[Pages H7453-H7457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

SENSE OF THE HOUSE DEPLORING TRAGIC AND SENSELESS MURDER OF BISHOP JUAN
JOSE GERARDI

Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
resolution (H. Res. 421) expressing the sense of the House of
Representatives deploring the tragic and senseless murder of Bishop
Juan Jose Gerardi, calling on the Government of Guatemala to
expeditiously bring those responsible for the crime to justice, and
calling on the people of Guatemala to reaffirm their commitment to
continue to implement the peace accords without interruption.
The Clerk read as follows:

H. Res. 421

Whereas on December 29, 1996, the Government of Guatemala
and the representatives

[[Page H7454]]

of the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca signed a
historic peace accord ending 36 years of armed confrontation;
Whereas the peace accords, which included as the primary
goals lasting peace, national reconciliation, and political
stability for all Guatemalans, are being successfully
implemented;
Whereas the peace accords included the creation of
individual commissions to implement a wide range of reforms
to the political, social, and judicial systems of Guatemala,
including an enhanced respect for human rights and the rule
of law;
Whereas, despite the fact that crime and violence remain
prevalent in Guatemala, the human rights situation has
improved over the last several years, allowing for the
creation of special investigative commissions on human rights
abuses, the prosecution of those involved in past human
rights-related crimes, and the ability of human rights groups
to operate with freedom;
Whereas, in recognition that the human rights situation in
Guatemala had improved significantly, the United Nations
Human Rights Commission voted to remove Guatemala from its
list of countries under observation for abuses;
Whereas on Sunday, April 26, 1998, Guatemalan Roman
Catholic Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi was brutally and
senselessly murdered just 48 hours after presenting a
landmark report detailing significant human rights atrocities
associated with the 36-year civil war in Guatemala;
Whereas Bishop Gerardi, while considered a common man,
dedicated to his ministry, was also considered one of
Guatemala's most progressive clergymen, an outspoken human
rights advocate, and was the author of the recent report
``Guatemala: Never Again'', the first comprehensive
examination of human rights violations committed during the
decades of political violence which engulfed that nation;
Whereas the slaying of Bishop Gerardi casts a pall over the
effectiveness of the peace accords and raises questions
regarding the national commitment to human rights and freedom
of expression; and
Whereas the expeditious and successful resolution of the
tragic death of Bishop Gerardi is critical for the
continuation of support for the peace accords: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of
Representatives that--
(1) the Government of Guatemala, including the national
police and the military, should commit themselves to take all
steps necessary to resolve the heinous murder of Guatemalan
Roman Catholic Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi;
(2) in order to deter continued human rights abuses,
resolve other human rights cases, and improve the citizens'
sense of personal security, the Government of Guatemala
should continue its efforts to establish effective civilian
law enforcement and judicial institutions;
(3) the Government and people of Guatemala should make a
renewed commitment to successfully implement the peace
accords, especially those accords concerning human rights;
and
(4) the United States Government should provide all
necessary support to the investigation of the murder of
Bishop Gerardi and to continue to support the full
implementation of the peace accords.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Gilman) and the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr.
Faleomavaega) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman).
(Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)

General Leave

Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
on H. Res. 421.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 421. I agreed to
cosponsor this resolution, having been shocked by the news of the
senseless murder of his eminence, Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi.
A great deal of progress has been made in Guatemala since the signing
of the Peace Accords. It is a terrible tragedy for Guatemala to suffer
the loss of one of its most steadfast champions of human rights. This
brutal act occurred just as the process of examining the painful legacy
of past abuses by security forces and guerillas was beginning in
earnest.
Just days before he was murdered, Bishop Gerardi issued the Catholic
Church's report on human rights abuses during Guatemala's 3 decade-long
guerrilla conflict.
This past Sunday, The Washington Post ran a prominent story on Bishop
Gerardi and on the critically important church report he oversaw,
entitled, ``Guatemala: Never Again.'' The Post article chronicles
Bishop Gerardi's extraordinary leadership in defending the church and
the indigenous peoples of Guatemala who were, to quote the Post story,
``Caught in the middle, recruited by both sides, and frequently the
victims of harsh, irregular warfare.''
Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution and especially its call on the
government of Guatemala, including the national police and the
military, to take all steps necessary to resolve the killing of Bishop
Gerardi.
This is an historic opportunity for President Alvaro Arzu to lead his
people in breaking with impunity. Reformist elements in the Guatemalan
Army who are working to create a professional military, as well as
their former guerrilla adversaries in the National Guatemalan
Revolutionary Union, the URNG, should seize this opportunity to
demonstrate their commitment to resolving this crime.
Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to fully support this
measure.
Mr. Speaker, I include at this time for the Record the article from
the Washington Post which I referred to earlier in my comments.

