Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act of 2021
Bill: S.388 | Sponsor: Sen. Merkley, Jeff (D-OR)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act of 2021
This bill temporarily imposes sanctions and other penalties on Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez and the government of Honduras for systemic corruption and human rights violations, with particular focus on the Honduran police and military.
Specifically, the President must impose asset- and visa-blocking sanctions on Juan Orlando Hernandez due to his corrupt practices, including the use of the state apparatus to protect and facilitate drug trafficking.
Additionally, the President must prohibit, within 30 days, the issuance of licenses to export defense articles and services and specified munitions to the Honduran police or military. The bill also (1) makes Honduras ineligible for security assistance to equip and train police and military, and (2) requires U.S. representatives at multilateral development banks to oppose any loans for Honduran police or military.
Furthermore, the Department of the Treasury must instruct U.S. leadership of international financial institutions and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to promote human rights due diligence and risk management in any loan, grant, policy, or strategy related to Honduras.
The sanctions and other penalties put in place under this bill terminate in five years but may be lifted earlier if specified conditions are met.

To suspend certain United States assistance for the Government of 
Honduras until corruption, impunity, and human rights violations are no 
longer systemic, and the perpetrators of these crimes are being brought 
                              to justice.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Honduras Human 
Rights and Anti-Corruption Act of 2021''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Police or military of the Republic of Honduras defined.
Sec. 3. Findings.
Sec. 4. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 5. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
                            Rights.
Sec. 6. Imposition of sanctions with respect to the President of 
                            Honduras.
Sec. 7. Prohibition on commercial export of covered defense articles 
                            and services and covered munitions items to 
                            the Honduran police or military.
Sec. 8. Suspension and restrictions of security assistance extended to 
                            the Republic of Honduras unless certain 
                            conditions are met.
Sec. 9. Sunset.

SEC. 2. POLICE OR MILITARY OF THE REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS DEFINED.

     In this Act, the term ``police or military of the Republic of 
Honduras'' means--
            (1) the Honduran National Police;
            (2) the Honduran Armed Forces;
            (3) the Military Police of Public Order of the Republic of 
        Honduras; or
            (4) para-police or paramilitary elements, acting under 
        color of law or having received financing, training, orders, 
        intelligence, weapons, or other forms of material assistance 
        from the forces identified in paragraphs (1) through (3).

