        their respective countries; and
                            (ii) support the people of El Salvador, 
                        Guatemala, and Honduras as they strive to 
                        address weak democratic governance and the 
                        elevated levels of corruption, violence, and 
                        criminality that drive irregular migration; and
                    (F) explores a comprehensive approach to forced 
                displacement and migration challenges in the Western 
                Hemisphere, takes stock of humanitarian crises and 
                flashpoints in the region, and mobilizes member state 
                commitments to advocate for and support multilateral 
                humanitarian and development responses.
                                 <all>
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