[From the Washington Post, Sept. 6, 1998]

A Look at . . . a Murder in Guatemala: The Mysterious Death of Bishop
Gerardi

(By Terri Shaw)

Guatemala City.--On April 24, Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi
stood in front of the altar of the capital's Spanish colonial
style Metropolitan Cathedral to present to his nation the
results of a report detailing three decades of horrific civil
strife in Guatemala, with information about more than 400
massacres, thousands of murders, rapes and cases of torture.
It concluded that 79 percent of the abuses were committed by
government forces and 9 percent by the leftist guerrillas
opposing them. Entitled ``Guatemala: Never Again,'' the
report was based on thousands of interviews conducted with
survivors, witnesses and even perpetrators of the abuses.
Gerardi's message accompanying the report was hardly
comforting to a nation where many prefer to forget the ordeal
of the conflict that ended only two years ago. ``Facing our
personal and collective reality is not an option that can be
accepted or rejected,'' he declared, knowing that the report
would not be well received by supporters of the military, or
by the many Guatemalans who have remained aloof from the
conflict. ``It is a requirement for every human being, for
every society that hopes to become human and be free.''
Two days later, the bishop was dead. His body was found in
the garage of his parish house, his head bashed in with a
heavy object. He was 75 years old.
Four months later, the country is still absorbed by
Gerardi's death and the details of the murder investigation,
which to date has yielded no clear culprit. Opinion is
divided over whether the murder was an assassination or a
common crime. Competing theories say that Gerardi was killed
by members of the armed forces--the initial suspicion of
many--or by a priest who lived with him and who has been
detained for questioning but not formally charged. While the
media here follow the case closely and Guatemalans discuss it
avidly, the content of the church's report has largely been
overshadowed.
One morning last month, a steady trickle of buyers picked
up copies of the four-volume report, priced at $40, at the
headquarters of the Office of Human Rights of the Archdiocese
of Guatemala next door to the cathedral. But while every
Guatemalan I encountered during a recent visit had something
to say about the investigation of the murder, only one--a
retired banker--said he had actually read the report.
Perhaps no one would have been more disappointed than
Gerardi himself. Persuading Guatemalans to face the painful
truths about the war was his personal mission. Born in
Guatemala City to a couple of Italian descent, Gerardi became
a traditional churchman who did not speak out on political
issues until the late 1970s when violence between leftist
guerrillas and government forces intensified in the
mountainous province of El Quiche where he worked. Most
residents of the spectacularly beautiful region are Indians
who live on tiny subsistence farms and still practice their
traditional cultures.
As various leftist rebel groups battled Guatemala's
military-dominated governments, these Indians were caught in
the middle--recruited by both sides and frequently the
victims of harsh irregular warfare.
Gerardi began to take a more open political stand when the
army and paramilitary groups allied with it targeted church
workers, accusing them of supporting the guerrillas. In 1976,
the Rev. William Woods, an American Maryknoll missionary who
was working with a peasant cooperative, was killed. A church
biography of Gerardi called this the ``beginning of
systematic persecution against the church in El Quiche.'' In
the early '80s, according to Tom Quigley, a policy adviser to
the U.S. Catholic Conference, ``Quichie was the Wild West,''
and scores of priests and lay leaders were killed.

