Opening Statement
Chairman Eliot L. Engel
House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
Violence in Central America
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
I am pleased to welcome you to today's hearing on violence in Central America. And I want to once again thank my friends, the distinguished Ambassadors from Guatemala and Honduras for presenting their countries' perspectives on violence in Central America.
The February murder of three Salvadoran legislators from the Central American Parliament and the subsequent murder in prison of the Guatemalan policemen linked to the crime clearly illustrated to the international community the threat posed by violence in Central America.
While this high profile incident brought violence in Central America into the spotlight, it is unfortunately nothing new. Latin America has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, and, in recent years, murder rates have been increasing throughout Central America. In 2005, the estimated murder rate per 100,000 people was roughly 56 in El Salvador, 41 in Honduras and 38 in Guatemala. A May 2007 report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) makes the case that Central American countries are particularly vulnerable to violent crime fueled by drug trafficking and corruption because they are geographically located between the world's largest drug producing and drug consuming countries. Some 90% of the cocaine shipped from the Andes to the U.S. flows through Central America.
While the common perception is that most hemispheric drug-related violence takes place in Colombia and the Andean region, narco-trafficking has an enormous impact on our neighbors in Central America. Last week's House Foreign Operations Appropriations bill took a major step in reconfiguring our foreign assistance to Colombia and rethinking our efforts to combat international drug trafficking. As we continue to look at ways to deal with the drug problem, we must not ignore Central America and the degree to which violence in the sub-region is fueled by the illicit drug trade.
Violence in Central America is clearly a multi-faceted issue and we will only be scratching the surface in this hearing. But I do want to focus on two specific areas which were discussed in our briefing with Ambassadors Castillo and Flores.
First, I want to again commend the Guatemalan government for signing a groundbreaking agreement in December to establish the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The CICIG is a truly innovative mechanism that would allow a U.N. commission to investigate illegal security groups and clandestine organizations in Guatemala. Many of these illegal groups are charged with targeting people investigating human rights violations committed during Guatemala's civil war. The Guatemalan government - under the leadership of Vice President Eduardo Stein - has made a good faith effort to tackle violence through the CICIG. The remaining obstacle now is the CICIG's approval by the Guatemalan Congress. With the Guatemalan Congress out of session until August and presidential and congressional elections in September, the window of opportunity for approval of the CICIG is very small. I look forward to working closely with the Guatemalan Government in the coming months to support the CICIG.
The second area that I want to focus on is the increase in youth gang violence in Central America, particularly in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. In recent years, Central American governments and many U.S. officials have attributed a large proportion of the rise in violent crime in Central America to youth gangs, many of which have ties to the U.S. While it is crucial to put sufficient resources into law enforcement, I also believe that we must balance these efforts with prevention. One positive example of youth gang prevention which I would like to highlight is taking place in Panama. In September 2004, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos launched a crime prevention program entitled "Mano Amiga" which provides positive alternatives to gang membership for at-risk youths. The program provides access to theater and sports activities for some 10,000 Panamanian youth.
I would be remiss not to mention that U.S. immigration policy has been criticized for facilitating the deportation of thousands of documented and undocumented immigrants, many with gang-related criminal convictions. While I am aware that our immigration law is unlikely to change, I also think that we should find ways to mitigate the impact of the deportees on the recipient countries by supporting programs that help reintegrate former gang members back into society. I am pleased to announce that the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee will hold a hearing to further explore the deportees issue on July 24.
I now would like to introduce our distinguished witnesses who are testifying today. Lainie Reisman is the Director of the Inter-American Coalition for the Prevention of Violence, Geoff Thale is the Program Director at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and Roy Godson is the President of the National Strategy Information Center and a Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University.
I am pleased to call on Ranking Member Burton for his opening statement.
Thank you.
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