[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 321 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 321

 Commemorating the lives and work of Jesuit Fathers Ignacio Ellacuria, 
 Ignacio Martin-Baro, Segundo Montes, Amando Lopez, Juan Ramon Moreno, 
    Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, and housekeeper Julia Elba Ramos and her 
 daughter Celina Mariset Ramos on the occasion of the 20th anniversary 
       of their deaths on November 16, 1989, at the Universidad 
Centroamericana Jose Simeon Canas located in San Salvador, El Salvador.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 26, 2009

 Mr. Feingold (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Casey, and Mr. 
Menendez) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
                               agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Commemorating the lives and work of Jesuit Fathers Ignacio Ellacuria, 
 Ignacio Martin-Baro, Segundo Montes, Amando Lopez, Juan Ramon Moreno, 
    Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, and housekeeper Julia Elba Ramos and her 
 daughter Celina Mariset Ramos on the occasion of the 20th anniversary 
       of their deaths on November 16, 1989, at the Universidad 
Centroamericana Jose Simeon Canas located in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Whereas in the early morning hours of November 16, 1989, 6 Jesuit priests and 
        faculty members of the Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeon Canas 
        (``UCA'') located in San Salvador, El Salvador--Fathers Ignacio 
        Ellacuria, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Segundo Montes, Amando Lopez, Juan Ramon 
        Moreno, and Joaquin Lopez y Lopez--and housekeeper Julia Elba Ramos and 
        her daughter, Celina Mariset Ramos, were executed by members of the 
        Salvadoran Army;
Whereas Father Ignacio Ellacuria, aged 59, was since 1979 rector of the UCA and 
        was an internationally-respected intellectual and advocate for human 
        rights and for a negotiated solution to the Salvadoran civil conflict;
Whereas Father Ignacio Martin-Baro, aged 44, was the vice rector of the UCA, a 
        leading analyst of national and regional affairs, the founder and 
        director of the respected polling organization, the Public Opinion 
        Institute, former dean of students, dean of the psychology department, 
        an internationally-renowned pioneer in the field of social psychology, 
        and pastor of the rural community of Jayaque;
Whereas Father Segundo Montes, aged 56, was dean of the department of social 
        sciences, a sociology professor at the UCA, and the founder and director 
        of the Human Rights Institute at the UCA, who did extensive work on 
        Salvadoran refugees in the United States during the period of the 
        Salvadoran conflict, including providing documentation and advice to 
        Members of Congress on refugee issues;
Whereas Father Amando Lopez, aged 53, was a philosophy and theology professor at 
        the UCA, was the former director of the Jesuit seminary in San Salvador, 
        and served as pastor of the Tierra Virgen community in Soyapango, a poor 
        neighborhood in the periphery of San Salvador;
Whereas Father Juan Ramon Moreno, aged 56, was a professor of theology at the 
        UCA, a former novice-master for the Jesuits, and a tireless pastoral 
        worker and spiritual guide;
Whereas Father Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, aged 71, was one of the creators of the 
        UCA and the founder, organizer, and director of Fe y Alegria (Faith and 
        Joy), an organization to address the lack of education in El Salvador, 
        which opened 30 educational centers in marginalized communities 
        throughout El Salvador where 48,000 people received vocational training 
        and education;
Whereas Julia Elba Ramos, aged 42, was the cook and housekeeper for the Jesuit 
        seminarians at the UCA and the wife of Obdulio Lozano, the UCA gardener 
        and groundskeeper;
Whereas Celina Mariset Ramos, aged 16, had finished her first year of high 
        school at the Jose Damian Villacorta Institute in Santa Tecla, El 
        Salvador and was staying with her mother the night of November 15, 1989;
Whereas the 6 Jesuit priests dedicated their lives to advancing education in El 
        Salvador, protecting and promoting human rights and the end of conflict, 
        and identifying and addressing the economic and social problems that 
        affected the majority of the Salvadoran population;
Whereas the 6 Jesuit priests, as faculty and administrators at the UCA, educated 
        many students throughout the 1970s and 1980s, students who subsequently 
        became Salvadoran government, political, and civil society leaders, and 
        thus helped facilitate communication, dialogue, and negotiations, even 
        during the turbulent years of the armed conflict;
Whereas these 6 priests and 2 women joined the more than 75,000 noncombatants 
        who perished during the Salvadoran civil war;
Whereas on December 6, 1989, Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas 
        Foley appointed the Speaker's Task Force on El Salvador consisting of 19 
        Members of the House of Representatives and chaired by Representative 
        John Joseph Moakley of Boston, Massachusetts, to monitor the Salvadoran 
        government's investigation into the murders of the Jesuit priests and 2 
