Lori Berenson: Ignored at Home, Betrayed in Peru
Another Year of Grave Injustice
By Rhoda
and Mark Berenson
Exactly one month ago today we learned of the shocking capitulation of the Inter-American
Court to Peruvian political pressure and we are still numbed by the Court's decision. We just could not anticipate that this
important body would abrogate its foremost responsibility of protecting the human rights of an individual and succumb to political
events. It is a defeat for human rights in the Western Hemisphere.
It would be easier to accept this loss for Lori, and our loss of her for the next 11 years, if
we knew that the Court acted responsibly and with integrity, but we are frustrated because we know the Court's preliminary
position as of November 10th was to rule for Lori's freedom. In the end, Lori was denied justice and she will remain in jail
for crimes we know she did not commit.
After independently analyzing the hysterical situation in his own country leading up to the Inter-American
Court's surprising decision, on December 17th the judicial expert and former Peruvian Prime Minister Javier Valle-Riestra
wrote an article in a Peruvian magazine stating that the Inter-American Court disappointingly capitulated to the political
pressure applied by the Peruvian government and thereby committed a grave injustice to Lori Berenson. He said, "It was a political
sentence to accommodate the Peruvian extreme right and reaction which threatened to withdraw Peru from the Inter-American
Court's contentious jurisdiction. This ruling had the strategic virtue of keeping Peru within the hard center of the OAS system,
and for this I am happy. Nevertheless, it was also damaging because it contains a grave injustice - it endorsed the the 20-year
sentence of imprisonment for the U.S. citizen Lori Berenson."
Dr. Valle Riestra sent a copy of his article to Ramsey Clark. When Ramsey wrote back, thanking
him, Dr. Valle Riestra sent a Christmas note to Clark, saying that, "The Inter-American Court on Human Rights has betrayed
the Americas. The Berenson case, by condemning an idealist who never acted [to commit the crime] to 20 years of prison, is
a crime against human rights and has discredited this institution."
That Dr. Valle Riestra's analysis is right on target can be attested by an unexpected meeting
between Lori's husband Anibal and the Foreign Minister Rodriquez Cuadros at a Lima radio station on Saturday December 4th.
As Anibal was leaving the official was entering. He reached out, shook Anibal's hand, and said, "Anibal, I am so sorry for
Lori and for you - please don't take this personally, we were pressured by the rightwing to do this." Please know that we
had two meetings with Rodriquez Cuadros during the time of Lori's civilian trial - he was the Peruvian Ambassador to the OAS
then. He had met Lori in El Salvador in the early nineties when he was an international representative to the El Salvador
truth commission and Lori had dealings with that body when working for the FMLN leadership. He remembered Lori then and told
us she was not a terrorist. He was thought to be a champion of human rights - until he too capitulated to political events.
Although the Peruvian government denied applying pressure on the Inter-American Court and Rodriquez
Cuadros declared the decision was "fair and impartial," this is blatantly false. Even the Associated Press speculated that
had the Inter-American Court ruled against Peru the country would have "convulsed." There was widespread fear in Peru that
had the Inter-American Court ruled for Lori's freedom, as was expected, other political prisoners considered as real dangers
to society might find legal loopholes to obtain their freedom. The easiest remedy for the Inter-American Court was to reverse
its own 12-year position and now say the laws under which Lori was twice tried provided her due process.
We have thoroughly documented the events of November 2004 and have submitted an article to NACLA
detailing what transpired. Hopefully it will be published because the truth must be known.
In that same spirit, there are other disappointments that must be noted because all of you are
activists and must learn the lessons, both good and bad, from a campaign such as ours. Following the announcement of the Inter-American
Court decision:
1. There was very little U.S. press attention and even strong supporters from the progressive
media totally ignored the ramifications.
2. No member of the U.S. Congress communicated with us.
3.The U.S. Ambassador to Peru ignored us.
