II 

Calendar No. 180 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1684 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 26, 2023 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Haiti Criminal Collu5 sion Transparency Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) According to a United Nations estimate, ap9 proximately 167 criminal gangs operated in Haiti in 


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1 October 2021, exerting territorial control over as 

2 much as two-thirds of the country. 

3 (2) Haitian armed criminal gangs, the most 

4 prominent of which are the G9 Family and Allies 

5 and 400 Mawozo gangs, conduct violent crimes, in6 cluding murder, rape, arms and drug trafficking, 

7 racketeering, kidnapping, and blockades of fuel and 

8 aid deliveries. These crimes have perpetuated the on9 going security and humanitarian crises in Haiti, 

10 which have worsened since the assassination of 

11 President Jovenel Moı ̈se on July 7, 2021. 

12 (3) The United Nations Office of the High 

13 Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human 

14 Rights Service jointly found a 333 percent increase 

15 in human rights violations and abuses against the 

16 rights to life and security in Haiti between July 

17 2018 and December 2019. 

18 (4) At least 19,000 Haitians were forcibly dis19 placed during 2021 due to rising criminal violence. 

20 (5) Armed gangs have used rape, and other 

21 forms of sexual violence to instill fear, punish, sub22 jugate, and inflict pain on local populations with the 

23 goal of expanding their areas of influence in Port24 au-Prince. 


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1 (6) At least 803 kidnappings were reported in 

2 Haiti during the first 10 months of 2021, including 

3 the kidnapping of more than 16 United States citi4 zens, giving Haiti having the highest per capita kid5 napping rate of any country in the world. 

6 (7) There is significant evidence of collusion be7 tween criminal gangs and economic and political 

8 elites in Haiti, including members of the Haitian 

9 National Police, which has resulted in widespread 

10 impunity and directly contributed to Haiti’s current 

11 security crisis. 

12 (8) On December 10, 2020, the Office of For13 eign Assets Control of the Department of the Treas14 ury designated former Haitian National Police offi15 cer Jimmy Che ́rizier, former Director General of the 

16 Ministry of the Interior Fednel Monchery, and 

17 former Departmental Delegate Joseph Pierre Rich18 ard Duplan under the Global Magnitsky Human 

19 Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of 

20 Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) for their 

21 connections to armed criminal gangs, including orga22 nizing the November 2018 La Saline massacre. 

23 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

24 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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

4 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

5 the Senate; 

6 (B) the Select Committee on Intelligence 

7 of the Senate; 

8 (C) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

9 Senate; 

10 (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

11 the House of Representatives; 

12 (E) the Permanent Select Committee on 

13 Intelligence of the House of Representatives; 

14 and 

15 (F) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

16 House of Representatives. 

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

18 elites’’ means board members, officers, and execu19 tives of groups, committees, corporations, or other 

20 entities that exert substantial influence or control 

21 over Haiti’s economy, infrastructure, or particular 

22 industries. 

23 (3) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 

24 ‘‘intelligence community’’ has the meaning given 


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

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

3 (4) POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ELITES.—The 

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

5 elites and economic elites. 

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

7 elites’’ means current and former government offi8 cials and their high-level staff, political party lead9 ers, and political committee leaders. 

10 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.— 

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

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

13 thereafter for the following 5 years, the Secretary of 

14 State, in coordination with the intelligence commu15 nity, shall submit a report to the appropriate con16 gressional committees regarding the ties between 

17 criminal gangs and political and economic elites in 

18 Haiti. The report shall— 

19 (A) identify prominent criminal gangs in 

20 Haiti, describe their criminal activities includ21 ing coercive recruitment, and identify their pri22 mary geographic areas of operations; 

23 (B) list Haitian political and economic 

24 elites who have links to criminal gangs; 


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1 (C) describe in detail the relationship be2 tween the individuals listed pursuant to sub3 paragraph (B) and the criminal gangs identified 

4 pursuant to subparagraph (A); 

5 (D) list Haitian political and economic 

6 elites with links to criminal activities who are 

7 currently subjected to visa restrictions or sanc8 tions by the United States, its international 

9 partners, or the United Nations, including in10 formation regarding— 

11 (i) the date on which each such Hai12 tian political or economic elite was des13 ignated for restrictions or sanctions; 

14 (ii) which countries have designated 

15 such Haitian political and economic elites 

16 for restrictions or sanctions; and 

17 (iii) for Haitian political and economic 

18 elites who were designated by the United 

19 States, the statutory basis for such des20 ignation; 

21 (E) describe in detail how Haitian political 

22 and economic elites use their relationships with 

23 criminal gangs to advance their political and 

24 economic interests and agenda; 


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1 (F) include a list of each criminal organi2 zation assessed to be trafficking Haitians and 

3 other individuals to the United States border; 

4 (G) include an assessment of how the na5 ture and extent of collusion between political 

6 and economic elites and criminal gangs threat7 ens the Haitian people and United States na8 tional interests and activities in the country, in9 cluding the provision of security assistance to 

10 the Haitian government; and 

11 (H) include an assessment of potential ac12 tions that the Government of the United States 

13 and the Government of Haiti could take to ad14 dress the findings made pursuant to subpara15 graph (G). 

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

17 under paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassi18 fied form, but may include a classified annex. 

19 (c) DESIGNATIONS OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

20 ELITES.— 

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

22 coordination with other relevant Federal agencies 

23 and departments, shall identify persons identified 

24 pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:06 Jul 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1684.PCS H1684

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1 section (b)(1) who may be subjected to visa restric2 tions and sanctions under— 

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

4 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Pro5 grams Appropriations Act, 2022 (division K of 

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

7 (B) section 1263 of the Global Magnitsky 

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

9 10102). 

10 (2) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.— 

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

12 after the date on which the report is submitted 

13 pursuant to subsection (b), the President shall 

14 impose, on individuals identified pursuant to 

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

16 sanctions referred to in subparagraphs (A) and 

17 (B) of such paragraph. 

18 (B) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTA19 TION OF GOODS.— 

20 (i) IN GENERAL.—A requirement to 

21 block and prohibit all transactions in all 

22 property and interests in property pursu23 ant to the authority provided by this sec24 tion shall not include the authority or a reVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:06 Jul 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1684.PCS H1684

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1 quirement to impose sanctions on the im2 portation of goods. 

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

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

5 or manmade substance, material, supply or 

6 manufactured product, including inspection 

7 and test equipment, and excluding tech8 nical data. 

9 (3) WAIVER.—The President may waive the re10 quirements under paragraphs (1) and (2) with re11 spect to a foreign person if the President certifies 

12 and reports to the appropriate congressional com13 mittees before such waiver is to take effect that such 

14 waiver— 

15 (A) would serve a vital national interest of 

16 the United States; or 

17 (B) is necessary for the delivery of human18 itarian assistance or other assistance that sup19 ports basic human needs. 

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

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

22 posted on a publicly accessible website of the De23 partment of State beginning on the date on which 

24 the report required under subsection (b)(1) is sub25 mitted to Congress. 


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

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

3 of this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 25, 2023. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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Calendar No. 180 

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 beJULY 26, 2023 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 


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