•HRES 761 IH 
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 Je-
suits, 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 di-
rector of Fe y Alegrı´a (Faith and Joy) to address the 
lack of education in El Salvador, which opened 30 edu-
cational 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 house-
keeper 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 moth-
er the night of November 15, 1989; 
Whereas the six Jesuit priests dedicated their lives to advanc-
ing education in El Salvador, protecting and promoting 
human rights and the end of conflict, and identifying and 
addressing the economic and social problems that af-
fected 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 Sal-
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•HRES 761 IH 
vadoran 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 Sal-
vadoran civil war; 
Whereas on December 6, 1989, United States Speaker of the 
House of Representatives Thomas Foley appointed a Spe-
cial Task Force on El Salvador consisting of 19 Members 
of the House of Representatives, chaired by Representa-
tive 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 mili-
tary were responsible for ordering the murder of the Je-
suits 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-
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 con-
firmed the findings of the Speaker’s Special Task Force; 
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•HRES 761 IH 
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 aca-
demic 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, El Salvador and around the 
world university programs, academic and scholarly insti-
tutes, libraries, research centers, pastoral programs, spir-
itual 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 six Jesuits and two women and the 
subsequent investigations into this crime served as a cat-
alyst for negotiations and contributed to the signing of 
the 1992 Peace Accords, which have allowed the Govern-
ment and the people of El Salvador to achieve significant 
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•HRES 761 IH 
progress in creating and strengthening democratic polit-
ical, economic and social institutions; and 
Whereas November 16, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of 
the deaths of these eight spiritual, courageous and gen-
erous 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 Jes-
uit priests and two laywomen; 
(3) recognizes the continuing academic, spir-
itual and social contributions of the University of 
Central America Jose´ Simeon Can˜as (UCA) in San 
Salvador, El Salvador; 
(4) commends the 28 Jesuit colleges and uni-
versities in the United States for their solidarity 
with the UCA and annual remembrances of the Jes-
uit martyrs; 
(5) continues to find inspiration in the lives and 
work of the Jesuit martyrs; 
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•HRES 761 IH 
(6) remembers the seminal reports by Chairman 
John Joseph Moakley and the Speaker’s Special 
Task Force on El Salvador in investigating the mur-
ders of the six priests and two laywomen; 
(7) acknowledges the role played by the Speak-
er’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 so that the 
deaths of the Jesuit martyrs and two laywomen con-
tributed 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 mar-
tyrdom of the six Jesuit priests and two 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 Agen-
cy for International Development, and other United 
States’ Federal departments and agencies to support 
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