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Since the 2009 military coup, the Republic of Honduras 
        remains plagued by systemic corruption and human rights 
        violations, exemplified by--
                    (A) widespread collusion among government 
                officials, state and private security forces, organized 
                crime, and members of the private sector, including in 
                the knowledge and perpetration of physical and legal 
                threats, assassinations, forced disappearances, and 
                other abuses against human rights and environmental 
                defenders, members of the political opposition, 
                journalists, and others;
                    (B) the excessive use of force by members of the 
                police or military of the Republic of Honduras, 
                particularly in the context of civil society protests;
                    (C) the failure of the Government of Honduras to 
                protect the rights, interests, and physical security of 
                indigenous peoples in land and natural resources 
                disputes, in contravention of its obligations under the 
                Honduran constitution and under international treaties 
                to which it is a state party; and
                    (D) the failure of the Government of Honduras to 
                enforce the Honduran Labor Code in violation of its 
                obligations under International Labor Organization 
                Conventions, which the Government of Honduras has 
                ratified, guaranteeing freedom of association, the 
                right to collective bargaining, and other fundamental 
                labor protections.
            (2) There is substantial evidence that President of 
        Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez has engaged in a pattern of 
        criminal activity and use of the state apparatus to protect and 
        facilitate drug trafficking, as exemplified by three high-
        profile corruption and drug trafficking cases that were tried 
        or are being prosecuted in the United States District Court for 
        the Southern District of New York, in which the President of 
        Honduras was named as a co-conspirator, including the 
        following:
                    (A) The October 2019 conviction of the President of 
                Honduras's brother Juan Antonio Hernandez, in which 
                Federal prosecutors and multiple witnesses testified 
                that the President of Honduras received $1,500,000 in 
                drug proceeds that were funneled toward his successful 
                2013 presidential campaign, and that organized crime 
                had infiltrated the Honduran National Police and 
                National Party.
                    (B) The March 2020 indictment of Geovanny Daniel 
                Fuentes, a drug trafficker, in which Federal 
                prosecutors alleged that the President of Honduras 
                accepted $25,000 in bribes in exchange for protecting 
                the defendant from law enforcement intervention against 
                his cocaine trafficking activities and facilitated the 
                use of Honduran military personnel as security for the 
                defendant's drug trafficking operations. On February 5, 
                2021, Federal prosecutors filed a court document 
                stating that the President of Honduras was under 
                investigation in connection with the case.
                    (C) The April 2020 indictment of former National 
                Director of Police Juan Carlos ``El Tigre'' Bonilla, in 
                which Federal prosecutors alleged that the President of 
                Honduras accepted bribes from drug traffickers, 
                facilitated multi-ton shipments of cocaine bound for 
                the United States, and entrusted the defendant with 
                special assignments, including murder.
            (3) The President of Honduras has also demonstrated a track 
        record of contempt for the rule of law, exhibited by--
                    (A) his support for the 2009 military coup, 
                repudiated as unlawful by the United Nations, the 
                Organization of American States, the European Union, 
                and numerous foreign governments, while a member of 
                Congress;
                    (B) his support for a 2012 congressional measure, 
                widely viewed as illegal, to replace four Supreme Court 
                justices while the leader of Congress; and
                    (C) his 2017 candidacy for a second presidential 
                term, in violation of the Honduran constitution's 
                longstanding prohibition on presidential reelection, 
                which in 2015 was nullified in a ruling by the justices 
                referred to in subparagraph (B).
            (4) In recent months, the executive and legislative 
        branches of the Government of Honduras have taken significant 
        steps to entrench corruption, block oversight by national 
        prosecutors and international investigators, and shield senior 
        officials and parliamentarians from criminal liability, 
        including the following actions:
                    (A) On January 19, 2020, the Government of Honduras 
                announced the closing of the Mission of Support against 
                Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), the anti-
                corruption mechanism established in 2015 by the 
                Organization of American States and the Government of 
                Honduras. MACCIH brought 14 corruption-related cases 
                against dozens of high-profile criminal defendants and 
                oversaw the creation of an anti-corruption judicial 
                circuit and special prosecutor's unit that was 
                disbanded following the mission's closure.
                    (B) On June 25, 2020, the Government of Honduras 
                enacted a new penal code that reduced prison terms for 
                corruption-related crimes, including embezzlement, 
                illicit enrichment, obstruction of justice, and fraud. 
                The measure is retroactive, benefitting Honduran 
                officials already convicted or facing prosecution.
                    (C) On October 16, 2019, the National Congress of 
                Honduras passed a law that restored immunity to all 
                parliamentarians for crimes related to legislative 
                activities and a law that blocked the Attorney 
                General's office from investigating cases involving the 
                improper use of state funds for up to 7 years.
            (5) These recent measures follow a longer pattern of 
        congressional decrees of amnesty or immunity for crimes 
        perpetrated by authorities in Honduras, including for those 
        committed during the 2009 coup and its aftermath, those 
        perpetrated by state security forces, and those involving the 
        misuse of public funds by former and current legislators, 
        contributing to a climate of impunity.
            (6) Space for civil society to operate in the Republic of 
        Honduras remains severely constrained, with rights activists 
        and journalists subject to acute levels of violence, 
        surveillance, harassment, and intimidation. The Republic of 
        Honduras ranks as the deadliest country in the world for human 
        rights and environmental defenders on a per capita basis and 