        women and to look into related issues involving respect for human rights 
        and judicial reform in El Salvador;
Whereas the Speaker's Task Force on El Salvador found that members of the high 
        command of the Salvadoran military were responsible for ordering the 
        murder of the Jesuits and 2 women and for obstructing the subsequent 
        investigation into the crimes;
Whereas the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El Salvador (the ``Truth 
        Commission'') was established under terms of the January 1992 Peace 
        Accords that ended El Salvador's 12 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 on March 15, 1993, the Truth Commission confirmed the findings of the 
        Speaker's Task Force on El Salvador;
Whereas on September 28, 1991, a Salvadoran jury found 2 Salvadoran military 
        officers guilty of the murders, including Salvadoran Army Colonel 
        Guillermo Alfredo Benavides Moreno, the first time in Salvadoran history 
        in which high-ranking military officers were convicted in a Salvadoran 
        court of law of human rights crimes;
Whereas the UCA remains dedicated to advancing and expanding educational 
        opportunity and providing the highest quality of academic excellence in 
        its studies and courses and maintains a commitment to human rights and 
        social justice;
Whereas the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States, which 
        represent many of the highest quality academic communities in the 
        Nation, have maintained a sense of solidarity with the UCA and the 
        people of El Salvador and have annually observed the November 16th 
        anniversary of the martyred Jesuits and women;
Whereas in the United States, in El Salvador, and around the world, university 
        programs, academic and scholarly institutes, libraries, research 
        centers, pastoral programs, spiritual centers, and programs dedicated to 
        educational achievement, social justice, human rights, and alleviating 
        poverty have been dedicated in the names of the Jesuit martyrs;
Whereas the international and Salvadoran outcry in response to the deaths of the 
        6 Jesuits and 2 women and the subsequent investigations into this crime 
        served as a catalyst for negotiations and contributed to the signing of 
        the 1992 Peace Accords, which have allowed the people and the Government 
        of El Salvador to achieve significant progress in creating and 
        strengthening democratic political, economic, and social institutions; 
        and
Whereas November 16, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the deaths of the 8 
        spiritual, courageous, and generous priests, educators, and laywomen: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commemorates the lives and work of Father Ignacio 
        Ellacuria, Father Ignacio Martin-Baro, Father Segundo Montes, 
        Father Amando Lopez, Father Juan Ramon Moreno, Father Joaquin 
        Lopez y Lopez, Julia Elba Ramos, and Celina Mariset Ramos;
            (2) extends sympathy to the families, friends, colleagues, 
        and religious communities of the 6 Jesuit priests and 2 
        laywomen;
            (3) recognizes the continuing academic, spiritual, and 
        social contributions of the Universidad Centroamericana Jose 
        Simeon Canas (``UCA'') in San Salvador, El Salvador;
            (4) commends the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the 
        United States for their solidarity with the UCA and annual 
        remembrances of the Jesuit martyrs;
            (5) continues to find inspiration in the lives and work of 
        the Jesuit martyrs;
            (6) remembers the seminal reports by Representative John 
        Joseph Moakley and the Speaker's Task Force on El Salvador in 
        investigating the murders of the 6 priests and 2 laywomen;
            (7) acknowledges the role played by the Speaker's Task 
        Force on El Salvador, Representative John Joseph Moakley, the 
        Jesuit leadership of the UCA, and the Salvadoran judicial 
        investigation and convictions in advancing negotiations to end 
        the war, such that the deaths of the Jesuit martyrs and 
        laywomen contributed directly to achieving the peace to which 
        they had dedicated their lives;
            (8) calls upon the people of the United States, academic 
        institutions, and religious congregations to participate in 
        local, national, and international events commemorating the 
        20th anniversary of the martyrdom of the 6 Jesuit priests and 2 
        laywomen;
            (9) recognizes that, while significant progress has been 
        made during the post-war period, social and economic hardships 
        persist among many sectors of Salvadoran society; and
            (10) calls upon the President, the Secretary of State, the 
        Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
        Development, and other Federal departments and agencies to 
        support and collaborate with the Government of El Salvador and 
        other public, private, nongovernmental, and religious 
        organizations in efforts to reduce poverty and hunger and to 
        promote educational opportunity, human rights, the rule of law, 
        and social equity for the people of El Salvador.
                                 <all>