SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commission on the 
United States Occupations in the Americas Act’’ or the 
‘‘La Comisio´n de las Ocupacio´nes Americanos Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following as it relates to misguided 
United States military interventions in the following na-
tions: 
(1) FIRST
OCCUPATION
OF
NICARAGUA.—On 
November 18, 1909, President William Howard Taft 
sent warships off the coast of Nicaragua to signal 
United States support for an uprising against Nica-
raguan President Jose´ Santos Zelaya, whose Presi-
dency was viewed as unfavorable to the interests of 
United States businesses operating in Nicaragua. 
While United States forces were not ordered to in-
tervene directly, a small group of United States Ma-
rines nevertheless made landfall on the Nicaraguan 
coast and assisted in the successful rebellion against 
President Zelaya, who resigned on December 14, 
1909, and later fled the country. A new pro-United 
States President of Nicaragua, Juan Estrada, was 
later installed in August 1910, due in large part to 
the pressure imposed by the continual presence of 
United States warships off the Nicaraguan coast. 
President Estrada’s pro-United States stances 
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proved unpopular, and he was forced to resign in 
May of 1911 by the Nicaraguan Minister of War, 
Luis Mena. President Estrada was replaced by his 
Vice President, Adolfo Dı´az. Nevertheless, Dı´az’s 
close connections to the United States also made 
him unpopular, and in mid-1912, Nicaragua’s Con-
stituent Assembly appointed Mena as the successor 
to the Presidency over Dı´az. When the United 
States refused to recognize Mena’s Presidency as le-
gitimate, Mena’s and Dı´az’s forces clashed in July 
of 1912 in a full-scale civil war. Dı´az requested the 
United States support in the war. Beginning on Au-
gust 4, 1912, multiple contingents of United States 
Bluejackets and Marines arrived in Nicaragua and 
assisted Dı´az’s forces, resulting in Dı´az’s victory on 
October 6, 1912, when his forces captured the city 
of Leon, Nicaragua. Although only 7 members of the 
United States military died in the conflict, the war 
nevertheless resulted in approximately 2,000 total 
casualties. The United States withdrew most of its 
forces toward the end of October 1912. However, a 
smaller contingent of approximately 100 Marines 
would remain in Nicaragua’s capital city of Mana-
gua for over a decade before eventually withdrawing 
in August 1925. 
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(2) FIRST OCCUPATION OF MEXICO.—On April 
21, 1914, at the order of President Woodrow Wil-
son, 500 Marines and 300 Navy personnel invaded 
the port city of Veracruz, Mexico, to seize control of 
the city. President Wilson’s pretext for this oper-
ation was to enforce a United States arms embargo 
against Mexico and prevent the arrival of an arms 
shipment in Veracruz that had been ordered by 
Mexican President Victoriano Huerta, who was 
viewed as an enemy of the United States at that 
time. The ensuing fighting saw United States forces 
destroy most of the Mexican Naval Academy in 
Veracruz. The United States military was eventually 
able to take full control of Veracruz by April 24, 
1914, beginning a 6-month occupation by the United 
States of the city. The United States military suf-
fered just shy of 100 casualties while approximately 
550 Mexican soldiers and civilians died while defend-
ing the city. United States forces eventually with-
drew from Veracruz on November 23, 1914. The 
United States occupation of Veracruz had broad 
negative consequences for the favorability of the 
United States amongst Mexican citizens and in-
creased anti-American sentiment throughout Mexico 
and Latin America for decades to come. 
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(3) SECOND OCCUPATION OF MEXICO.—From 
March 16, 1916, through February 14, 1917, an ex-
peditionary force of more than 14,000 United States 
Army troops was sent into northern Mexico. These 
forces were instructed to engage in the singular pur-
suit of capturing Mexican revolutionary Francisco 
‘‘Pancho’’ Villa. President Woodrow Wilson ordered 
this expedition in response to Villa’s army’s raid of 
Colombus, New Mexico, on March 9, 1916, which 
killed 17 United States citizens. Over the course of 
the next 11 months, multiple battles occurred in 
Mexico between Pancho Villa’s forces and United 
States forces, leaving a total 15 United States citi-
zens and 251 Mexicans dead. Mexican President 
Venustiano Carranza viewed the United States expe-
dition in pursuit of Villa as a clear violation of Mexi-
can sovereignty. The expedition ended before Villa 
was ever captured, and United States forces eventu-
ally withdrew from Mexico on February 14, 1917, in 
order to consolidate forces to fight in World War I 
in Europe. 
