H. Res. 761 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

October 21, 2009. 

Whereas in the early morning hours of November 16, 1989, 

six Jesuit priests and faculty members of the Universidad 

Centroamericana Jose ́ Simeon Can ̃as (UCA) located in 

San Salvador, El Salvador—Father Ignacio Ellacurı ́a, 

Ignacio Martin-Baro ́, Segundo Montes, Amando Lo ́pez, 

Juan Ramon Moreno, and Joaquı ́n Lo ́pez y Lo ́pez—and 

housekeeper Julia Elba Ramos and her daughter, Celina 

Mariset Ramos, were executed by members of the Salvadoran Army; 

Whereas Father Ignacio Ellacurı ́a, 59, was since 1979 rector 

of the UCA, and an internationally-respected intellectual 

and advocate for human rights and a negotiated solution 

to the Salvadoran civil conflict; 

Whereas Father Ignacio Martin-Baro ́, 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, 56, was Dean of the Department of Social Sciences and a sociology professor at 
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the UCA, and the founder and director of the Human 

Rights Institute at the UCA (IDHUCA), who did extensive work on Salvadoran refugees in the United States 

during the period of the Salvadoran conflict, including 

providing documentation and advice to United States 

Members of Congress on refugee issues; 

Whereas Father Amando Lo ́pez, 53, was a philosophy and 

theology professor at the UCA, 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 Farther Juan Ramon Moreno, 56, was a professor 

of theology at the UCA, former novice-master for the Jesuits, and a tireless pastoral worker and spiritual guide; 

Whereas Father Joaquı ́n Lo ́pez y Lo ́pez, 71, was one of the 

creators of the UCA and the founder, organizer, and director of Fe y Alegrı ́a (Faith and Joy) to address the 

lack of education in El Salvador, which opened 30 educational centers in marginalized communities throughout 

the country where 48,000 people received vocational 

training and education; 

Whereas Julia Elba Ramos, 42, was the cook and housekeeper for the Jesuit seminarians at the UCA and wife 

of Obdulio Lozano, the UCA gardener and 

groundskeeper; 

Whereas Celina Mariset, 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 six Jesuit priests dedicated their lives to advancing education in El Salvador, protecting and promoting 
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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 six 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 six priests and two women joined the more 

than 75,000 noncombatants who perished during the Salvadoran civil war; 

Whereas on December 6, 1989, United States Speaker of the 

House of Representatives Thomas Foley appointed a Special Task Force on El Salvador consisting of 19 Members 

of the House of Representatives, chaired by Representative John Joseph Moakley of Boston, Massachusetts, to 

monitor the Salvadoran government’s investigation into 

the murders of the Jesuit priests and two 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 two women and for obstructing the subsequent 

investigation into the crimes; 

Whereas the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El 

Salvador (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 inves-
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tigate 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 Special Task Force; 

Whereas on September 28, 1991, a Salvadoran jury found 

guilty of these murders two Salvadoran military officers, 

including Salvadoran Army Colonel Guillermo Alfredo 

Benavides Moreno, the first time in Salvadoran history 

where high-ranking military officers were convicted in a 

Salvadoran court of law of human rights crimes; 

Whereas the University of Central America Jose ́ Simeon 

Can ̃as in San Salvador remains dedicated to advancing 

and expanding educational opportunity, providing the 

highest quality of academic excellence in its studies and 

courses, and the 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 those murders; 

Whereas in the United States, 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 murdered Jesuits; 
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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 negotiations that led to the signing of the 1992 

Peace Accords, which 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 November 16, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of 

the deaths of these eight spiritual, courageous, and generous priests, educators, and laywomen: Now, therefore, 

be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) remembers and commemorates the lives and 

work of Father Ignacio Ellacurı ́a, Ignacio Martin-Baro ́, 

Segundo Montes, Amando Lo ́pez, Juan Ramon Moreno, 

Joaquı ́n Lo ́pez y Lo ́pez, Julia Elba Ramos, and Celina 

Mariset Ramos; 

(2) extends sympathy to the families, friends, colleagues, and religious communities of the six Jesuit 

priests and two laywomen; 

(3) recognizes the continuing academic, spiritual, 

and social contributions of the University of Central 

America Jose ́ Simeon Can ̃as (UCA) in San Salvador, El 

Salvador; 

(4) further recognizes the 28 Jesuit colleges and 

universities in the United States for their solidarity with 
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the UCA and annual remembrance of those killed twenty 

years ago; 

(5) remembers the seminal reports by Chairman 

John Joseph Moakley and the Speaker’s Special Task 

Force on El Salvador in investigating the murders of the 

six priests and two laywomen; 

(6) acknowledges the role played by the Speaker’s 

Special Task Force, Congressman John Joseph Moakley, 

the Jesuit leadership of the UCA, and the Salvadoran 

judicial investigation and convictions in advancing negotiations to end the war in El Salvador; 

(7) highlights the solidarity demonstrated by the 

people of the United States, academic institutions, and 

religious congregations through their participation in 

local, national, and international events commemorating 

the 20th anniversary of the murders of the six Jesuit 

priests and two laywomen; 

(8) recognizes that the murdered individuals dedicated their lives to addressing and alleviating El Salvador’s social and economic inequities, and that while 

significant progress has been made during the post-war 

period, social and economic hardships persist among 

many sectors of Salvadoran society; and 

(9) supports public, private, nongovernmental, and 

religious organizations in efforts to fulfill the legacy of 
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the murdered Jesuits to reduce poverty and hunger and 

promote educational opportunity, human rights, the rule 

of law, and social equity for the people of El Salvador. 

Attest: 

Clerk.