118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1684 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of State to submit an annual report 

to Congress regarding the ties between criminal gangs 

and political and economic elites in Haiti and impose 

sanctions on political and economic elites involved in 

such criminal activities. 

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 ‘‘Haiti Criminal Collu3 sion Transparency Act of 2023’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) According to a United Nations estimate, ap7 proximately 167 criminal gangs operated in Haiti in 

8 October 2021, exerting territorial control over as 

9 much as two-thirds of the country. 

10 (2) Haitian armed criminal gangs, the most 

11 prominent of which are the G9 Family and Allies 

12 and 400 Mawozo gangs, conduct violent crimes, in13 cluding murder, rape, arms and drug trafficking, 

14 racketeering, kidnapping, and blockades of fuel and 

15 aid deliveries. These crimes have perpetuated the on16 going security and humanitarian crises in Haiti, 

17 which have worsened since the assassination of 

18 President Jovenel Moı ̈se on July 7, 2021. 

19 (3) The United Nations Office of the High 

20 Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human 

21 Rights Service jointly found a 333 percent increase 

22 in human rights violations and abuses against the 

23 rights to life and security in Haiti between July 

24 2018 and December 2019. 

25 (4) At least 19,000 Haitians were forcibly dis26 placed during 2021 due to rising criminal violence. 
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1 (5) Armed gangs have used rape, and other 

2 forms of sexual violence to instill fear, punish, sub3 jugate, and inflict pain on local populations with the 

4 goal of expanding their areas of influence in Port5 au-Prince. 

6 (6) At least 803 kidnappings were reported in 

7 Haiti during the first 10 months of 2021, including 

8 the kidnapping of more than 16 United States citi9 zens, giving Haiti having the highest per capita kid10 napping rate of any country in the world. 

11 (7) There is significant evidence of collusion be12 tween criminal gangs and economic and political 

13 elites in Haiti, including members of the Haitian 

14 National Police, which has resulted in widespread 

15 impunity and directly contributed to Haiti’s current 

16 security crisis. 

17 (8) On December 10, 2020, the Office of For18 eign Assets Control of the Department of the Treas19 ury designated former Haitian National Police offi20 cer Jimmy Che ́rizier, former Director General of the 

21 Ministry of the Interior Fednel Monchery, and 

22 former Departmental Delegate Joseph Pierre Rich23 ard Duplan under the Global Magnitsky Human 

24 Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of 

25 Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) for their 
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1 connections to armed criminal gangs, including orga2 nizing the November 2018 La Saline massacre. 

3 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT6 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com7 mittees’’ means— 

8 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

9 the Senate; 

10 (B) the Select Committee on Intelligence 

11 of the Senate; 

12 (C) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

13 Senate; 

14 (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

15 the House of Representatives; 

16 (E) the Permanent Select Committee on 

17 Intelligence of the House of Representatives; 

18 and 

19 (F) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

20 House of Representatives. 

21 (2) ECONOMIC ELITES.—The term ‘‘economic 

22 elites’’ means board members, officers, and execu23 tives of groups, committees, corporations, or other 

24 entities that exert substantial influence or control 
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1 over Haiti’s economy, infrastructure, or particular 

2 industries. 

3 (3) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

4 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 

5 such term in section 3(4) of the National Security 

6 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4)). 

7 (4) POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ELITES.—The 

8 term ‘‘political and economic elites’’ means political 

9 elites and economic elites. 

10 (5) POLITICAL ELITES.—The term ‘‘political 

11 elites’’ means current and former government offi12 cials and their high-level staff, political party lead13 ers, and political committee leaders. 