        third in the number of assassinations, with 31 defenders killed 
        in 2019 and 204 defenders killed since 2009.
            (7) The 2019 United States Department of State Country 
        Reports on Human Rights Practices, international human rights 
        bodies, and numerous monitoring groups have reported that the 
        Honduran police and military commit human rights violations 
        with impunity, including unlawful killings, torture, and the 
        use of unnecessary force and lethal weapons against protestors 
        and civilian bystanders. Individuals with documented records of 
        human rights violations and links to drug trafficking continue 
        to serve in high-ranking positions within the Honduran police 
        and military, and few of the alleged cases of human rights 
        abuses perpetrated by police and military personnel are 
        prosecuted or tried in court.
            (8) The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for 
        Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 
        have documented the use of arbitrary detentions, forced 
        disappearances, and specious judicial proceedings to 
        criminalize indigenous and human rights activists, 
        environmental defenders, journalists, opposition politicians, 
        and others, including--
                    (A) members of the Tocoa Municipal Committee for 
                the Defense of Common and Public Assets, who since 
                September 2019 have been detained pending trial 
                following their protest of an illegal mining concession 
                affecting the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers;
                    (B) four Afro-indigenous Garifuna land defenders, 
                who on July 18, 2020, were abducted from their homes 
                and reportedly forced into unmarked vehicles at 
                gunpoint by armed men in police uniforms without a 
                warrant and remain forcibly disappeared; and
                    (C) opposition lawmaker Maria Luisa Borjas, who on 
                July 21, 2020, was convicted of defamation and 
                sentenced to nearly three years in prison for naming 
                Ficohsa bank president Camilo Atala as an intellectual 
                author of the 2016 assassination of environmental and 
                indigenous rights activist Berta Caceres.
            (9) The vilification and criminalization of civil society 
        actors and human rights defenders by Honduran authorities has 
        continued unabated under the cover of COVID-19 pandemic 
        response. On March 16, 2020, the Government of Honduras first 
        notified the Organization of American States of its derogation 
        from treaty obligations under the American Convention on Human 
        Rights and has since suspended nine constitutional guarantees, 
        including the rights to freedom of assembly and expression, the 
        latter of which was restored after international outcry. At 
        least 34,000 citizens have been detained for violating curfew 
        and lockdown restrictions, and journalists and human rights 
        defenders have been impeded in their efforts to report on and 
        expose human rights abuses during the pandemic.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) systemic corruption, impunity, and human rights 
        violations by national government officials, private citizens, 
        and members of the police and military of the Republic of 
        Honduras deplete public resources and fuel widespread 
        impoverishment, citizen insecurity, and forced displacement;
            (2) the President should impose sanctions on President of 
        Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez for acts of significant 
        corruption and human rights violations and determine under the 
        Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations under part 598 
        of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, whether the President 
        of Honduras is a specially designated narcotics trafficker;
            (3) the President and Secretary of State should seek to 
        ensure that security assistance from the United States and 
        exports of munitions by United States entities are not 
        complicit in human rights abuses perpetrated by the police and 
        military of the Government of Honduras, or misused to impede 
        peaceful protestors, human rights and environmental defenders, 
        and others from exercising the right to freedom of expression, 
        association, or assembly;
            (4) the Government of Honduras should immediately initiate 
        discussions with the United Nations to negotiate the mandate 
        for a new, independent mechanism to combat corruption and 
        impunity with a mission comparable to that of MACCIH, equipped 
        with--
                    (A) the authority to initiate cases, in 
                coordination with the Specialized Prosecutor's Unit 
                against Networks of Corruption (UFERCO), against any 
                citizen of the Republic of Honduras, irrespective of 
                their office, rank, position, or title;
                    (B) the unimpeded authority to investigate, 
                including the authority to subpoena documents, 
                interview witnesses and suspects, and conduct 
                surveillance;
                    (C) the ability to propose laws, constitutional 
                amendments, and regulatory changes to the Attorney 
                General's office and other institutions within the 
                justice sector that are assured expeditious 
                consideration and debate by the National Congress; and
                    (D) the requirement to conduct regular and 
                transparent consultations with a broad range of civil 
                society members with the goal of promoting the 
                mandate's successful implementation;
            (5) the Government of Honduras should continue to pursue 
        MACCIH's ongoing anti-corruption cases and adopt legal and 
        institutional reforms to strengthen judicial independence and 
        protect human rights recommended by MACCIH, the Office of the 
        United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and UFERCO;
            (6) the United States should support credible national and 
        international efforts to combat corruption and human rights 
        violations in the Republic of Honduras, including UFERCO, the 
        Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
        Rights, and organizations working to defend human rights and 
        expose and prevent corruption, with the necessary resources for 
        holding private and government actors accountable under the law 
        and supporting independent monitoring by a free press and civil 
        society, provided that they demonstrate sufficient political 
        autonomy and willingness to prosecute high-level cases, 
        including against senior officials and legislators of the 
        Republic of Honduras; and
            (7) the Secretary of State should develop, in consultation 
        with a broad range of representatives of civil society and 
        human rights organizations in Honduras, as appropriate, 
        comprehensive and specific guidelines to use United States 
        diplomacy and assistance to protect human rights and 
        environmental defenders in the Republic of Honduras from 
        physical, legal, or financial reprisals and threats, including 
        by government, police, and military officials or their 
        associates.