(4) FIRST OCCUPATION OF THE DOMINICAN RE-
PUBLIC.—On May 13, 1916, a contingent of the 
United States Marine Corps landed on the shores of 
the Dominican Republic with the goal of militarily 
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occupying the island nation due to concerns about 
the possible German use of the Dominican Republic 
as a base for attacks on the United States during 
World War I. After 2 months of fighting, the United 
States military took control of the nation, estab-
lished a government, and continued to occupy the is-
land for 8 years before withdrawing on September 
18, 1924. By the time United States forces with-
drew, 144 marines had died and 50 were injured. 
The 8-year occupation also resulted in 950 Domini-
can casualties between those who died and those who 
were injured in the conflict. 
(5) SECOND OCCUPATION OF NICARAGUA.—On 
January 24, 1927, when Nicaragua was embroiled in 
another civil war that threatened United States busi-
ness and diplomatic interests in the region, 3,000 
United States Marines were deployed to Nicaragua 
by President Calvin Coolidge with the goal of dis-
arming rebel groups, supervising the highly conten-
tious 1928 Presidential election, and developing and 
training the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua (Nica-
raguan National Guard). While the Marines were 
successful 
in 
disarming 
various 
rebel 
groups 
throughout the country, Nicaraguan rebel leader 
Ce´sar Augusto Sandino and his forces resisted due 
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to Sandino’s ideological opposition to United States 
interventionism in his country. Sandino’s army and 
the United States Marines engaged in a 6-year-long 
military conflict through 1933. A total 136 Marines 
died and estimates of Nicaraguan casualties, al-
though imprecise, were even larger. Sandino’s will-
ingness to stand up to United States forces at-
tracted sympathy and galvanized anti-American sen-
timent both in Nicaragua and throughout the West-
ern Hemisphere. Despite Sandino’s resistance, the 
United States successfully supervised Nicaragua’s 
November 1928 elections, which saw President Jose´ 
Marı´a Moncada ascend to power. After the election, 
President Herbert Hoover, slowly withdrew troops 
from Nicaragua until the last Marines left Nica-
ragua on January 2, 1933. Sandino’s rebel forces 
continued to engage in periodic guerilla warfare 
against United States troops until these last Marines 
were evacuated. Today, Sandino is a popular folk 
hero amongst the Nicaraguan political left and his 
name provides the inspiration for the modern-day 
‘‘Sandinista’’ political party that rules Nicaragua. 
(6) SECOND OCCUPATION OF THE DOMINICAN 
REPUBLIC.—On April 28, 1965, the second interven-
tion and occupation of the Dominican Republic by 
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the United States Armed Forces, called ‘‘Operation 
Power Pack’’, commenced and provided United 
States air and ground troops to assist future Domin-
ican President Donal Reid Cabral’s army in the Do-
minican 1965 civil war. Operation Power Pack took 
place between 1965 and 1966, after a period of po-
litical instability and military coup following the as-
sassination of former Dominican dictator Rafael 
Leo´nidas Trujillo in 1961. In 1962, socialist politi-
cian Juan Bosch became the elected President of the 
Dominican Republic before being overthrown in a 
separate coup in 1963. From 1963 through April 
1965, a 3-man military junta of General Antonio 
Imbert Barrera, General Luis Amiamo Tio´, and 
General Victor Elby Vin˜as Roma´n held power before 
growing dissatisfaction led to another rebellion on 
April 24, 1965. Four days later, President Lyndon 
Johnson sent a total of 42,000 United States troops 
from multiple branches of the military to the island, 
supplemented by an Inter-American Peace Force of 
2,000 troops, to assist rebels led by Donald Reid 
Cabral. In what is now known as the 1965 Domini-
can Civil War or ‘‘La Revolucio´n del 65’’ Cabral’s 
forces prevailed due to the United States military 
backing. Shortly after the war ended, on July 1, 
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1966, democratically questionable elections were held 
in the Dominican Republic which resulted in the 
election of Joaquı´n Balaguer as President. United 
States troops withdrew from the island nation there-
after on September 21, 1966. In total, 44 United 
States combatants were killed in the conflict, along-
side over 2,000 Dominicans, roughly half of whom 
were civilians. Following the withdrawal of United 
States troops, President Balaguer, a previous mem-
ber of the Trujillo-led government, ruled the Domini-
can Republic for a 12-year period characterized by 
turmoil, the disappearances of Balaguer’s political 
opponents, and the deaths of hundreds of young po-
litical and social activists. In this manner, the 
United States intervention during Operation Power 
Pack played a key role in depriving Dominican citi-
zens of a free and sovereign government for at least 
12 additional years through 1978. 
