HRES 145 — Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the fight against corruption in Central America.

145 IntroducedEngrossed in House (IH)](EH)] <DOC> 115th CONGRESS 1st Session H.

RES.Res.

145 ExpressingIn the sense of the House of RepresentativesRepresentatives, regardingU. the fight against corruption in Central America.

_______________________________________________________________________S., INMay THE17, HOUSE2017. OF REPRESENTATIVES February 16, 2017 Mrs.

TorresWhereas (foraccording herself,to Mr.Transparency International's 2016 Corruption Perception Index, the citizens of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua perceive high levels of government corruption;

Moolenaar, Mr.

Engel, Mr.

McCaul, Mr.

Sires, Mr.

Valadao, Mr.

Poe of Texas, and Mr.

Young of Alaska) submitted the following resolution;

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs _______________________________________________________________________ RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the fight against corruption in Central America.

Whereas according to Transparency International's 2016 Corruption Perception Index, the citizens of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama perceive high levels of government corruption;

Whereas the Office of the Attorney General of Guatemala,Guatemala under the leadership of Thelma Aldana, and CICIG,CICIG under the leadership of Ivan Velasquez, have recently collaborated to investigate and prosecute a series of corruption cases involving high-level government officials, demonstrating that it is possible for governments in Central America to confront entrenched corruption, and that no one is above the law;

Whereas the Attorney General of El Salvador,Salvador Douglas Melendez, has made significant progress in tackling corruption at the highest levels;

Whereas MACCIH,MACCIH under the leadership of Juan Jimenez, has begun to assist the Office of the Attorney General of Honduras,Honduras under the leadership of Oscar Chinchilla, with the investigation into the more than $300,000,000 that was embezzled from the Institute of Social Security;

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives,Representatives-- that-- (1) reaffirms that combating corruption in the Northern Triangle mustis remainan aimportant top policy priorityinterest for the United StatesStates; in Central America;

(2) acknowledges that the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH) are currently making important contributions to this effort;

(3) urges the Government of Guatemala is urged to continue to cooperate with CICIG and the Government of Honduras is urged to continue to cooperate with MACCIH;

and (4) encourages the Governments of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador are urged to-- (A) publicly support efforts to fight corruption;

and (C) ensure that the Office of the Attorney General in each Northern Triangle country receives sufficient domestic budget allocations to carry out theirits core responsibilities and that budgeted funds are delivered in a timely manner.

<all>Attest:

Clerk.