[[Page H7455]]

Gerardi tried to persuade military and government officials
to moderate the army's brutal methods, but he was
unsuccessful. In 1980, he took the unusual step of
withdrawing all Catholic religious workers from the province
after he himself was shot at.
Gerardi went to Rome for a conference and told Pope John
Paul II about the attacks on Indian communities and the
church. The pope issued a letter shortly thereafter
condemning the violence and Gerardi flew back to Guatemala
City, but was turned away at the airport. He went into exile
in Costa Rica.
``It is not convenient for me to go back now,'' he told
June Erlick, a reporter for National Catholic Reporter, at
the archdiocese in the Costa Rica capital, San Jose, where he
was living. ``In two days, in four days, in two weeks, I
would be dead. And if I weren't, someone close to me would
be.''
Two years in exile did not radicalize Gerardi, however. He
spurned invitations to join groups backing the guerrillas and
refused to support about a dozen priests living in Nicaragua
who formed what they called a ``Guatemala church in exile.''
In 1982, when it was safer to work in Guatemala, he returned.
In 1984 he was named auxiliary bishop, and in 1988 he joined
a National Reconciliation Commission that encouraged meetings
involving representatives of the guerrillas, the government
and other groups, laying the groundwork for the peace accords
that finally brought an end to the 36-year war in 1996.
In 1990, he formed the Human Rights Office of the
archdiocese and in 1995 began the historic memory project.
This effort, which was financed in part by European
foundations, involved training 600 lay people who lived where
the fighting took place to conduct interviews with witnesses,
survivors and, in some cases, perpetrators of abuses. About
two-thirds of the interviews were conducted in the
languages spoken by the Indians who make up a majority of
the Guatemalan population and who are a disproportionate
number of the victims of abuses chronicled in the report.
The project--generally called REHMI, its Spanish acronym--
was conceived in part as a supplement to the work of a
Historic Clarification Commission formed by the peace
accords. The commission's mandate was to investigate human
rights abuses committed during the conflict, but not to name
those responsible. The church's report, on the other hand,
does name names and does assign responsibility to the leaders
of the guerrilla organizations and of the army and
paramilitary groups allied with it.
The REHMI report also demanded that both the army and the
guerrillas publicly acknowledge responsibility for abuses and
apologize. So far representatives of both groups have
admitted only to ``errors.''
Gerardi's mission remains to be completed. Edgar Gutierrez,
who directed the REHMI project, points out that the
negotiations that ended the war were conducted by the leaders
of the government and the guerrillas, not the people
themselves. ``The population, in general, remained divided,''
he said. ``Since there is no reconciliation within the
population affected by the armed conflict, the church now
will work to bring about the reconstitution of the social
fabric.''
The REHMI report ends with recommendations of ways to help
Guatemalans come to terms with their past and live together
peacefully. These include concrete measures that could be
taken by the government, such as financial restitution and
humanitarian aid for survivors, attention to human rights
cases in the courts and investigation of the cases of people
who disappeared. The report also asks the guerrillas to
``clarify the deaths and disappearances it was responsible
for'' and ``recognize the murders of civilian
noncombatants.'' And it recommends symbolic measures such as
commemorative ceremonies and monuments to the victims.
It is a daunting agenda for a traumatized country of 11.6
million where it is easier to forget than forgive--but one
that Gerardi did not flinch from promoting. He closed his
last speech in the cathedral with a biblical quote that he
said was brought to mind by the ``memory of these painful
facts'':
And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And
he said, I know not; Am I my brother's keeper?
And He said, What hast thou done? The voice of they
brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Gilman), the chairman of the Committee on International Relations, for
his leadership and management of this bill before the body.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation was introduced and authored by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady), and it has the bipartisan support of
all of the members of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere as
cosponsors.
Mr. Speaker, the resolution calls for the government of Guatemala to
denounce the murder of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi and to commit to take
all necessary steps to resolve the murder. Bishop Gerardi, an auxiliary
bishop of Guatemala City, was the author of the Guatemalan Church's
narrative on the Civil War, released 2 days before he was murdered
outside his home in Guatemala City. It was by far the highest profile
murder in Guatemala since the signing of the Peace Accords in December
1996.
Mr. Speaker, ``tragic'' and ``senseless'' are appropriate words to
define the murder of Bishop Gerardi. There are very few people who
worked as hard as he did to bring to Guatemala a new sense of respect
for human rights. It is now 5 months since this brutal incident took
place, but it is timely that we focus our attention on this murder
today.
The investigation of the murder is bogged down and we have heard very
little public expressions of frustration from the people in Guatemala
in following the investigation. We are right to express our ongoing
interest in this case, and our commitment to seeing a successful
investigation and prosecution. The United States has already provided
substantial assistance to Guatemala and has pledged further support for
the implementation of Guatemala's Peace Accords.

