I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1802 

To authorize the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, to enhance the United 

States-Caribbean security partnership, to prioritize natural disaster resilience, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2023 

Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself, Ms. SALAZAR, and Mr. GREEN of Tennessee) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, to enhance the United States-Caribbean security partnership, 

to prioritize natural disaster resilience, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Caribbean Basin Secu5 rity Initiative Authorization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

5 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

6 Senate; and 

7 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

8 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

9 of Representatives. 

10 (2) BENEFICIARY COUNTRIES.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘beneficiary 

12 countries’’ means— 

13 (i) Antigua and Barbuda; 

14 (ii) the Bahamas; 

15 (iii) Barbados; 

16 (iv) Dominica; 

17 (v) the Dominican Republic; 

18 (vi) Grenada; 

19 (vii) Guyana; 

20 (viii) Jamaica; 

21 (ix) Saint Lucia; 

22 (x) Saint Kitts and Nevis; 

23 (xi) Saint Vincent and the Grena24 dines; 

25 (xii) Suriname; and 


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1 (xiii) Trinidad and Tobago. 

2 (B) UPDATES.—The President or the Sec3 retary of State may add or remove one or more 

4 countries from the list under subparagraph (A) 

5 upon written notification to the appropriate 

6 congressional committees. 

7 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR THE CARIBBEAN BASIN SECU8 RITY INITIATIVE. 

9 (a) AUTHORIZATION FOR THE CARIBBEAN BASIN SE10 CURITY INITIATIVE.—The Secretary of State and the Ad11 ministrator of the United States Agency for International 

12 Development may carry out an initiative, to be known as 

13 the ‘‘Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’’, in beneficiary 

14 countries to achieve the purposes described in subsection 

15 (b). 

16 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes described in this sub17 section are the following: 

18 (1) To promote citizen safety, security, and the 

19 rule of law in the Caribbean through increased stra20 tegic engagement with— 

21 (A) the governments of beneficiary coun22 tries; and 

23 (B) elements of local civil society, including 

24 the private sector, in such countries. 


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1 (2) To counter transnational criminal organiza2 tions and local gangs in beneficiary countries, in3 cluding through— 

4 (A) maritime and aerial security coopera5 tion, including— 

6 (i) assistance to strengthen capabili7 ties of maritime and aerial interdiction op8 erations in the Caribbean; and 

9 (ii) the provision of support systems 

10 and equipment, training, and maintenance; 

11 (B) cooperation on border and port secu12 rity, including support to strengthen capacity 

13 for screening and intercepting narcotics, weap14 ons, bulk cash, and other contraband at air15 ports and seaports; and 

16 (C) capacity building and the provision of 

17 equipment and support for operations tar18 geting— 

19 (i) the finances and illegal activities of 

20 such organizations and gangs; and 

21 (ii) the recruitment by such organiza22 tions and gangs of at-risk youth. 

23 (3) To advance law enforcement and justice sec24 tor capacity building and rule of law initiatives in 

25 beneficiary countries, including by— 


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1 (A) strengthening special prosecutorial of2 fices and providing technical assistance— 

3 (i) to combat corruption, money laun4 dering, human, firearms, and wildlife traf5 ficking, financial crimes, extortion, and 

6 human rights crimes; and 

7 (ii) to conduct asset forfeitures and 

8 criminal analysis; 

9 (B) supporting training for civilian police 

10 and appropriate security services in criminal in11 vestigations, best practices for citizen security, 

12 and the protection of human rights; 

13 (C) supporting capacity building for law 

14 enforcement and military units, including 

15 professionalization, anti-corruption and human 

16 rights training, vetting, and community-based 

17 policing; 

18 (D) supporting justice sector reform and 

19 strengthening of the rule of law, including— 

20 (i) capacity building for prosecutors, 

21 judges, and other justice officials; and 

22 (ii) support to increase the efficacy of 

23 criminal courts; and 


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1 (E) strengthening cybersecurity and 

2 cybercrime cooperation, including capacity 

3 building and support for cybersecurity systems. 

