II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4285 

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, 

to encourage governments in the Americas to reinforce their commitments 

to the principles enshrined in the Inter-American Democratic Charter, 

to reaffirm the role of free and fair elections as a cornerstone of democracy, to address the challenges posed by disinformation and misinformation in the Americas, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 19 (legislative day, MAY 17), 2022 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. KAINE, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. 

CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Inter-American 

Democratic Charter, to encourage governments in the 

Americas to reinforce their commitments to the principles 

enshrined in the Inter-American Democratic Charter, to 

reaffirm the role of free and fair elections as a cornerstone of democracy, to address the challenges posed by 

disinformation and misinformation in the Americas, and 

for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Upholding the Inter3 American Democratic Charter Act of 2022’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) The Inter-American Democratic Charter 

7 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Charter’’), done 

8 at Lima September 11, 2001, established a set of 

9 shared democratic principles and norms among 

10 member states of the Organization of American 

11 States (referred to in this section as the ‘‘OAS’’), in12 cluding commitments to the separation of powers 

13 and independence of the branches of government, 

14 pluralistic systems of political parties and organiza15 tions, and free, transparent, and fair elections. 

16 (2) Articles 1 and 2 of the Charter recognize, 

17 respectively, that ‘‘[t]he peoples of the Americas 

18 have a right to democracy and their governments 

19 have an obligation to promote and defend it’’ and 

20 that ‘‘[t]he effective exercise of representative de21 mocracy is the basis for the rule of law and [con22 stitutional order in OAS member states]’’. 

23 (3) Article 3 of the Charter asserts that ‘‘access 

24 to and the exercise of power in accordance with the 

25 rule of law’’ and ‘‘the holding of periodic, free, and 

26 fair elections based on secret balloting and universal 


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1 suffrage as an expression of the sovereignty of the 

2 people’’ are essential elements of representative de3 mocracy. 

4 (4) Article 4 of the Charter states that 

5 ‘‘[t]ransparency in government activities, probity, re6 sponsible public administration on the part of gov7 ernments’’ and ‘‘freedom of expression and of the 

8 press’’ are also essential for the democratic func9 tioning of member states of the OAS. 

10 (5) Despite widespread advances in the consoli11 dation of democratic governance in the Americas, 

12 there remain deep and concerning challenges facing 

13 democracies throughout Latin America and the Car14 ibbean, including— 

15 (A) recurring incidents of significant elec16 toral irregularities and manipulation; 

17 (B) the extension and elimination of presi18 dential term limits; 

19 (C) the politicization of judicial systems 

20 and the expansion of executive powers and exec21 utive influence over the judiciary; 

22 (D) corruption and a lack of transparency, 

23 which hinders integral development in addition 

24 to weakening democratic institutions; and 


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1 (E) misinformation and disinformation dis2 seminated by foreign governments via tradi3 tional and digital media platforms that under4 mine faith in democratic institutions and elec5 tions. 

6 (6) Since 2016, there have been concerning lev7 els of irregularities in several electoral processes 

8 throughout the Americas, including— 

9 (A) the 2016 and 2021 general elections in 

10 Nicaragua; 

11 (B) the 2017 general elections in Hon12 duras; 

13 (C) the sham 2017 constituent assembly, 

14 2018 presidential, and 2020 national legislative 

15 elections in Venezuela; 

16 (D) the 2019 presidential elections in Bo17 livia; and 

18 (E) the 2020 general and regional elections 

19 in Guyana. 

20 (7) The November 6, 2016, general elections in 

21 Nicaragua were characterized by severe democratic 

22 deficiencies, including widespread limitations on the 

23 participation of opposition candidates, and the No24 vember 7, 2021, general elections in Nicaragua were 

25 characterized by similar deficiencies, including the 


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1 criminalization of the legitimate work of social orga2 nizations and political parties and the political im3 prisonment of potential opposition candidates, which 

4 consequently led the General Assembly of the OAS 

5 to pass a resolution approved by 25 countries declar6 ing that the 2021 elections ‘‘were not free, fair or 

7 transparent and have no democratic legitimacy’’. 

