[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 269 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 269
Commemorating the life of Luis Alejandro ``Alex'' Villamayor and
calling for justice and accountability.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 27, 2019
Mr. Cardin (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commemorating the life of Luis Alejandro ``Alex'' Villamayor and
calling for justice and accountability.
Whereas United States citizen Luis Alejandro ``Alex'' Villamayor was born on
July 3, 1998, to parents Puning Luk Villamayor and Luis Felipe
Villamayor in Rockville, Maryland;
Whereas Alex Villamayor is remembered by his family as a smart, loving, and
compassionate young man with a good sense of humor, who was committed to
his parents, siblings, and friends;
Whereas Alex Villamayor moved with his family at the age of six to Paraguay,
where he was a devoted member of his church and always had attention for
those less fortunate;
Whereas Alex Villamayor graduated with honors from Paraguay's Pan American
International School (PAIS) and was accepted to attend Montgomery
College in Maryland in the Fall of 2015;
Whereas Alex Villamayor aspired to study business management and return to
Paraguay to pursue a career that would help and support the Paraguayan
people;
Whereas Alex Villamayor was murdered on June 27, 2015, in the City of
Encarnacion in Paraguay;
Whereas Alex Villamayor's death was wrongfully ruled a suicide by Paraguayan
authorities before a comprehensive investigation was carried out;
Whereas, in the initial weeks of the investigation, Paraguayan authorities
failed to collect blood and DNA samples from individuals present at the
scene of the crime, conduct gunshot residue analysis on individuals
present at the crime scene, and collect cellular phone records and data
from individuals present at the crime scene;
Whereas, in August 2015, Alex Villamayor's body was exhumed for additional
forensic examination, which found that he had been raped and physically
assaulted prior to his death;
Whereas, in August 2015, Paraguayan prosecutor Olga Wilma Araujo Ayala was
suspended from the investigation into and legal case related to Alex
Villamayor's death due to mismanagement of the case;
Whereas, in September 2015, Mathias Wilbs, an employee at the property where
Alex Villamayor was murdered, admitted in a televised public interview
that he had removed the murder weapon from the crime scene and placed
another firearm in Alex Villamayor's hand;
Whereas, in September 2015, Alex Villamayor's death was ruled a homicide and
Rene Hofstetter and Mathias Wilbs were charged with crimes in relation
to Alex Villamayor's murder;
Whereas, in October 2015, Paraguayan authorities opened a formal investigation
of Alain Jacks Diaz de Bedoya for his role in Alex Villamayor's murder;
Whereas, in November 2016, Paraguayan authorities dropped the charges against
Alain Jacks Diaz de Bedoya related to Alex Villamayor's murder;
Whereas Members of the United States Congress have urged the Government of
Paraguay to invite the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation to
provide technical assistance for the investigation into Alex
Villamayor's death and the United States Embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay
has offered such assistance to Paraguayan authorities;
Whereas, to date, the Government of Paraguay has not invited the Federal Bureau
of Investigation to provide technical assistance for the investigation
into Alex Villamayor's death;
Whereas the United States embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay, and the Department of
State have not issued any formal public statements about Alex
Villamayor's murder and the many irregularities in the investigation
into his death;
Whereas, in February 2017, outgoing United States Ambassador Leslie A. Basset
told media outlets that Alex Villamayor ``died under dark
circumstances'' and that ``the investigation and the handling of this
case has been worrisome'';
Whereas, in April 2018, Rene Hofstetter was convicted of homicide and sentenced
to 12 years in prison and Mathias Wilbs was sentenced to two years and
10 months on obstruction of justice;
Whereas, in spite of these convictions, media outlets report that others
implicated in the murder and cover-up have not been charged; and
Whereas members of Alex Villamayor's immediate family continue to face grave
physical threats in Paraguay for their pursuit of justice: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) commemorates the life of United States citizen Luis
Alejandro ``Alex'' Villamayor and offers condolences to his
family and friends;
(2) expresses profound concern about the delays in
achieving justice in Alex Villamayor's case;
(3) urges Paraguayan authorities to invite the Federal
Bureau of Investigation to provide technical assistance to
properly investigate the circumstances surrounding Alex
Villamayor's death and assess whether other individuals may
have had a role in the crime or cover-up;
(4) urges the Government of Paraguay to provide for the
physical security of Alex Villamayor's family and others
seeking justice in this case and to properly investigate recent
threats against their lives, charging those implicated in such
threats;
(5) calls on the Department of State to prioritize justice
for Alex Villamayor in its diplomatic engagement with the
Government of Paraguay; and
(6) calls on the Department of State to review its
procedures for providing services to the families of United
States citizens slain or assaulted abroad.
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