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 Salva-
doran 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 De-
partment 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 exten-
sive 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 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 
mother the night of November 15, 1989; 
Whereas the six Jesuit priests dedicated their lives to advanc-
ing 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 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-
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-
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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 con-
firmed 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 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 those murders; 
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 mur-
dered 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 cat-
alyst 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, eco-
nomic, 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, col-
leagues, 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 nego-
tiations 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 dedi-
cated their lives to addressing and alleviating El Sal-
vador’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.