8 (8) Following the general elections in Honduras 

9 on November 26, 2017, the OAS Electoral Observa10 tion Mission reported that ‘‘[t]he tight margin of the 

11 results, and the irregularities, errors and systemic 

12 problems that . . . surrounded [the] election [did] 

13 not allow the Mission to hold certainty about the re14 sults’’, leading Secretary General of the OAS Luis 

15 Almagro to subsequently issue a statement noting 

16 that ‘‘the only possible way for the victor to be the 

17 people of Honduras is a new call for general elec18 tions’’. 

19 (9) The July 30, 2017, elections in Venezuela 

20 to establish a Constituent Assembly were widely de21 rided as fraudulent by the international community, 

22 with Smartmatic, the company that supplied Ven23 ezuela’s voting machines, stating that the regime 

24 manipulated the results by more than 1,000,000 

25 votes, and the May 20, 2018, presidential elections 


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1 in Venezuela were similarly deemed to be fraudulent 

2 and illegitimate, leading the OAS to invoke the 

3 Charter and declare that the elections did not com4 ply with international standards, permit the partici5 pation of all political actors, or satisfy conditions 

6 necessary to be considered a free, fair, transparent, 

7 and democratic process. 

8 (10) The Final Report of the OAS Electoral 

9 Observation Mission on the October 20, 2019, gen10 eral election in Bolivia, ‘‘Analysis of Electoral Integ11 rity General Elections in the Plurinational State of 

12 Bolivia’’, found widespread and conclusive evidence 

13 of manipulation through secret computer servers 

14 with the capacity to modify the results and tally 

15 sheets, which made it impossible for the Mission to 

16 have confidence in the election results. 

17 (11) In the aftermath of the 2020 general elec18 tions in Guyana, international observers from the 

19 OAS and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 

20 ‘‘unanimously agreed that there was no credible re21 sult’’ from Guyana’s general and regional elections 

22 held on March 2, 2020, which were marked by ‘‘fla23 grant tabulation irregularities’’. 

24 (12) Notwithstanding challenges in the region, 

25 several countries have held free and fair elections for 


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1 heads of state since 2020, including the countries of 

2 Belize, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, 

3 Ecuador, Honduras, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, 

4 Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Saint Vin5 cent and the Grenadines, which serve as examples 

6 for other countries in the region on conducting 

7 democratic electoral processes. 

8 (13) Transparency International’s seminal 2021 

9 report indicates that corruption, bolstered by wide10 spread impunity and attacks against the independ11 ence of the press and the judiciary, remains a sig12 nificant challenge to human rights and democratic 

13 governance in the Americas, with the region making 

14 insufficient progress in combating corruption be15 tween 2011 and 2021. 

16 (14) Additional steps are needed to strengthen 

17 confidence in a free press in Latin America, given 

18 that a study from Vanderbilt University in 2018 

shows that less than 1 19 ⁄2 of Latin Americans trust 

the press, down from 2 20 ⁄3 in 2004. 

21 (15) The growing challenges of disinformation, 

22 misinformation, and digital election interference 

23 across the Americas, and their potential to sow so24 cial discord and lower public trust in democratic inVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 May 27, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4285.IS S4285

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1 stitutions, pose significant risks to democratic gov2 ernance and the integrity of future elections. 

3 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that— 

5 (1) the 20th anniversary of the Inter-American 

6 Democratic Charter is an important hallmark in 

7 inter-American relations, and democracies in the 

8 Western Hemisphere should continue to uphold the 

9 democratic electoral norms and standards, prin10 ciples, and commitments enshrined in the Charter; 

11 (2) member states of the Organization of Amer12 ican States should continuously work to strengthen 

13 democratic institutions and practices, as well as eco14 nomic and political institutions that enable integral 

15 development, including by promoting transparency 

16 and combating corruption; 

17 (3) free, fair, and transparent elections are the 

18 foundation of representative democracy in the Amer19 icas; 

20 (4) the separation of powers and the defense of 

21 human rights, freedom of expression, and freedom of 

22 the press remain fundamental democratic principles 

23 in the Americas that must be respected; 

24 (5) member states of the Organization of Amer25 ican States should— 


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1 (A) strengthen processes for holding free, 

2 fair, and transparent elections; 