4 (4) To promote crime prevention efforts in ben5 eficiary countries, particularly among at-risk-youth 

6 and other vulnerable populations, including 

7 through— 

8 (A) improving community and law enforce9 ment cooperation to improve the effectiveness 

10 and professionalism of police and increase mu11 tual trust; 

12 (B) increasing economic opportunities for 

13 at-risk youth and vulnerable populations, in14 cluding through workforce development training 

15 and remedial education programs for at-risk 

16 youth; 

17 (C) improving juvenile justice sectors 

18 through regulatory reforms, separating youth 

19 from traditional prison systems, and improving 

20 support and services in juvenile detention cen21 ters; and 

22 (D) the provision of assistance to popu23 lations vulnerable to being victims of extortion 

24 and crime by criminal networks. 


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1 (5) To strengthen the ability of the security 

2 sector in beneficiary countries to respond to and be3 come more resilient in the face of natural disasters, 

4 including by— 

5 (A) carrying out training exercises to en6 sure critical infrastructure and ports are able to 

7 come back online rapidly following natural dis8 asters; and 

9 (B) providing preparedness training to po10 lice and first responders. 

11 (6) To prioritize efforts to combat corruption 

12 and include anti-corruption components in programs 

13 in beneficiary countries, including by— 

14 (A) building the capacity of national jus15 tice systems and attorneys general to prosecute 

16 and try acts of corruption; 

17 (B) provide technical and financial assist18 ance to independent media and investigative re19 porting; 

20 (C) increasing the capacity of national law 

21 enforcement services to carry out anti-corrup22 tion investigations; and 

23 (D) encouraging cooperative agreements 

24 among the Department of State, other relevant 


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1 Federal departments and agencies, and the at2 torneys general of relevant countries. 

3 (7) To promote the rule of law in beneficiary 

4 countries and counter malign influence from authori5 tarian regimes, including China, Russia, Iran, Ven6 ezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, by— 

7 (A) monitoring security assistance from 

8 such authoritarian regimes and taking steps 

9 necessary to ensure that such assistance does 

10 not undermine or jeopardize United States se11 curity assistance; 

12 (B) evaluating and, as appropriate, re13 stricting the involvement of the United States 

14 in investment and infrastructure projects fi15 nanced by authoritarian regimes that might ob16 struct or otherwise impact United States secu17 rity assistance to beneficiary countries; 

18 (C) monitoring and restricting equipment 

19 and support from high-risk vendors of tele20 communications infrastructure in beneficiary 

21 countries; 

22 (D) countering disinformation by pro23 moting transparency and accountability from 

24 beneficiary countries; and 


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1 (E) eliminating corruption linked to invest2 ment and infrastructure facilitated by authori3 tarian regimes through support for investment 

4 screening, competitive tendering and bidding 

5 processes, the implementation of investment 

6 law, and contractual transparency. 

7 (8) To support the effective branding and mes8 saging of United States security assistance and co9 operation in beneficiary countries, including by de10 veloping and implementing a public diplomacy strat11 egy for informing citizens of beneficiary countries 

12 about the benefits to their respective countries of 

13 United States security assistance and cooperation 

14 programs. 

15 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

16 authorized to be appropriated to the Department of State 

17 and the United States Agency for International Develop18 ment $82,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 

19 2028 to carry out the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative 

20 to achieve the purposes described in subsection (b). 

21 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN. 

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

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

24 in coordination with the Administrator of the United 

25 States Agency for International Development, shall submit 


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1 to the appropriate congressional committees an implemen2 tation plan that includes a timeline and stated objectives 

3 for actions to be taken in beneficiary countries with re4 spect to the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. 

5 (b) ELEMENTS.—The implementation plan required 

6 by subsection (a) shall include the following elements: 

7 (1) A multi-year strategy with a timeline, over8 view of objectives, and anticipated outcomes for the 

9 region and for each beneficiary country, with respect 

10 to each purpose described in section 3. 

11 (2) Specific, measurable benchmarks to track 

12 the progress of the Caribbean Basin Security Initia13 tive toward accomplishing the outcomes included 

14 under paragraph (1). 

