H. Res. 458
In the House of Representatives, U.S., 
December 14, 2005.
Whereas on December 2, 1980, four United States church-
women, Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, 
Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Cleveland Lay Mis-
sion Team Member Jean Donovan, were violated and exe-
cuted by members of the National Guard of El Salvador; 
Whereas in 1980 Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita 
Ford were working in the parish of the Church of San 
Juan Bautista in Chalatenango, El Salvador, providing 
food, transportation, and other assistance to refugees and 
Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and Cleveland Lay Mis-
sion Team Member Jean Donovan were working in the 
parish of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in La 
Libertad, El Salvador, providing assistance and support 
to refugees and other victims of violence; 
Whereas these four United States churchwomen dedicated 
their lives to working with the poor of El Salvador, espe-
cially women and children left homeless, displaced and 
destitute by the Salvadoran war; 
Whereas these four United States churchwomen joined the 
more than 70,000 civilians who were murdered during 
the course of the Salvadoran war;
•HRES 458 EH 
Whereas on May 23 and May 24, 1984, five members of the 
National Guard of El Salvador—Subsergeant Luis Anto-
nio Colindres Aleman, Daniel Canales Ramirez, Carlos 
Joaquin Contreras Palacios, Francisco Orlando Contreras 
Recinos, and Jose Roberto Moreno Canjura—were found 
guilty by the Salvadoran courts of the executions of the 
churchwomen and were sentenced to thirty years in pris-
on, marking the first case in the history of El Salvador 
where a member of the Salvadoran Armed Forces was 
convicted of murder by a Salvadoran judge; 
Whereas the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El 
Salvador was established under the terms of the historic 
January 1992 Peace Accords that ended El Salvador’s 
twelve 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 in March 1993 the United Nations Commission on 
the Truth for El Salvador found that the execution of the 
four United States churchwomen was planned and that 
Subsergeant Luis Antonio Colindres Aleman carried out 
orders from a superior to execute them, and that then 
Colonel Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, then Director-
General of the National Guard and his cousin Lieutenant 
Colonel Oscar Edgardo Casanova Vejar, then Com-
mander of the Zacatecoluca military detachment where 
the murders were committed, and other military per-
sonnel knew that members of the National Guard had 
committed the murders pursuant to orders of a superior 
and that the subsequent cover-up of the facts adversely 
affected the judicial investigation into the murders of the 
four United States churchwomen;
•HRES 458 EH 
Whereas the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El 
Salvador determined that General Jose Guillermo Garcia, 
then Minister of Defense, made no serious effort to con-
duct a thorough investigation of responsibility for the 
murders of the churchwomen; 
Whereas the families of the four United States churchwomen 
continue their efforts to determine the full truth sur-
rounding the murders of their loved ones, appreciate the 
cooperation of United States Government agencies in dis-
closing and providing documents relevant to the church-
women’s murders, and pursue requests to release to the 
family members the few remaining undisclosed documents 
and reports pertaining to this case; 
Whereas the families of the four United States churchwomen 
appreciate the ability of those harmed by violence to 
bring suit against Salvadoran military officers in United 
States courts under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 
1991 (28 U.S.C. 1350 note); 
Whereas the lives of these four United States churchwomen 
have, for the past 25 years, served as inspiration and 
continue to inspire Salvadorans, Americans, and people 
throughout the world to answer the call to service and to 
pursue lives dedicated to addressing the needs and aspi-
rations of the poor, the vulnerable, and the disadvan-
taged, especially among women and children; 
Whereas the lives of the four United States churchwomen 
have also inspired numerous books, plays, films, music, 
religious, and cultural events; 
Whereas schools, libraries, research centers, spiritual centers, 
health clinics, women’s and children’s programs in the 
United States and in El Salvador have been named after
•HRES 458 EH 
or dedicated to Sisters Maura Clarke, Ita Ford and 
Dorothy Kazel and lay missionary Jean Donovan; 
Whereas the Maryknoll Sisters, headquartered in Ossining, 
New York, the Ursuline Sisters, headquartered in Cleve-
land, Ohio, numerous Religious Task Forces in the 
United States, and the Salvadoran and international reli-
gious communities based in El Salvador annually com-
memorate the lives and martyrdom of the four United 
States churchwomen; 
Whereas the historic January 1992 Peace Accords allowed 
the Government and the people of El Salvador to achieve 
significant progress in creating and strengthening demo-
cratic political, economic, and social institutions; and 
Whereas December 2, 2005, marks the 25th anniversary of 
the deaths of these four spiritual, courageous, and gen-
erous United States churchwomen: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) remembers and commemorates the lives and 
work of Sisters Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, and Dorothy 
Kazel and lay missionary Jean Donovan; 
(2) extends sympathy and support for the families, 
friends, and religious communities of the four United 
States churchwomen; 
(3) continues to find inspiration in the lives and 
work of these four United States churchwomen; 
(4) calls upon the people of the United States and 
religious congregations to participate in local, national, 
and international events commemorating the 25th anni-
•HRES 458 EH 
versary of the martyrdom of the four United States 
churchwomen; 
(5) recognizes that while progress has been made 
during the post-war period, the work begun by the four 
United States churchwomen remains unfinished and so-
cial and economic hardships persist among many sectors 
of Salvadoran society; and 
(6) calls upon the President, the Secretary of State, 
the Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development, and the heads of other United 
States Government departments and agencies to con-
tinue to support and collaborate with the Government of 
El Salvador and with private sector, nongovernmental, 
and religious organizations in their efforts to reduce pov-
erty and hunger and to promote educational opportunity, 
health care, and social equity for the people of El Sal-
vador.
Attest:
Clerk.