[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 458 Engrossed in House (EH)]


H. Res. 458

                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                     December 14, 2005.
Whereas on December 2, 1980, four United States churchwomen, Maryknoll Sisters 
        Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Cleveland 
        Lay Mission Team Member Jean Donovan, were violated and executed by 
        members of the National Guard of El Salvador;
Whereas in 1980 Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford were working in the 
        parish of the Church of San Juan Bautista in Chalatenango, El Salvador, 
        providing food, transportation, and other assistance to refugees and 
        Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and Cleveland Lay Mission Team Member Jean 
        Donovan were working in the parish of the Church of the Immaculate 
        Conception in La Libertad, El Salvador, providing assistance and support 
        to refugees and other victims of violence;
Whereas these four United States churchwomen dedicated their lives to working 
        with the poor of El Salvador, especially women and children left 
        homeless, displaced and destitute by the Salvadoran war;
Whereas these four United States churchwomen joined the more than 70,000 
        civilians who were murdered during the course of the Salvadoran war;
Whereas on May 23 and May 24, 1984, five members of the National Guard of El 
        Salvador--Subsergeant Luis Antonio Colindres Aleman, Daniel Canales 
        Ramirez, Carlos Joaquin Contreras Palacios, Francisco Orlando Contreras 
        Recinos, and Jose Roberto Moreno Canjura--were found guilty by the 
        Salvadoran courts of the executions of the churchwomen and were 
        sentenced to thirty years in prison, marking the first case in the 
        history of El Salvador where a member of the Salvadoran Armed Forces was 
        convicted of murder by a Salvadoran judge;
Whereas the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador was 
        established under the terms of the historic January 1992 Peace Accords 
        that ended El Salvador's twelve years of war and was charged to 
        investigate and report to the Salvadoran people on human rights crimes 
        committed by all sides during the course of the war;
Whereas in March 1993 the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador 
        found that the execution of the four United States churchwomen was 
        planned and that Subsergeant Luis Antonio Colindres Aleman carried out 
        orders from a superior to execute them, and that then Colonel Carlos 
        Eugenio Vides Casanova, then Director-General of the National Guard and 
        his cousin Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Edgardo Casanova Vejar, then 
        Commander of the Zacatecoluca military detachment where the murders were 
        committed, and other military personnel knew that members of the 
        National Guard had committed the murders pursuant to orders of a 
        superior and that the subsequent cover-up of the facts adversely 
        affected the judicial investigation into the murders of the four United 
        States churchwomen;
Whereas the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador determined 
        that General Jose Guillermo Garcia, then Minister of Defense, made no 
        serious effort to conduct a thorough investigation of responsibility for 
        the murders of the churchwomen;
Whereas the families of the four United States churchwomen continue their 
        efforts to determine the full truth surrounding the murders of their 
        loved ones, appreciate the cooperation of United States Government 
        agencies in disclosing and providing documents relevant to the 
        churchwomen's murders, and pursue requests to release to the family 
        members the few remaining undisclosed documents and reports pertaining 
        to this case;
Whereas the families of the four United States churchwomen appreciate the 
        ability of those harmed by violence to bring suit against Salvadoran 
        military officers in United States courts under the Torture Victim 
        Protection Act of 1991 (28 U.S.C. 1350 note);
Whereas the lives of these four United States churchwomen have, for the past 25 
        years, served as inspiration and continue to inspire Salvadorans, 
        Americans, and people throughout the world to answer the call to service 
        and to pursue lives dedicated to addressing the needs and aspirations of 
        the poor, the vulnerable, and the disadvantaged, especially among women 
        and children;
Whereas the lives of the four United States churchwomen have also inspired 
        numerous books, plays, films, music, religious, and cultural events;
Whereas schools, libraries, research centers, spiritual centers, health clinics, 
        women's and children's programs in the United States and in El Salvador 
        have been named after or dedicated to Sisters Maura Clarke, Ita Ford and 
        Dorothy Kazel and lay missionary Jean Donovan;
Whereas the Maryknoll Sisters, headquartered in Ossining, New York, the Ursuline 
        Sisters, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, numerous Religious Task 
        Forces in the United States, and the Salvadoran and international 
        religious communities based in El Salvador annually commemorate the 
        lives and martyrdom of the four United States churchwomen;
Whereas the historic January 1992 Peace Accords allowed the Government and the 
        people of El Salvador to achieve significant progress in creating and 
        strengthening democratic political, economic, and social institutions; 
        and
Whereas December 2, 2005, marks the 25th anniversary of the deaths of these four 
        spiritual, courageous, and generous United States churchwomen: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) remembers and commemorates the lives and work of Sisters Maura 
        Clarke, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel and lay missionary Jean Donovan;
            (2) extends sympathy and support for the families, friends, and 
        religious communities of the four United States churchwomen;
            (3) continues to find inspiration in the lives and work of these 
        four United States churchwomen;
            (4) calls upon the people of the United States and religious 
        congregations to participate in local, national, and international 
        events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the martyrdom of the four 
        United States churchwomen;
            (5) recognizes that while progress has been made during the post-war 
        period, the work begun by the four United States churchwomen remains 
        unfinished and social and economic hardships persist among many sectors 
        of Salvadoran society; and
            (6) calls upon the President, the Secretary of State, the 
        Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, 
        and the heads of other United States Government departments and agencies 
        to continue to support and collaborate with the Government of El 
        Salvador and with private sector, nongovernmental, and religious 
        organizations in their efforts to reduce poverty and hunger and to 
        promote educational opportunity, health care, and social equity for the 
        people of El Salvador.



            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.