I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7314 

To combat corruption and money laundering in Guatemala. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 13, 2018 

Mrs. TORRES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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 combat corruption and money laundering in Guatemala. 

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 ‘‘Guatemala Rule of 

5 Law Accountability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT9 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com10 mittees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

2 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

3 of Representatives; and 

4 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

5 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

6 Senate. 

7 (2) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per8 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

9 person. 

10 (3) GRAND CORRUPTION.—The term ‘‘grand 

11 corruption’’ means public corruption committed at a 

12 high level of government that— 

13 (A) distorts policies or the central func14 tioning of the country; and 

15 (B) enables leaders to benefit at the ex16 pense of the public good. 

17 (4) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

18 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

19 (A) a natural person who is a citizen or 

20 resident of the United States or a national of 

21 the United States (as defined in section 101(a) 

22 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

23 U.S.C. 1101(a)); and 

24 (B) an entity that is organized under the 

25 laws of the United States or any State. 


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1 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The Department of State’s 2018 Inter4 national Narcotics Control Strategy Report stated 

5 that, in Guatemala, ‘‘widespread corruption per6 meates public and private institutions and exacer7 bates the country’s security, governmental, and eco8 nomic challenges’’. 

9 (2) The same report, discussing money laun10 dering in Guatemala, noted that ‘‘[d]rug trafficking 

11 is a major source of illicit funds. Other sources in12 clude corruption, extortion, human trafficking, com13 merce of other illicit goods, and tax evasion. Money 

14 is laundered primarily through real estate, ranching, 

15 and the gaming industry. It is also laundered 

16 through a series of small transactions below the U.S. 

17 $10,000 reporting requirement, either in small 

18 banks along the Guatemala-Mexico border, or by 

19 travelers carrying cash to other countries’’. 

20 (3) On August 10, 2018, Guatemala’s Attorney 

21 General filed a request before the Supreme Court of 

22 Guatemala to remove the immunity of Guatemala’s 

23 President, Jimmy Morales, so that he could be 

24 charged for the crime of illicit financing, based on 

25 investigations carried out jointly by the Office of the 


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1 Attorney General and the International Commission 

2 against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). 

3 (4) On August 31, 2018, the United States 

4 Embassy in Guatemala issued a press release stating 

5 that ‘‘Since 2013 the United States Government has 

6 donated 148 Jeep J8 vehicles to the Government of 

7 Guatemala. These vehicles were donated for law en8 forcement use by the Interagency Task Forces 

9 Tecun Uman, Chorti, and Xinca for the purpose of 

10 combatting criminal activity and narcotics traf11 ficking, with a focus on Guatemala’s borders. Sev12 eral of these vehicles were recently observed in Gua13 temala City, including in close proximity to CICIG’s 

14 headquarters and the United States Embassy. The 

15 United States is monitoring closely that all equip16 ment donated for law enforcement activity in Guate17 mala is used appropriately and in accordance with 

18 existing agreements.’’. 

19 (5) On the same date, Guatemala’s President, 

20 Jimmy Morales, appeared at a press conference to 

21 announce that he would not renew the mandate of 

22 CICIG, which expires in 2019, or the visa of its 

23 commissioner, Ivan Velasquez, which was set to ex24 pire on September 18, 2018. 


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1 (6) On September 4, 2018, the Government of 

2 Guatemala issued a statement to the effect that Ivan 

3 Velasquez, who was on travel at the time, was not 

4 permitted to reenter the country. 

5 (7) On September 17, 2018, Guatemala’s For6 eign Minister, Sandra Jovel, and Minister of the In7 terior, Enrique Degenhart, made public statements 

8 indicating that the Government of Guatemala in9 tended to ignore an order from the Guatemalan Con10 stitutional Court, that the government must allow 

11 the CICIG commissioner to enter the country. 