(7) GUATEMALA
AIR
OCCUPATION.—On June 
18, 1954, through June 27, 1954, as part of ‘‘Oper-
ation PBSuccess’’, the United States Central Intel-
ligence Agency (‘‘CIA’’) planned, designed, and led 
a successful coup in Guatemala, overthrowing the 
predominantly capitalist government of President 
Jacobo A´rbenz, coinciding in time with President 
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Arbenz’s plans to redistribute land owned by the 
United Fruit Company, a prosperous United States- 
based fruit company which controlled 42 percent of 
all land in Guatemala at that time. In justification 
for Operation PBSuccess, the United States spuri-
ously alleged that President A´rbenz’s government 
had been infiltrated by anti-American communists. 
The CIA provided both supplies and a small fleet of 
combat troops for the rebellion, during which United 
States pilots bombed fortresses and other areas of 
Guatemala City. Operation PBSuccess was success-
ful, and on June 27, 1954, President A´rbenz fled 
Guatemala. The 1954 coup is widely viewed by his-
torians as ushering in an unprecedented era of civil 
war in Guatemala that lasted until 1996 and 
claimed the lives of over 200,000 Guatemalans, 
many of which were lost in connection with various 
additional covert CIA operations that operated in 
the nation during this time period. 
(8) GRENADA OCCUPATION.—From October 25, 
1983, through October 29, 1983, the United States 
conducted ‘‘Operation Urgent Fury’’, a full-scale 
military invasion of Grenada in which thousands of 
troops from the United States Army, Marines, Navy, 
and Air Force were deployed to Grenada and partici-
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pated in active combat against native Grenadians 
and Cuban fighters. The United States invasion was 
authorized by President Ronald Reagan based on 
the asserted need to prevent a military coup and 
communist takeover of the small island nation, in 
addition to the need to protect the approximately 
1,000 United States citizens who resided on the is-
land at that time. United States forces achieved a 
swift victory in just 4 days, but the fighting resulted 
in the deaths of 45 Grenadian combatants, 25 
Cuban combatants, and 19 United States combat-
ants. The last United States troops eventually exited 
Grenada on June 13, 1985. 