SEC. 5. OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN 
              RIGHTS.

     In addition to amounts otherwise appropriated for such purposes, 
there is authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 in voluntary 
contributions to support the work of the Office of the United Nations 
High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras to monitor and document 
human rights violations, issue public reports and recommendations, and 
promote international human rights standards.

SEC. 6. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE PRESIDENT OF 
              HONDURAS.

    (a) Imposition of Sanctions.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall impose the 
sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to the President of 
Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez.
    (b) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this 
subsection are the following:
            (1) Asset blocking.--The President shall exercise all of 
        the powers granted to the President under the International 
        Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the 
        extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in 
        property and interests in property of Juan Orlando Hernandez if 
        such property and interests in property are in the United 
        States, come within the United States, or are or come within 
        the possession or control of a United States person.
            (2) Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole.--
                    (A) Visas, admission, or parole.--Juan Orlando 
                Hernandez is--
                            (i) inadmissible to the United States;
                            (ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 
                        documentation to enter the United States; and
                            (iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 
                        or paroled into the United States or to receive 
                        any other benefit under the Immigration and 
                        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
                    (B) Current visas revoked.--
                            (i) In general.--Juan Orlando Hernandez is 
                        subject to revocation of any visa or other 
                        entry documentation regardless of when the visa 
                        or other entry documentation is or was issued.
                            (ii) Immediate effect.--A revocation under 
                        clause (i) shall--
                                    (I) take effect immediately; and
                                    (II) cancel any other valid visa or 
                                entry documentation that is in Juan 
                                Orlando Hernandez's possession.
    (c) Implementation; Penalties.--
            (1) Implementation.--The President may exercise all 
        authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the 
        International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 
        1704) to the extent necessary to carry out this section.
            (2) Penalties.--A person that violates, attempts to 
        violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of 
        subsection (b)(1), or any regulation, license, or order issued 
        to carry out that subsection, shall be subject to the penalties 
        set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the 
        International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to 
        the same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act 
        described in subsection (a) of that section.
    (d) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of sanctions 
under this section if the President determines and certifies to the 
appropriate congressional committees that such a waiver is important to 
the national interest of the United States.
    (e) Exceptions.--
            (1) Exception to comply with international obligations and 
        for law enforcement activities.--Sanctions under subsection 
        (b)(2) shall not apply if admitting or paroling Juan Orlando 
        Hernandez into the United States is necessary--
                    (A) to permit the United States to comply with the 
                Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United 
                Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and 
                entered into force November 21, 1947, between the 
                United Nations and the United States, or other 
                applicable international obligations; or
                    (B) to carry out or assist law enforcement activity 
                in the United States.
            (2) Exception relating to the importation of goods.--
                    (A) In general.--The authorities and requirements 
                to impose sanctions authorized under this section shall 
                not include the authority or a requirement to impose 
                sanctions on the importation of goods.
                    (B) Good defined.--In this paragraph, the term 
                ``good'' means any article, natural or manmade 
                substance, material, supply, or manufactured product, 
                including inspection and test equipment, and excluding 
                technical data.
    (f) Termination of Sanctions.--The President may terminate the 
application of sanctions under this section if the President determines 
and reports to the appropriate congressional committees not later than 
15 days before the termination takes effect that--
            (1) credible information exists that Juan Orlando Hernandez 
        did not engage in the activity for which sanctions were 
        imposed;
            (2) Juan Orlando Hernandez has been prosecuted 
        appropriately for the activity for which sanctions were 
        imposed; or
            (3) Juan Orlando Hernandez has credibly demonstrated a 
        significant change in behavior, has paid an appropriate 
        consequence for the activity for which sanctions were imposed, 
        and has credibly committed to not engage in an activity for 
        which the sanctions were imposed in the future.
    (g) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Admission; admitted.--The terms ``admission'' and 
        ``admitted'' have the meanings given those terms in section 101 
        of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).
            (2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the 
                Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (3) United states person.--The term ``United States 
        person'' means--
                    (A) an individual who is a United States citizen or 
                an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to 
                the United States;
                    (B) an entity organized under the laws of the 
                United States or any jurisdiction within the United 
                States, including a foreign branch of such an entity; 
                or
                    (C) any person in the United States.

SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON COMMERCIAL EXPORT OF COVERED DEFENSE ARTICLES 
              AND SERVICES AND COVERED MUNITIONS ITEMS TO THE HONDURAN 
              POLICE OR MILITARY.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the President shall prohibit the issuance of 
licenses to export covered defense articles and services and covered 
munitions items to the police or military of the Republic of Honduras.
    (b) Termination.--The prohibition under subsection (a) shall 
terminate on the date on which the President determines and reports to 
the appropriate congressional committees that the police or military of 
the Republic of Honduras have not engaged in gross violations during 
the one-year period ending on the date of such determination.
    (c) Waiver.--The prohibition under subsection (a) shall not apply 
to the issuance of a license with respect to which the President 
submits to the appropriate congressional committees a written 
certification that the exports to be covered by such license are 
important to the national interests and foreign policy goals of the 
United States, including a description of the manner in which such 
exports will promote such interests and goals.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (2) Covered defense articles and services.--The term 
        ``covered defense articles and services'' means defense 
        articles and defense services designated by the President under 
        section 38(a)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 
        2778(a)(1)).
            (3) Covered munitions items.--The term ``covered munitions 
        items'' means tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, foam 
        rounds, bean bag rounds, pepper balls, water cannons, 
        handcuffs, shackles, stun guns, tasers, semi-automatic 
        firearms, and their associated munitions not included in the 
        definition under paragraph (2).

SEC. 8. SUSPENSION AND RESTRICTIONS OF SECURITY ASSISTANCE EXTENDED TO 
              THE REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS UNLESS CERTAIN CONDITIONS ARE 
              MET.

    (a) Suspension of Security Assistance.--No assistance may be made 
available for the police or military of the Republic of Honduras, 
including assistance for equipment and training.
    (b) Loans From Multilateral Development Banks and the United States 
International Development Finance Corporation.--The Secretary of the 
Treasury shall--
            (1) instruct United States representatives at multilateral 
        development banks to use their voice and vote to oppose any 
        loans for the police or military of the Republic of Honduras; 
        and
            (2) instruct the United States Executive Director of each 
        international financial institution and the Chief Executive 
        Officer of the United States International Development Finance 
        Corporation to promote human rights due diligence and risk 
        management in connection with any loan, grant, policy, or 
        strategy related to the Republic of Honduras, in accordance 
        with the criteria specified in subsection 7029(d) of the 
        Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs 
        Appropriations Act, 2020 (division G of Public Law 116-94; 133 
        Stat. 2863) and accompanying report.
    (c) Conditions for Lifting Suspensions and Restrictions.--The 
provisions of this section shall terminate on the date on which the 
Secretary of State determines and reports to the Committees on Foreign 
Relations and Appropriations of the Senate and the Committees on 
Foreign Affairs and Appropriations of the House of Representatives that 
the Government of Honduras has--
            (1) pursued all legal avenues to bring to trial and obtain 
        a verdict of all those who ordered, carried out, and covered 
        up--
                    (A) the March 2, 2016, murder of Berta Caceres;
                    (B) the killings of over 100 small-farmer activists 
                in the Aguan Valley;
                    (C) the killings of 22 people and forced 
                disappearance of 1 person by state security forces in 
                the context of the 2017 post-electoral crisis;
                    (D) the killings of at least 6 people by state 
                security forces in the context of anti-government 
                demonstrations between March and July of 2019;
                    (E) the killings of at least 21 journalists and 
                media workers between October 2016 and July 2020;
                    (F) the July 18, 2020, forced disappearances of 4 
                Garifuna community leaders from Triunfo de la Cruz; and
                    (G) the December 26, 2020, killing of indigenous 
                Lenca leader and environmental activist Felix Vasquez 
                at his home in La Paz, and the December 29, 2020, 
                killing of indigenous Tolupan leader and environmental 
                activist Adan Mejia in Yoro;
            (2) investigated and successfully prosecuted members of 
        military and police forces who are credibly found to have 
        violated human rights and ensured that the military and police 
        cooperated in such cases, and that such violations have ceased;
            (3) withdrawn the military from domestic policing and 
        ensured that all domestic police functions are separated from 
        the command and control of the Armed Forces of Honduras and are 
        instead directly responsible to civilian authority;
            (4) established that it protects effectively the rights of 
        trade unionists, journalists, small farmers, human rights and 
        environmental defenders, indigenous and Afro-indigenous 
        community members and rights activists, women's and LGBTQI 
        rights activists, critics of the government, and other members 
        of civil society to operate without interference or repression; 
        and
            (5) taken effective steps to establish the rule of law and 
        to guarantee a judicial system that is capable of 
        investigating, prosecuting, and bringing to justice members of 
        the police and military who have committed human rights abuses.

SEC. 9. SUNSET.

    This Act shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act.
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