IV
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 622
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Government
of Argentina should provide an immediate and final resolution to the
Buenos Aires Yoga School case.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 11, 2000
Mr. TOWNS submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on International Relations
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that
the Government of Argentina should provide an imme-
diate and final resolution to the Buenos Aires Yoga
School case.
Whereas the Buenos Aires Yoga School is a philosophical en-
tity dedicated to investigating, teaching, and spreading
the philosophical ideas of humanity for the benefit of hu-
manity;
Whereas the Buenos Aires Yoga School case demonstrates
that due process and the rule of law are not being uni-
formly respected in Argentina;
Whereas the statute of limitations in the Buenos Aires Yoga
School case expired more than 7 years ago;
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Whereas the Argentine National Supreme Court of Justice
ruled on December 20, 1994, that the lower courts hear-
ing the Buenos Aires Yoga School case have shown ‘‘a
dogmatic will of denying the requested benefit’’;
Whereas the Argentine Corte de Casacion on October 21,
1999, ordered the appellate court to define the proce-
dural status of the members of the Buenos Aires Yoga
School in light of the substantial amount of time that
had passed since the filing of the case on December 13,
1993;
Whereas the Government of Argentina refuses to acknowl-
edge the denial of due process demonstrated in the Bue-
nos Aires Yoga School case;
Whereas Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has instructed
personnel at the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires
to investigate and report on the Buenos Aires Yoga
School case;
Whereas judicial corruption in Argentina was the subject of
a briefing to the Human Rights Caucus of the House of
Representatives on July 22, 1999, in which the Buenos
Aires Yoga School case was the model example of such
corruption;
Whereas numerous reports have been made about anti-Se-
mitic tendencies within the Argentine judiciary with re-
spect to the persecution of members of the Buenos Aires
Yoga School;
Whereas approximately 50 percent of the members of the
Buenos Aires Yoga School are Jewish;
Whereas the Buenos Aires Yoga School case and the bomb-
ings of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association and
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the Israeli Embassy are all unresolved after more than 6
years;
Whereas members of the congressional staff traveled to Ar-
gentina to investigate the charges of ideological and anti-
Semitic persecution in the Buenos Aires Yoga School
case;
Whereas the human rights movement known as Mothers of
Plaza de Mayo has described the modus operandi in the
persecution of members of the Buenos Aires Yoga School
as being the same as that used during the Argentine mili-
tary dictatorship during which 30,000 Argentine civilians
disappeared;
Whereas members of the Buenos Aires Yoga School were im-
prisoned by the Argentine judiciary with no evidence
against them;
Whereas the judge currently handling the Buenos Aires Yoga
School case was appointed by the Argentine military dic-
tatorship;
Whereas 2 adult members of the Buenos Aires Yoga School
were declared mentally unfit and stripped of their rights
in clear violation of their most basic human rights;
Whereas Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel
called for the impeachment of the acting judge in the
Buenos Aires Yoga School case for his ruling of insanity
in the case against 2 adult members of the Buenos Aires
Yoga School;
Whereas President Clinton has repeatedly urged the Govern-
ment of Argentina to ensure that the Buenos Aires Yoga
School case be resolved as expeditiously as possible; and
Whereas numerous Members of Congress have written letters
to the Argentine authorities regarding the Buenos Aires
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Yoga School case and have never received a satisfactory
answer: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the Government of Argentina should pro-
vide an immediate and final resolution to the Buenos Aires
Yoga School case.
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