15 (3) A plan for the delineation of the roles to be 

16 carried out by the Department of State, the United 

17 States Agency for International Development, the 

18 Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, 

19 and any other Federal department or agency in car20 rying out the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, to 

21 prevent overlap and unintended competition between 

22 activities and resources. 

23 (4) A plan to coordinate and track all activities 

24 carried out under the Caribbean Basin Security Ini25 tiative among all relevant Federal departments and 


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1 agencies, in accordance with the publication require2 ments described in section 4 of the Foreign Aid 

3 Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016 (22 

4 U.S.C. 2394c). 

5 (5) A description of the process for co-locating 

6 projects of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative 

7 funded by the United States Agency for Inter8 national Development and the Bureau of Inter9 national Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of 

10 the Department of State to ensure that crime pre11 vention funding and enforcement funding are used 

12 in the same localities as necessary. 

13 (6) An assessment of steps taken, as of the 

14 date on which the plan is submitted, to increase re15 gional coordination and collaboration between the 

16 law enforcement agencies of beneficiary countries 

17 and the Haitian National Police, and a framework 

18 with benchmarks for increasing such coordination 

19 and collaboration, in order to address the urgent se20 curity crisis in Haiti. 

21 (c) ANNUAL PROGRESS UPDATE.—Not later than 1 

22 year after the date on which the implementation plan re23 quired by subsection (a) is submitted, and annually there24 after, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Ad25 ministrator of the United States Agency for International 


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1 Development, shall submit to the appropriate congres2 sional committees a written description of results achieved 

3 through the Caribbean Basin Security Imitative, including 

4 with respect to— 

5 (1) the implementation of the strategy and 

6 plans described in paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 

7 subsection (b); 

8 (2) compliance with, and progress related to, 

9 meeting the benchmarks described in paragraph (2) 

10 of subsection (b); and 

11 (3) funding statistics for the Caribbean Basin 

12 Security Initiative for the preceding year, 

13 disaggregated by country. 

14 SEC. 5. PROGRAMS AND STRATEGY TO INCREASE NATURAL 

15 DISASTER RESPONSE AND RESILIENCE. 

16 (a) PROGRAMS.—During the 5-year period beginning 

17 on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

18 of State, in consultation with the Administrator of the 

19 United States Agency for International Development, the 

20 President and Chief Executive Officer of the Inter-Amer21 ican Foundation, and the Chief Executive Officer of the 

22 United States International Development Finance Cor23 poration, shall promote natural disaster response and re24 silience in beneficiary countries by carrying out programs 

25 for the following purposes: 


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1 (1) Encouraging coordination between bene2 ficiary countries and relevant Federal departments 

3 and agencies to provide expertise and information 

4 sharing. 

5 (2) Supporting the sharing of best practices on 

6 natural disaster resilience, including on constructing 

7 resilient infrastructure and rebuilding after natural 

8 disasters. 

9 (3) Improving rapid-response mechanisms and 

10 cross-government organizational preparedness for 

11 natural disasters. 

12 (b) STRATEGY.—Not later than 180 days after the 

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

14 in coordination with the Administrator of the United 

15 States Agency for International Development and in con16 sultation with the President and Chief Economic Officer 

17 of the Inter-American Foundation, the Chief Executive 

18 Officer of the United States International Development 

19 Finance Corporation, and nongovernmental organizations 

20 in beneficiary countries and in the United States, shall 

21 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 

22 strategy that incorporates specific, measurable bench23 marks— 

24 (1) to achieve the purposes described in sub25 section (a); and 


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1 (2) to inform citizens of beneficiary countries 

2 about the extent and benefits of United States as3 sistance to such countries. 

4 (c) ANNUAL PROGRESS UPDATE.—Not later than 1 

5 year after the date on which the strategy required by sub6 section (b) is submitted, and annually thereafter, the Sec7 retary of State, in coordination with the Administrator of 

8 the United States Agency for International Development, 

9 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

10 a written description of the progress made as of the date 

11 of such submission in meeting the benchmarks included 

12 in the strategy. 

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