12 SEC. 4. SANCTIONS AGAINST FOREIGN PERSONS THAT EN13 GAGE IN CORRUPTION AND OTHER ACTIVI14 TIES IN GUATEMALA. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

16 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall im17 pose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect 

18 to any foreign person who is a current or former official 

19 of the Government of Guatemala, or any foreign person 

20 acting on behalf of or in cooperation with an official of 

21 that government, that has knowingly— 

22 (1) committed or facilitated acts of grand cor23 ruption, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, or 

24 financing political campaigns with the proceeds of 

25 narcotics trafficking; 


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1 (2) obstructed investigations or prosecutions of 

2 grand corruption carried out by Guatemalan public 

3 prosecutors; 

4 (3) misused equipment provided by the Sec5 retary of State or the Secretary of Defense to the 

6 Guatemalan military or national civilian police for 

7 the purpose of combating drug trafficking or secur8 ing Guatemala’s border; 

9 (4) disobeyed rulings of the Guatemalan Con10 stitutional Court; or 

11 (5) impeded or interfered with the work of any 

12 United States Government agency or any institution 

13 receiving contributions from the United States Gov14 ernment, including the International Commission 

15 against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). 

16 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The sanctions described in 

18 this subsection are the following: 

19 (A) ASSET BLOCKING.—The exercise of all 

20 powers granted to the President by the Inter21 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

22 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to 

23 block and prohibit all transactions in all prop24 erty and interests in property of a person deter25 mined by the President to be subject to subVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:42 Dec 18, 2018 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7314.IH H7314

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1 section (a) if such property and interests in 

2 property are in the United States, come within 

3 the United States, or are or come within the 

4 possession or control of a United States person. 

5 (B) EXCLUSION FROM THE UNITED

6 STATES AND REVOCATION OF VISA OR OTHER

7 DOCUMENTATION.—In the case of an alien de8 termined by the President to be subject to sub9 section (a), denial of a visa to, and exclusion 

10 from the United States of, the alien, and rev11 ocation in accordance with section 221(i) of the 

12 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

13 1201(i)), of any visa or other documentation of 

14 the alien. 

15 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at16 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

17 violation of paragraph (1)(A) or any regulation, li18 cense, or order issued to carry out paragraph (1)(A) 

19 shall be subject to the penalties set forth in sub20 sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter21 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 

22 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that 

23 commits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) 

24 of that section. 


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1 (3) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF

2 GOODS.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The requirement to 

4 block and prohibit all transactions in all prop5 erty and interests in property under paragraph 

6 (1)(A) shall not include the authority to impose 

7 sanctions on the importation of goods. 

8 (B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 

9 term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or man10 made substance, material, supply or manufac11 tured product, including inspection and test 

12 equipment, and excluding technical data. 

13 (4) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NA14 TIONS HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT.—Sanctions 

15 under paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to an alien 

16 if admitting the alien into the United States is nec17 essary to permit the United States to comply with 

18 the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the 

19 United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 

20 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, 

21 between the United Nations and the United States, 

22 or other applicable international obligations. 

23 (c) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The President shall 

24 issue such regulations, licenses, and orders as are nec25 essary to carry out this section. 


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1 (d) TERMINATION.—This section shall terminate on 

2 the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment 

3 of this Act. 

4 SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON TRANSFER OF EQUIPMENT TRANS5 FER TO SECURITY FORCES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 

8 in coordination with the Administrator of the United 

9 States Agency for International Development and the Sec10 retary of Defense, as appropriate, shall issue regulations 

11 requiring the inclusion of appropriate clauses for any new 

12 foreign assistance contracts, grants, and cooperative 

13 agreements covering the transfer of equipment to the Gua14 temalan military or national civilian police, to ensure that 

15 any United States equipment that is provided to the Gov16 ernment of Guatemala may be recovered if such equipment 

17 is used for purposes other than those for which it was pro18 vided. 

19 (b) EXCEPTIONS AND WAIVER.— 

20 (1) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not 

21 apply to humanitarian assistance, disaster assist22 ance, or assistance to combat corruption. 

23 (2) WAIVER.—The Secretary of State or the 

24 Secretary of Defense, on a case by case basis, may 

25 waive the requirement under subsection (a) if the 


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1 Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense cer2 tifies to the appropriate congressional committees 

3 that such waiver is important to the national secu4 rity interests of the United States. 

Æ 


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