{time} 1400

I believe that we pledged $260 million in assistance over 4 years
now, and that support is contingent on all parties remaining committed
to the letter and spirit of the accords. Guatemala's response to Bishop
Gerardi's killing is an indicator of the willingness to implement those
accords.
I believe, Mr. Speaker, that we can expect much more progress, and
that we ought to continue to follow this case closely as an indicator
of the government's commitment to human rights and its commitment to
the spirit of the peace accords.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution deserves our support, and I urge my
colleagues to join me in voting yes on this important resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady), who is the original sponsor of this
measure.
Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 421 is a bipartisan
effort introduced with the strong support and leadership of the
chairman, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Ben Gilman), and the
chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, the gentleman
from California (Mr. Elton Gallegly).
It expresss the sense of the House of Representatives deploring the
tragic and senseless murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi, to call on the
government of Guatemala to expeditiously bring those responsible for
the crime to justice, and to call on the people of Guatemala to
reaffirm their commitment to continue to implement the peace accords
without interruption to bring attention.
In some ways it is appropriate that we are considering this
resolution today. It was on this day in 1776 that our Second
Continental Congress authorized the use of the name ``the United
States'' for our young Nation. Historians tell us no other subject more
appropriately demonstrates one of the important steps taken by our
Founding Fathers in our Nation's move towards independence and freedom.
Just as we have achieved that goal, Bishop Gerardi's report, which
was a monumental, historic report entitled ``Guatemala: Never Again,''
was and is an important step in Guatemalans' efforts at achieving their
peace and their freedom.
As we may recall, late in the evening on Sunday, April 26 of this
year, Bishop Gerardi was brutally bludgeoned to death in his garage as
he returned from his usual Sunday night dinner with his sister and her
family.
Specifically, the skull of Bishop Gerardi was crushed by a wedge of
concrete. The autopsy revealed that the Bishop had been bashed in the
head repeatedly, and in the face, at least 17 times. Mr. Speaker, the
Bishop's face was bashed so badly that another priest living in the
church's compound could only recognize his body by a ring on one of the
fingers.
This attack occurred just 2 days after Bishop Gerardi, one of
Guatemala's, and indeed, our world's, foremost

[[Page H7456]]

