Mr. LEAHY.  Mr. President, today marks the one year anniversary of the election of Xiomara Castro Sarmiento, the first woman to hold the office of President of Honduras.  She succeeded Juan Orlando Hernandez who had discredited the office of the presidency by colluding with drug traffickers, corrupt business owners, and other criminals; abusing his authority by pressuring corrupt legislators and judges to dismantle the institutions of democracy; and using the armed forces and police to brutally silence his critics.  The many crimes committed by his government were well documented, yet numerous U.S. officials treated him like a legitimate partner even after his stolen reelection in 2017, until he was finally arrested and extradited to the United States.

The election of President Castro gave the people of Honduras a new sense of hope that finally that dark period was behind them.  That rather than seeking to enrich themselves and hold onto power, she and her administration would finally tackle the grinding poverty, inequality, injustice, impunity, and insecurity that have caused so many Hondurans to seek a better, safer life outside the country.

It has now been ten months since President Castro was sworn in, and her record is mixed.  She has taken a number of important steps to reverse the improper and illegal practices of her predecessor and to put the country on a brighter path.  By doing so she has distinguished herself from her counterparts in El Salvador and Guatemala who have chosen to continue down the dark path of authoritarianism, corruption, and impunity.  But while her administration faces every imaginable challenge, none is more urgent and necessary than reversing the Hernandez administration’s assault on the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.  Under President Hernandez, the very concept of justice was turned on its head.  Anyone with money could get away with practically anything, including murder, and the government could arrest and imprison anyone with impunity. The vast majority of crimes went unpunished.

Recognizing the need to establish public confidence in the courts and Office of the Attorney General, one of President Castro’s most important promises during her campaign was to create a Comisión International Contra la Impunidad en Honduras (CICIH), to succeed the defunct Mission to Support the Fight Against Corruption and Impunity (MACCIH) which was shut down by President Hernandez.  Yet, nearly a year after her election, a formal agreement between the United Nations and Honduras, or Convenio, to establish an independent CICIH, has not been signed.

One of the lessons the people of Central America have learned is that the only way to establish the rule of law and end impunity n their countries is with the active participation of international institutions and experts, and the unequivocal commitment of local officials.  Despite millions of dollars invested by the United States and other donor countries, that local commitment was lacking for the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the MACCIH in Honduras.  Each was pointed to by the former leaders of those countries as proof of their commitment to the rule of law.  Yet each was vulnerable to manipulation, and each was shut down by those same leaders when it became clear that they themselves could be held accountable for their crimes.  Their only interest was in appearing to support the institutions of justice while all the time ensuring that they, their families, and their corrupt accomplices in government and the private sector remained above the law.

Considering how easily CICIG and MACCIH were sabotaged by the previous leaders of those countries and how much is at stake for the people of Honduras and the country’s future development, nothing is more important than firmly establishing a culture of respect for the rule of law and for those whose job it is to administer it.

Doing so will take years, but the essential first step in that process is for the Castro administration to complete the negotiations with the United Nations and sign a Convenio for the installation of a fully independent CICIH headed by a Commissioner with the necessary experience, professionalism, and integrity, selected by the United Nations.

An independent Commissioner will work with local judicial authorities in applying the law to the facts, wherever they lead.  Past partial solutions only resulted in money wasted, time lost, and justice denied.  Only after such a Convenio is signed, which should occur without further delay, will the Honduran people and the international community have confidence that President Castro will keep her word and that Honduras will finally be on a path toward real justice and accountability.