[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 19 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 19

Acknowledging the role of the United States in El Salvador's civil war 
  and urging increased United States support for strengthening civil 
society, human rights protections, and for humanitarian and development 
                      assistance for El Salvador.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 10, 2023

 Mr. Khanna submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
 the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 
   the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Acknowledging the role of the United States in El Salvador's civil war 
  and urging increased United States support for strengthening civil 
society, human rights protections, and for humanitarian and development 
                      assistance for El Salvador.

Whereas January 16, 2023, marks the 31st anniversary of the signing of the 
        Chapultepec Peace Accords which formally ended the 12-year Salvadoran 
        civil war and established the United Nations Commission on the Truth for 
        El Salvador (Truth Commission) that was charged with investigating and 
        reporting to the Salvadoran people on human rights crimes committed by 
        all sides during the course of the war;
Whereas millions of Salvadorans in El Salvador and in diaspora communities 
        throughout the United States and world continue to suffer from the 
        multigenerational impact of the rampant destruction, violence, 
        displacement, family separation, and trauma that the war inflicted on 
        the country;
Whereas the United States played a significant role in the civil war through its 
        extensive military support for the Salvadoran army, and bears a special 
        moral responsibility to support the Salvadoran people in their continued 
        efforts to recover from the aftermath of the war;
Whereas Salvadoran Army backed right-wing paramilitary death squads and left-
        wing guerrilla groups ravaged the country in a deadly spiral of 
        political violence throughout the 1970s, with violence continuing to 
        escalate after General Carlos Romero's seized the Presidency in a 
        fraudulent election in 1977;
Whereas General Romero was ousted by a civil-military junta in a coup in October 
        1979, plunging El Salvador into a full-blown civil war;
Whereas, in March 1980, Archbishop of San Salvador and critic of the military 
        regime Oscar Romero was assassinated under the orders of the Salvadoran 
        military, while presiding over mass, and the next week the Salvadoran 
        military fired at the gathering of mourners grieving his death;
Whereas, in December 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered by 
        members of the Salvadoran National Guard, leading to President Jimmy 
        Carter's decision to temporarily cut off military aid to El Salvador;
Whereas, in 1980, Salvadoran guerilla military groups formed the Farabundo Marti 
        National Liberation Front (FMLN), and announced plans for an armed 
        insurrection, and through a series of coordinated military attacks, the 
        FMLN seized control of numerous regions of the country and launched a 
        full-scale attack on the Salvadoran Government on January 10, 1981;
Whereas President Reagan responded to the FMLN's attack by resuming and 
        increasing military assistance to the Salvadoran Government, including 
        funding for the formation of the Rapid Deployment Infantry Battalions, 
        groups later identified by the UN-sponsored Truth Commission as ``the 
        primary agents of war crimes'';
Whereas, throughout the 1980s, the war between government, guerilla, and 
        paramilitary forces resulted in systematic human rights violations, 
        subjecting civilians to torture, mutilation, forced disappearance, 
        summary executions, indiscriminate bombings, and mass rape, leading to 
        the brutal killing of more than 75,000 Salvadorans;
Whereas the Truth Commission found that more than 85 percent of the killings, 
        kidnappings, and torture had been perpetrated by government forces, 
        which included paramilitaries, death squads, and army units trained by 
        the United States;
Whereas the largest single massacre of civilians in modern Latin-American 
        history was carried out on December 11, 1981, when the Salvadoran Army's 
        counterinsurgency battalion and other military forces occupied the 
        village of El Mozote, and massacred approximately 1,000 civilians over a 
        three-day period with guns, machetes, and bayonets, with more than 45 
        percent of the dead under 12 years old;
Whereas the Atlacatl Battalion which executed the massacre at El Mozote had 
        completed counterinsurgency training at the United States School of the 
        Americas, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security 
        Cooperation (WHINSEC), and a United States military advisor was in 
        Morazan with a commander of the Atlacatl Battalion during the massacre;
Whereas during the Reagan administration, the United States provided $1-2 
        million per day in economic aid to the Salvadoran Government and 