human rights activists, released a report providing the most extensive
account of human rights atrocities committed during the 36-year civil
war that plagued the country until the peace accords were signed in
December of 1996.
One aspect of that agreement called for the conflict to be
investigated to determine the truth for historical purposes. This
effort was led by the Bishop. This report indicated that while both the
Guatemalan military and the guerillas committed war crimes, the
military was responsible for most of the deaths, almost 80 percent of
the 150,000 unarmed civilians killed during the civil war, and for the
disappearance of at least 50,000 more. Additionally, the document also
detailed how at least 1.5 million people were victimized, to varying
degrees.
Almost immediately after word of this attack became public,
Guatemalan President Arzu formed a commission to investigate the
Bishop's death. At the same time, our FBI sent several people to
Guatemala to assist the government with their investigation. Since
those agents' return, the FBI has sent other agents to the country to
assist in the investigation as needed.
Because the investigation is still ongoing, we would do more harm
than good by commenting on any of the various paths the investigation
has taken so far. Rather, what we must do is to continue to provide the
Guatemalan government and the people the necessary support to help
solve this murder, to bring to justice those responsible for committing
it, and to continue implementation of the peace accords.
The question in this resolution for human rights activists throughout
the world that must be answered is not who murdered Bishop Gerardi, but
rather, who ordered Bishop Gerardi murdered.
In one of his last public speeches, he closed with a biblical quote
brought to mind by the memory of the painful facts of his report. He
said, ``And the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, thy brother? And he
said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, what hast thou
done? The voice of thy brother's blood cryeth unto me from the
ground.''
Mr. Speaker, the voice of Bishop Gerardi's blood cries to the people
of Guatemala and to the world from the ground to determine and to call
for justice to be brought. We must not and should not let this murder
destroy the peace so many people have worked so hard to bring about.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, our colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr.
Gallegly), the distinguished chairman of our Subcommittee on the
Western Hemisphere, is unfortunately detained today, but I will be
submitting a statement on his behalf under leave previously obtained.
Mr. GALLEGLY. Mr. Speaker, in December, 1996, the Government of
Guatemala and representatives of the UNRG signed a historic peace
agreement ending some 36 years of armed confrontation.
Since that historic day, peace and the implementation of the peace
accords, especially with respect to political stability, national
reconciliation, the observance of human rights and freedom of
expression, have made significant gains in Guatemala. In fact, in
recognition of the progress being made on human rights, the United
Nations Human Rights Commission recently removed Guatemala from its
list of countries under observation for abuses.
Unfortunately, the progress toward reconciliation in Guatemala was
rudely shattered on April 26 when Roman Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi, a
leading human rights crusader and author of a recently released report
detailing the human rights abuses committed during the years of
conflict, was brutally and senselessly murdered outside his residence
in Guatemala City.
The murder shocked the people of Guatemala and called into question
national attitudes about human rights on the part of some in that
country.
House Resolution 421, introduced by our Colleague, Kevin Brady of
Texas, expresses our outrage over this murder and calls on the
Government of Guatemala to do everything in its power to resolve this
crime and bring those responsible to swift justice.
To that end, I want to commend President Arzu for acting quickly to
establish a high level Commission to help in the investigation, and the
efforts made to date to resolve the murder. However, progress has been
slow and the effort continues to need the strong support and
cooperation of the police and military.
Equally important, however, is that this bill calls on the government
and people of Guatemala not to give up on the peace and reconciliation
process and to make a renewed commitment to carry out the provisions of
the peace accords despite this tragic and unfortunate set back.
On May 13, the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee marked up this
resolution and unanimously adopted it.
I urge passage of this resolution.
Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House
Resolution 421, deploring the murder of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi, and I
thank the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Brady, for having introduced this
resolution.
I join with all of the people of Guatemala in mourning and deploring
the brutal murder of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi, the head of the Catholic
Church's human rights office. Many of us who have followed developments
in Guatemala since the signing of the historic peace agreement in 1996
are deeply concerned about the negative impact which the slaying of
Bishop Gerardi will have on the process of peace and reconciliation in
Guatemala.
This would be especially unfortunate because the Guatemalan
government has shown great determination to implement the broad-ranging
commitments laid out in the peace accords since the signing of the
accords. There have been many positive evaluations from the U.N.
Mission in Guatemala and other international and Guatemalan
organizations of the political will that the Arzu government has
demonstrated and of important advances in the peace process.
The murder of Bishop Gerardi took place less than two days after he
had presented the Catholic Church's landmark report, ``Never Again,''
on the human rights violations committed during the civil war. The
report documented the killings, disappearances, and massacres of the
more than 30-year war, assigning blame for more than 80 percent of them
on the security forces. Given Guatemalan history and the timing of the
murder, there is widespread presumption in Guatemala of official
involvement in the murder. This belief, and shortcomings in the
investigation of the crime, has cast a pall over the peace process and
chilled the climate of respect for human rights.
It is a measure of great progress in democratic government and
respect for human rights that few believe that the murder of the Bishop
was carried out by institutions of the State. Nonetheless, there is
concern that the government has not sufficiently investigated the role
which former and current military officials may have had in the crime;
two suspects, a retired military officer and a current officer, were
named several weeks ago by Church sources as having been involved, but
they have still not been questioned. In addition, petitions to exhume
the body of Bishop Gerardi to evaluate conflicting autopsy reports have
not been acted on by the courts, even though every passing day makes it
more likely that an autopsy would not clarify outstanding questions.
The crime scene was not properly secured to assure the reliability of
forensic evidence collected.
It is critical to the success of the peace process, and to the faith
of the Guatemala people in the institutions of democratic government,
that this case be fully investigated and that all clues be followed,
regardless of where the evidence leads. The investigation must be
complete, credible, and transparent, and the Guatemalan people must
have faith that it will be carried out in such a manner.
In addition, there can be no better way for the government and the
people of Guatemala to honor the life and work of Bishop Gerardi than
to maintain a clear and strong commitment to fully implement the peace
accords.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution
421, and I commend the Gentleman from Texas, Congressman Brady, as well
as the cosponsors of this important resolution for their work on this
bill.
Mr. Speaker, before us today is legislation which highlights one of
the most tragic losses in the fight for human rights world-wide. The
violent death of Guatemala's outstanding spiritual leader and human
rights defender, Monsignor Juan Jose Gerardi, the Bishop who served as
General Director of the Guatemalan Archbishop's Human Rights Office, is
not only a tragic loss for Guatemala, but also for the process of
reconciliation in civil-worn torn Guatemala and its search for truth.
I previously had an opportunity to express to Bishop Gerardi's
coworkers and the Guatemalan people the condolences of the U.S.
Congress and the American people for the tragic loss of Bishop Gerardi,
and would like to take this opportunity to do so again.
Mr. Speaker, Bishop Gerardi was murdered on April 26th, 1998--only
two days after he publicly presented the report ``Guatemala:

