[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 156 (Monday, October 26, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10741-S10742]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  COMMEMORATING THE LIVES AND WORK OF EL SALVADORAN JESUITS AND OTHERS

  Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 321, which was 
submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (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.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to 
reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or 
debate, and any statements related to this matter be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 321) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 321

       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,

[[Page S10742]]

     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.

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