14 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 

17 thereafter for the following 5 years, the Secretary of 

18 State, in coordination with the intelligence commu19 nity, shall submit a report to the appropriate con20 gressional committees regarding the ties between 

21 criminal gangs and political and economic elites in 

22 Haiti. The report shall— 

23 (A) identify prominent criminal gangs in 

24 Haiti, describe their criminal activities includ-
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1 ing coercive recruitment, and identify their pri2 mary geographic areas of operations; 

3 (B) list Haitian political and economic 

4 elites who have links to criminal gangs; 

5 (C) describe in detail the relationship be6 tween the individuals listed pursuant to sub7 paragraph (B) and the criminal gangs identified 

8 pursuant to subparagraph (A); 

9 (D) list Haitian political and economic 

10 elites with links to criminal activities who are 

11 currently subjected to visa restrictions or sanc12 tions by the United States, its international 

13 partners, or the United Nations, including in14 formation regarding— 

15 (i) the date on which each such Hai16 tian political or economic elite was des17 ignated for restrictions or sanctions; 

18 (ii) which countries have designated 

19 such Haitian political and economic elites 

20 for restrictions or sanctions; and 

21 (iii) for Haitian political and economic 

22 elites who were designated by the United 

23 States, the statutory basis for such des24 ignation; 
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1 (E) describe in detail how Haitian political 

2 and economic elites use their relationships with 

3 criminal gangs to advance their political and 

4 economic interests and agenda; 

5 (F) include a list of each criminal organi6 zation assessed to be trafficking Haitians and 

7 other individuals to the United States border; 

8 (G) include an assessment of how the na9 ture and extent of collusion between political 

10 and economic elites and criminal gangs threat11 ens the Haitian people and United States na12 tional interests and activities in the country, in13 cluding the provision of security assistance to 

14 the Haitian government; and 

15 (H) include an assessment of potential ac16 tions that the Government of the United States 

17 and the Government of Haiti could take to ad18 dress the findings made pursuant to subpara19 graph (G). 

20 (2) FORM OF REPORT.—The report required 

21 under paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassi22 fied form, but may include a classified annex. 

23 (c) DESIGNATIONS OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

24 ELITES.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in 

2 coordination with other relevant Federal agencies 

3 and departments, shall identify persons identified 

4 pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B) of sub5 section (b)(1) who may be subjected to visa restric6 tions and sanctions under— 

7 (A) section 7031(c) of the Department of 

8 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Pro9 grams Appropriations Act, 2022 (division K of 

10 Public Law 117–103; 8 U.S.C. 1182 note); or 

11 (B) section 1263 of the Global Magnitsky 

12 Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 

13 10102). 

14 (2) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days 

16 after the date on which the report is submitted 

17 pursuant to subsection (b), the President shall 

18 impose, on individuals identified pursuant to 

19 paragraph (1), to the extent applicable, the 

20 sanctions referred to in subparagraphs (A) and 

21 (B) of such paragraph. 

22 (B) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTA23 TION OF GOODS.— 

24 (i) IN GENERAL.—A requirement to 

25 block and prohibit all transactions in all 
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1 property and interests in property pursu2 ant to the authority provided by this sec3 tion shall not include the authority or a re4 quirement to impose sanctions on the im5 portation of goods. 

6 (ii) GOOD DEFINED.—In this section, 

7 the term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural 

8 or manmade substance, material, supply or 

9 manufactured product, including inspection 

10 and test equipment, and excluding tech11 nical data. 

12 (3) WAIVER.—The President may waive the re13 quirements under paragraphs (1) and (2) with re14 spect to a foreign person if the President certifies 

15 and reports to the appropriate congressional com16 mittees before such waiver is to take effect that such 

17 waiver— 

18 (A) would serve a vital national interest of 

19 the United States; or 

20 (B) is necessary for the delivery of human21 itarian assistance or other assistance that sup22 ports basic human needs. 

23 (4) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The list of persons 

24 identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(B) shall be 

25 posted on a publicly accessible website of the De-
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1 partment of State beginning on the date on which 

2 the report required under subsection (b)(1) is sub3 mitted to Congress. 

4 (d) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to have effect 

5 on the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment 

6 of this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 25, 2023. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1684 

AN ACT 

To require the Secretary of State to submit an antivities. and economic elites involved in such criminal ac- elites in Haiti and impose sanctions on political tween criminal gangs and political and economic nual report to Congress regarding the ties be-