(9) PANAMA OCCUPATION.—On December 20, 
1989, approximately 27,000 United States troops in-
vaded Panama at the order of President George 
Bush under the ignominiously named ‘‘Operation 
Just Cause’’. The purpose of Operation Just Cause 
was to remove General Manuel Noriega, the coun-
try’s dictatorial ruler, from power and secure his ex-
tradition to the United States, where Noriega was 
wanted on charges of drug trafficking and money 
laundering (he was later found guilty on these 
charges upon his successful extradition). Relations 
between the United States and Panama’s Govern-
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ment soured over the course of 1988 and 1989 due 
to Noriega’s antidemocratic behavior and monopo-
lization of power, Noriega’s 1988 indictment in the 
United States on drug smuggling charges, notably 
escalating tensions between Panamanian troops and 
United States troops stationed in the Panama Canal 
Zone, and United States concerns about maintaining 
physical control of the Panama Canal Zone. Ten-
sions boiled over on December 15, 1989, when the 
Noriega-led Panamanian Assembly declared Panama 
to be in a ‘‘state of war’’ with the United States. On 
December 16, an off-duty United States Marine was 
shot and killed by Panamanian soldiers, prompting 
President George Bush to order Operation Just 
Cause in the aftermath of this incident. The United 
States would win the ensuing ground conflict, gain 
control of the Panama Canal, and force Noriega’s 
surrender on January 3, 1990. However, this oper-
ation came at a great cost, as according to the Pen-
tagon’s official tally, 23 United States soldiers, 300 
Panamanian soldiers, and 214 Panamanian civilians 
were killed during the United States invasion. Some 
human rights groups also estimate the death toll 
amongst Panamanian civilians to be far higher. Fur-
thermore, the United States repeated bombing of the 
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impoverished 
Panama 
City 
neighborhood 
‘‘El 
Churillo’’ during Operation Just Cause destroyed 
approximately 4,000 homes and displaced thousands 
more civilians, resulting in Panamanians nicknaming 
the neighborhood ‘‘Little Hiroshima’’ following the 
war. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT AND DUTIES. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Com-
mission to Study and Develop Reconciliation Proposals for 
Misguided Interventions in the Americas (in this Act re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 
(b) DUTIES.—The Commission shall be responsible 
for the following duties: 
(1) Identifying, documenting, examining, com-
piling, and synthesizing the relevant body of evi-
dentiary documentation relating to the United 
States interest in intervening in— 
(A) the 9 conflicts in Nicaragua, Mexico, 
the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Grenada, 
and Panama discussed in section 2 of this Act; 
and 
(B) any additional United States military 
involvement in nations in the Caribbean, Latin 
America, or South America that the Commis-
sion, via a majority vote at any meeting of the 
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Commission containing a quorum, identifies as 
misguided and believes merits investigation and 
action by the Commission. 
(2) Identifying, documenting, examining, com-
piling, and synthesizing the relevant corpus of evi-
dentiary documentation relating to the United 
States military occupations identified in paragraph 
(1) of this subsection, as it pertains to— 
(A) the United States involvement in these 
nations internal affairs and its financial and 
military support to different rebellions and re-
gime changes in these nations; 
(B) the treatment of the native persons by 
both the United States military and under the 
regimes ushered in a result of United States 
military action, including any repressions of 
basic rights and freedoms by United States-sup-
ported governments; and 
(C) the lingering negative effects of these 
United States-supported regimes on each indi-
vidual nation’s citizens, collective psyche, and 
society. 
(3) Recommending appropriate ways to educate 
the United States public on the Commission’s find-
ings. 
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(4) Recommending appropriate remedies in con-
sideration of the Commission’s findings on the dif-
ferent United States military occupations described 
in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection. In 
making such recommendations, the Commission 
shall address among other issues, the following ques-
tions: 
(A) How such recommendations comport 
with international standards of remedy for 
wrongs and injuries caused by the United 
States Government, including repair and rec-
onciliation efforts, as understood by various rel-
evant international protocols, laws, and find-
ings. 
(B) How the United States Government 
may offer a formal apology on behalf of the 
people of the United States for the invasions 
and occupations studied by the Commission for 
those occupations which the Commission deems 
worthy of an apology. 
(C) How the repercussions resulting from 
matters described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 
this subsection may be reversed and provide ap-
propriate policies, programs, projects, and rec-
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ommendations for the purpose of reversing the 
effects of the invasions and occupations. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 4 years 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 
shall submit to Congress a written report of its findings 
and recommendations under this section. 
(d) MEMBERSHIP.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.— 
(A) STATED
MEMBERS.—The following 
shall be members of the Commission: 
(i) The Under Secretary for Western 
Hemisphere Affairs of the Department of 
State. 
(ii) The current United States Ambas-
sadors to each of the sovereign nations 
studied by the Commission. 
(B) APPOINTED
MEMBERS.—Not later 
than 90 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the following shall be members of the 
Commission, appointed as follows: 
(i) One member shall be appointed by 
the President of the United States. 
(ii) Two members shall be appointed 
by the Speaker of the House of Represent-
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