3 (B) defend the right of all of their citizens 

4 to peacefully assemble, campaign, participate, 

5 and vote in democratic elections; and 

6 (C) actively promote the dissemination of 

7 fact-based public information while cooperating 

8 with private media to identify and discourage 

9 the propagation of misinformation and 

10 disinformation surrounding civic life; and 

11 (6) the Secretary of State should work with the 

12 Organization of American States and member states 

13 of the Organization of American States— 

14 (A) to strengthen the integrity of electoral 

15 processes in the Americas, including by modern16 izing electoral observation methodologies to bet17 ter address the challenges posed by digital elec18 tion interference; 

19 (B) to promote quality independent jour20 nalism and media while strengthening institu21 tional capacity in the Americas to monitor and 

22 address disinformation and misinformation and 

23 the threats they pose to democratic governance, 

24 especially by the Russian Federation, the Peo25 ple’s Republic of China, and Iran, as well as 


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1 Cuba and the regime of Nicolas Maduro in Ven2 ezuela; 

3 (C) to address the challenges posed to 

4 democratic governance and multilateral institu5 tions in the Americas by the activities of non6 democratic, nonmember states of the Organiza7 tion of American States, including the Russian 

8 Federation, the People’s Republic of China, 

9 Iran, and Cuba; 

10 (D) to augment efforts to combat corrup11 tion and organized criminal activity, including 

12 by using digital tools to increase transparency 

13 in public administration, tax collection, and cus14 toms management; 

15 (E) to support the modernization of judi16 cial systems critical to combating corruption in 

17 the Americas and efforts to strengthen the 

18 transparency, integrity, and independence of 

19 those systems; 

20 (F) to advance initiatives to strengthen the 

21 harmonization of regulatory mechanisms to fa22 cilitate increased investment and digital govern23 ance throughout the Americas; and 

24 (G) to uphold the positive advances that 

25 member states of the Organization of American 


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1 States have made to strengthen the integrity of 

2 electoral processes, promote free and inde3 pendent journalism, combat corruption, and 

4 modernize judicial systems, and to encourage 

5 those member states to share their experience 

6 with other member states of the Organization 

7 of American States through formal and infor8 mal mechanisms, including through the forum 

9 for democratically elected national legislatures 

10 of members states called for in section 4(a)(2) 

11 of the Organization of American States Legisla12 tive Engagement Act of 2020 (22 U.S.C. 290q 

13 note; Public Law 116–343). 

14 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

15 It shall be the policy of the United States— 

16 (1) to promote continued adherence to the 

17 democratic principles and norms of the Inter-Amer18 ican Democratic Charter; and 

19 (2) to advance diplomatic initiatives in coordi20 nation with the Organization of American States 

21 and its member states to address threats to the in22 tegrity of the Inter-American Democratic Charter 

23 and to democratic institutions in the Americas. 


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1 SEC. 5. STRATEGY FOR STRENGTHENING THE INTER-AMER2 ICAN DEMOCRATIC CHARTER. 

3 (a) STRATEGY.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall 

5 develop and implement a multi-year strategy to up6 hold and strengthen the Inter-American Democratic 

7 Charter. 

8 (2) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by 

9 paragraph (1) shall include— 

10 (A) developing diplomatic initiatives to 

11 highlight past successes of the Inter-American 

12 Democratic Charter and its ongoing relevance; 

13 (B) documenting threats to democratic 

14 governance in the Western Hemisphere, includ15 ing efforts to undermine civil society, the rule 

16 of law, free and fair elections, presidential term 

17 limits, or the separation of powers, and con18 vening diplomatic forums to review and address 

19 those threats; 

20 (C) developing and implementing the plans 

21 required by sections 6, 7, and 8; and 

22 (D) fully implementing provisions of the 

23 Organization of American States Legislative 

24 Engagement Act of 2020 (22 U.S.C. 290q note; 

25 Public Law 116–343) to advance efforts to en26 hance the participation of democratically elected 


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1 national legislatures in the Organization of 

2 American States, including— 

3 (i) promoting involvement by those 

4 legislatures in activities that advance the 

5 principles of the Inter-American Demo6 cratic Charter and the core values of the 

7 Organization of American States, as de8 scribed in section 4(a)(1) of that Act; 

9 (ii) creating and supporting an annual 

10 forum to discuss issues of hemispheric im11 portance, including corruption, as de12 scribed in section 4(a)(2) of that Act; and 

13 (iii) strengthening the ability of those 

14 legislatures to make presentations, con15 tribute information, and provide expert ad16 vice to entities of the Organization of 

17 American States, as described in section 

18 4(a)(3) of that Act. 

