[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 327 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 327
Remembering and commemorating the lives and work of Maryknoll Sisters
Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Cleveland
Lay Mission Team Member Jean Donovan, who were executed by members of
the Armed Forces of El Salvador on December 2, 1980.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 18, 2005
Mr. Feingold (for himself, Mr. Dodd, and Mr. Leahy) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Remembering and commemorating the lives and work of Maryknoll Sisters
Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Cleveland
Lay Mission Team Member Jean Donovan, who were executed by members of
the Armed Forces of El Salvador on December 2, 1980.
Whereas on December 2, 1980, 4 churchwomen from the United States, 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 4 churchwomen from the United States dedicated their lives to
working with the poor of El Salvador, especially women and children left
homeless, displaced, and destitute by the Salvadoran civil war;
Whereas these 4 churchwomen from the United States joined the more than 70,000
civilians who were murdered during the course of the Salvadoran civil
war;
Whereas on May 23 and May 24, 1984, 5 members of the National Guard of El
Salvador, including 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 30 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 12 years of civil 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 civil war;
Whereas in March 1993, the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El
Salvador found that the execution of the 4 churchwomen from the United
States 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 coverup of the facts adversely affected
the judicial investigation into the murders of the 4 churchwomen from
the United States;
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 4 churchwomen from the United States 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 4 churchwomen from the United States 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 4 churchwomen from the United States have, for the
past 25 years, served as inspiration for 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 4 churchwomen from the United States have also inspired
numerous books, plays, films, music, religious events, 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,
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 4 churchwomen from the United States;
Whereas the historic January 1992 Peace Accords ended 12 years of civil war and
have 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 4
spiritual, courageous, and generous churchwomen from the United States:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(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 4 churchwomen from the United
States;
(3) continues to find inspiration in the lives and work of
these 4 churchwomen from the United States;
(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 4 churchwomen from the United States;
(5) recognizes that while progress has been made during the
post-war period, the work begun by the 4 churchwomen from the
United States 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 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.
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