[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.
                                 <all>