4.We spoke with our State Department contact, the Chief of Staff to Secretary Powell, on Friday
morning December 3rd and asked for his help in convincing the Peruvian government to show good will in the spirit of the holiday
season and release Lori out of a position of strength--Peru had just won this unexpected victory the day before. He said he
would bring this to the attention of Secretary Powell. We never spoke to him again--we left two voice messages and two actual
messages with his secretary--to which he did not respond.
On the morning of December 2nd, Lori, with grace and dignity acknowledged this surprising
defeat - saying this is a great injustice but we have all done all that we could and urged us to move on with our lives. Lori
and Anibal provided the press with a message the next day that was printed in Spanish on IndyMedia Peru on December 27th and
in Argenpress (www.argenpress.info) on December 29th. Their mutual courage and dignity is incredible and worthy of emulation by all.
These events all led us to the following decisions which are necessary for us to preserve our
health and continue to function in an unjust world, where our suffering pales to the incomprehensible suffering that occurred
to so many human beings in Asia over the past week.
Given that we can expect no help from any part of the U.S. government at least over the next
four years, we have decided to consolidate our resources and relocate any future efforts on Lori's behalf to New York. Our
mailing address will be:
Committee to Free Lori Berenson,
PO Box 701, New York, NY 10159
and our telephone number
will be 212 689 9572.
We would like to maintain Ken's extraordinary (and Webbie winning) Website and send out Updates
at least monthly to keep Lori's situation alive. She hopes to write regularly. We also hope some scholar will step forward
and research and write a true account of Lori Berenson to counter the fact that the Inter-American Court has allowed her name
to be smeared. Given the lack of media attention to the decision a month ago, even that is not promising.
As many of you know, it has been a full year since Marie Manrique moved to Peru and opened an
NGO called ALAS which focuses on helping Peruvian political prisoners and their families. Anibal, who is finishing law school,
is working with Marie at ALAS and also is monitoring the ever-changing Peruvian justice system as it may affect Lori. We will
assist in whatever ways we can in their efforts.
In a final note of optimism, let us reflect on our achievements based on the Court's rulings.
Incomprehensibly, given the Court ratified Lori's trial (and the old Fujimori laws) as complying with international standards
of due process, the Court unanimously ruled that Peru must bring its anti-terrorism laws into compliance with the American
Convention on Human Rights. Also, Lori's case brought recognition to the termination of the secret military trials for civilians
and the end of all hooded trials in Peru. In addition, Lori's case caused the Court to order that the notorious Yanamayo Prison
be remodeled and made habitable within one year or closed down, and that any prisoner who suffers from altitude or climate
related medical conditions be transferred elsewhere immediately. We also must remember that our collective efforts resulted
in tremendous support from the U.S. Congress which eventually led to Lori having a second trial. And these efforts also brought
international recognition to the draconian laws promulgated by Fujimori and helped encourage the interim Paniagua administration
to institute major positive changes in the prison system beginning December 2000 - changes that unfortunately are now being
reversed by the Toledo administration. And finally, Lori's case put the country of Peru on the map for many Americans who
never before paid attention to this part of the world. Hopefully, in the long run, this will be a positive affect for Peru
and its people in a country that Lori continues to love, despite the harm the collective politicians and media there have
caused her.
We want you all to know how very grateful we are for all of Laura Furst's efforts as National
Organizer these past three years--she is a terrific person and we wish her well as she continues to work to better human rights.
Unfortunately, with our "downsizing" we can no longer afford to maintain a separate office in Washington.
Again, many, many thanks to each of you--we know we are better human beings because of our relationship
with so many of you. Thank you for your friendship and support that have helped sustain us over these nine years of difficult
times. Despite the massive problems this world faces, we will never lose the hope that as long as people like Lori and like
you stand up to injustice, the children of our planet will have a better tomorrow.
________________________
For more on Berenson's case visit FreeLori.org. Messages to Lori can be sent to: berenson@freelori.org
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