[[Page H7457]]

Never Again.'' This report represents an outstanding and extremely
difficult effort to establish the death toll of 36 years of civil war,
which is estimated to be at least 150,000, in addition to some 50,000
estimated disappearances. This crucial report--which clearly placed the
blame for the majority of human rights abuses during the civil war upon
the Guatemalan army--was prepared by the inter-diocesan project,
Recovery of Historical Memory (REMHI), which the Bishop coordinated.
Needless to say, there is complete documentation for only a small
number of cases, and the efforts by the Archbishop's Human Rights
Office will continue. Let us never forget that these staggering
estimates reflect the suffering and pains of hundreds of thousands of
individuals, families, and loved ones, which no statistics can ever do
justice.
Mr. Speaker, I also would like to take this opportunity to thank my
good friends and distinguished colleagues, Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi
of California and Connie Morella of Maryland, as well as Congressman
George Miller of California for leading a recent delegation in
conjunction with the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human
Rights, which went to Guatemala to examine the impact of the murder of
Bishop Gerardi on the future of the peace process and to check the
status of the investigation launched by the Guatemalan authorities. Our
resolution today clearly shows to all parties involved how seriously we
in the United States Congress and in the U.S. government take these
brutal efforts to silence this human rights activist. The guilty
parties must be brought to justice.
While the world mourns the tragic loss of Bishop Gerardi, the efforts
to implement the peace process must continue. Only by establishing the
basic democratic principle of accountability will the Peace Accords be
successful. Otherwise, the removal of Guatemala from the U.N. Human
Rights Commission list of Countries under observation for human rights
abuses could prove to be premature.
In order to assist the people in Guatemala to achieve the goals
expressed in the peace accords, I have introduced H.R. 2635, the Human
Rights Information Act, which provides Truth Commissions, such as the
one in Guatemala, with the necessary information to document and
prosecute human rights abuses which occurred in their country. The bi-
partisan Human Rights Information Act is currently cosponsored by 92 of
our distinguished colleagues in the House. I commend the outstanding
human rights leadership of my friend and colleague, Congressman Steven
Horn, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Management,
Information and Technology, for holding a hearing on this bill. I hope
it will be possible to mark up this bill as soon as possible, before we
run out of time in this Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gillmor). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 421.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof), the rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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