Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy,
On The International Commission
Against Impunity In Guatemala
July 26, 2007
Mr. LEAHY. Last week, I spoke in this chamber
about the current debate underway in Guatemala concerning the
International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). In my
brief remarks I recalled the 30 years of civil war that caused
widespread atrocities against civilians, particularly Guatemala’s Mayan
population. A substantial majority of those killings and disappearances
were perpetrated by Guatemalan security forces.
Since the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996,
most Guatemalans have tried to put the past behind them and rebuild
their country. The United States and other donors have supported that
effort.
But key aspects of the Peace Accords remain
unfulfilled, and there has been no justice for the families of the war’s
many victims. Meanwhile, gang violence, drug trafficking, brutal
killings of women, and attacks against human rights defenders and others
who speak out against corruption and impunity have increased
exponentially and threaten the very foundations of Guatemala’s fragile
democracy.
In recent years, the Guatemalan Government has
worked with officials of the United Nations to draft the CICIG
agreement, the latest version of which has been upheld by Guatemala’s
constitutional court.
The CICIG is necessary to expose the truth about
clandestine groups and to bring accountability for the violence. Far
from weakening national sovereignty, CICIG will support Guatemala by
helping to strengthen the capacity of the country’s dysfunctional
judicial system.
On July 18, a majority of members of the
International Relations Committee of the Guatemalan Congress, for
reasons that only they can explain, voted against the CICIG agreement.
Since then, several have changed their votes and I understand that on
August 1st the full Congress will approve or reject the CICIG
agreement or refer it to another committee.
The question of whether or not to approve CICIG is,
of course, a decision solely for Guatemala’s Congress to make. But the
importance of this historic decision cannot be overstated for
U.S.-Guatemalan relations and for Guatemala’s future.
Guatemala, like many impoverished countries
emerging from years of civil conflict, faces immense social, economic
and political challenges. Without the support of countries like the
United States in building its economy, promoting foreign investment and
trade, and strengthening the institutions of democracy, Guatemala will
lag behind its neighbors.
Today, that support hangs in the balance.
The Bush Administration has voiced strong support
for CICIG. The U.S. Congress has linked a resumption of U.S. assistance
for the Guatemalan Armed Forces, in part, on approval of CICIG. In
addition, I would be reluctant to support assistance for Guatemala to
take part in any regional security initiative with the United States,
unless CICIG is approved and supported. There is little point in trying
to work with a government that fails to demonstrate a strong commitment
to ending impunity and to combating gang violence and corruption, which
have infiltrated the very institutions that would participate in such a
strategy.
CICIG is nothing less than a choice between the
past and the future. Rejecting this historic initiative – an outcome
most Americans would find inexplicable – would signal that the
Guatemalan Congress is more interested in protecting the forces of evil,
and in covering up the truth, than in ending the lawlessness that is
taking Guatemala backwards.
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