19 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

20 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there21 after, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Com22 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Com23 mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 

24 a report describing in detail— 


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1 (1) the strategy required by subsection (a)(1) 

2 and efforts to implement the strategy, including the 

3 plans required by sections 6, 7, and 8 and efforts to 

4 implement the plans; 

5 (2) progress made by the United States Govern6 ment toward achieving the goals of the strategy of 

7 upholding and strengthening the Inter-American 

8 Democratic Charter; 

9 (3) challenges to efforts by the United States 

10 Government and the Organization of American 

11 States to uphold and strengthen the Inter-American 

12 Democratic Charter; and 

13 (4) progress made in implementing the Organi14 zation of American States Revitalization and Reform 

15 Act of 2013 (Public Law 113–41; 127 Stat. 548) 

16 and the Organization of American States Legislative 

17 Engagement Act of 2020 (22 U.S.C. 290q note; 

18 Public Law 116–343). 

19 SEC. 6. STRENGTHENING THE INTEGRITY OF ELECTORAL 

20 PROCESSES IN THE AMERICAS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—As part of the strategy required 

22 by section 5(a)(1), the Secretary of State shall develop and 

23 implement a plan for strengthening the integrity of elec24 toral processes in the Americas. 


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1 (b) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by subsection (a) 

2 shall include— 

3 (1) an assessment of emerging challenges and 

4 risks to democratic elections in the Americas, includ5 ing the unique threats posed by digital election in6 terference; and 

7 (2) initiatives, in coordination with the Organi8 zation of American States and member states of the 

9 Organization of American States— 

10 (A) to ensure the integrity of elections, 

11 preserve the credibility and objectivity of elec12 toral observation missions of the Organization 

13 of American States, and strengthen the tech14 nical capacity of those missions to investigate 

15 electoral irregularities in electoral processes; 

16 and 

17 (B) to improve election observation meth18 odologies of the Organization of American 

19 States and strengthen the training provided to 

20 electoral observation missions of the Organiza21 tion of American States to effectively monitor, 

22 report, and address the emerging threat of dig23 ital election interference. 


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1 SEC. 7. COUNTERING DISINFORMATION AND MISINFORMA2 TION IN THE AMERICAS. 

3 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that Congress supports— 

5 (1) efforts by the Secretary General of the Or6 ganization of American States to strengthen public 

7 interest media on traditional and digital media plat8 forms, promote investigative journalism, fortify the 

9 integrity of media environments, and counter 

10 disinformation and misinformation across the Amer11 icas; and 

12 (2) plans by the Secretary General of the Orga13 nization of American States to announce the cre14 ation of the Center for Media Integrity of the Amer15 icas at the Ninth Summit of the Americas. 

16 (b) IN GENERAL.—As part of the strategy required 

17 by section 5(a)(1), the Secretary of State shall develop and 

18 implement a plan for countering the spread and amplifi19 cation of disinformation and misinformation in the Amer20 icas and strengthening vulnerable information environ21 ments. 

22 (c) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by subsection (b) 

23 shall include— 

24 (1) an assessment of— 

25 (A) the nature and prevalence of 

26 disinformation and misinformation activities in 


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1 traditional, digital, and social media in the 

2 Americas, including— 

3 (i) the major intra-regional and extra4 regional actors involved in spreading or 

5 amplifying disinformation and misinforma6 tion; 

7 (ii) the tactics those actors use; 

8 (iii) the major narratives those actors 

9 disseminate; and 

10 (iv) the extent to which the activities 

11 involve or are being coordinated by state 

12 entities or government officials; 

13 (B) the vulnerability of information envi14 ronments within the Americas; 

15 (C) which countries are most targeted by 

16 campaigns to spread and amplify disinformation 

17 and misinformation and the effectiveness of 

18 those campaigns; and 

19 (D) the nature and magnitude of the 

20 threats posed by disinformation and misin21 formation activities to democratic governance, 

22 human rights, and other United States inter23 ests; and 

24 (2) efforts, including the multilateral diplomacy 

25 described in subsection (d), in coordination with the 


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1 Organization of American States and member states 