        significant training and equipment to the Salvadoran military, while 
        deploying United States military personnel to accompany Salvadoran 
        forces into battle and coordinate closely with the Salvadoran High 
        Command on important strategic and tactical decisions;
Whereas, on November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests and faculty members of the 
        Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeon Canas (UCA) located in San 
        Salvador--Father 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 Mariceth Ramos, 
        were executed by members of the Salvadoran Army;
Whereas, on December 6, 1989, United States Speaker of the House of 
        Representatives Thomas Foley appointed a Special Task Force on El 
        Salvador chaired by Representative John Joseph Moakley, to monitor the 
        Salvadoran Government's investigation into the murders of the Jesuit 
        priests and two women and to investigate related human rights violations 
        in El Salvador;
Whereas the Speaker's Task Force on El Salvador concluded that members of the 
        High Command of the Salvadoran military were responsible for ordering 
        the murder of the Jesuits and two women and for obstructing the 
        investigation into these crimes, findings that were later confirmed by 
        the Truth Commission in 1993;
Whereas the international and Salvadoran outcry in response to the deaths of the 
        six Jesuits and two women and the subsequent investigations into this 
        crime served as a catalyst for the United Nations-mediated negotiations 
        that led to the signing of the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico 
        City, marking a formal ending to the civil war;
Whereas the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords created a foundational framework for 
        a more open and democratic society in El Salvador, limiting the mandate 
        of the Armed Forces to national defense, to help guard against their 
        historic abuses in internal security matters;
Whereas throughout the course of the war and for years following the formal 
        ending of the civil war and the failure to implement the transitional 
        justice reform called for by the Chapultepec Peace Accords, tens of 
        thousands of Salvadorans migrated to the United States and other 
        countries around the world to find refuge due to dangerous living 
        conditions in El Salvador;
Whereas the United States lacked adequate services for the resettlement of 
        Salvadoran refugees, exacerbating poverty and violence in Salvadoran 
        refugee communities struggling to build a new life in the United States 
        and throughout Mexico and Central America;
Whereas the United States deported thousands of Salvadorans to El Salvador 
        without adequately supporting the Salvadoran authorities to establish 
        the means and institutions in place to absorb this population while 
        protecting the safety of Salvadorans;
Whereas after deportation, some of these individuals organized into armed gangs 
        that continue to threaten El Salvador, Central America, and North 
        America today; and
Whereas the country of El Salvador continues to be ravaged by the aftermath of 
        the civil war as political violence continues to threaten the daily 
        lives of the Salvadoran people: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) urges the President of the United States to formally 
        acknowledge the involvement of the United States in the 
        Salvadoran civil war, from 1979-1992;
            (2) condemns the atrocities committed by all sides of the 
        war against civilians and supports transitional justice for the 
        victims of atrocities to access truth, justice, and measures 
        for accountability and redress;
            (3) urges the Administration to work through 
        nongovernmental entities in El Salvador to increase investments 
        in education, violence and gang prevention and rehabilitation, 
        human rights protection, job creation and job training, and 
        strengthening civil society and the judicial system;
            (4) applauds the Administration's recent extension of 
        Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans among other 
        specified vulnerable populations until June 30, 2024, and urges 
        the Administration to further extend their Temporary Protected 
        Status and for Congress to grant longer term protections and a 
        pathway to citizenship for Temporary Protected Status 
        beneficiaries and comprehensive immigration reform for the 
        millions of immigrant families rooted in communities across the 
        United States;
            (5) recognizes the extraordinary contributions of the 
        Salvadoran community in the United States; and
            (6) reaffirms the United States commitment to promoting 
        democratic governance, peace, stability, human rights, and 
        economic prosperity in El Salvador, as well as the right of all 
        people to enjoy the benefits of democratic institutions, the 
        rule of law, and the freedom of religion, speech, press, and 
        assembly.
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