2 of the Organization of American States— 

3 (A) to monitor and share information 

4 about disinformation and misinformation activi5 ties and the effects of those activities; 

6 (B) to convene regional summits, forums, 

7 and multi-stakeholder initiatives with engage8 ment from governments, technology companies, 

9 media organizations, academia, and civil society 

10 groups to address the challenges posed by 

11 disinformation and misinformation and other 

12 related issues, including data privacy, shared 

13 cybersecurity standards, and platform inter14 operability; 

15 (C) to develop a regional code of best prac16 tices and other joint solutions to address 

17 disinformation and misinformation, including 

18 rapid alert systems and agreements on other re19 lated issues; 

20 (D) to strengthen the capacity of the Or21 ganization of American States, member states 

22 of the Organization of American States, and 

23 independent media and civil society groups to 

24 counter disinformation and misinformation and 

25 address vulnerable information environments, 


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1 including by providing support for media and 

2 digital literacy, independent journalism, and 

3 fact-checking initiatives; and 

4 (E) to support and promote the creation of 

5 public interest media and investigative jour6 nalism to provide accurate, objective, and reli7 able local news. 

8 (d) MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY.—The Secretary of 

9 State, acting through the United States Permanent Rep10 resentative to the Organization of American States, shall 

11 use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States— 

12 (1) to establish a working group at the Organi13 zation of American States to monitor the deleterious 

14 effects that disinformation and misinformation pose 

15 to democratic governance and human rights and de16 velop regional approaches to address those effects; 

17 and 

18 (2) to advance a resolution of the Organization 

19 of American States on condemning and countering 

20 disinformation and misinformation in the Americas. 

21 (e) RESOURCES.—The Secretary of State, acting 

22 through the United States Mission to the Organization of 

23 American States, should use the voice, vote, and influence 

24 of the United States to support increased attention and 

25 resources for the General Secretariat of the Organization 


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1 of American States to develop efforts to address the threat 

2 posed by disinformation and misinformation to democratic 

3 governance and human rights, including— 

4 (1) by increasing the proportion of United 

5 States voluntary contributions designated for ad6 dressing that threat; and 

7 (2) by encouraging similar efforts by other 

8 member states of the Organization of American 

9 States. 

10 SEC. 8. ADDRESSING ADDITIONAL CHALLENGES TO DEMO11 CRATIC GOVERNANCE IN THE AMERICAS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—As part of the strategy required 

13 by section 5(a)(1), the Secretary of State shall develop and 

14 implement a plan for addressing threats to democratic 

15 governance posed by— 

16 (1) corruption and criminality; and 

17 (2) the malign activities of nondemocratic, non18 member states of the Organization of American 

19 States, including the People’s Republic of China, the 

20 Russian Federation, Iran, and Cuba. 

21 (b) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by subsection (a) 

22 shall include— 

23 (1) an assessment of— 


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1 (A) the major threats from, and 

2 vulnerabilities to, corruption and criminality in 

3 the Americas; and 

4 (B) how the People’s Republic of China 

5 and the Russian Federation have sought to ex6 ploit regional multilateral institutions to ad7 vance their goals and undermine democratic 

8 governance; and 

9 (2) efforts by the Secretary of State— 

10 (A) to propose and develop, in coordination 

11 with regional multilateral institutions, digital 

12 governance programs— 

13 (i) to strengthen transparency in pub14 lic administration, tax collection, and cus15 toms management; and 

16 (ii) to reduce corruption; and 

17 (B) to use the voice, vote, and influence of 

18 the United States— 

19 (i) to diminish the influence of the 

20 People’s Republic of China and the Rus21 sian Federation in regional multilateral in22 stitutions and call attention to how those 

23 states undermine the principles of the 

24 Inter-American Democratic Charter; and 


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1 (ii) to support the creation of a spe2 cial rapporteur on anti-corruption at the 

3 Inter-American Commission on Human 

4 Rights with the mandate to monitor 

5 threats from, and vulnerabilities to, cor6 ruption among member states of the Orga7 nization of American States and promote 

8 the adoption of measures to address such 

9 threats, including minimum standards for 

10 transparency and access to public records. 

11 SEC. 9. SUNSET. 

12 This Act shall terminate on the date that is 10 years 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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