[Ppnews] Lori Berenson Update July 15,05

[PPnews at freedomarchives.org]

Friday, July 15, 2005

To Friends and Supporters of Lori Berenson:

VISIT WITH LORI

July began with a visit by Lori's uncle Ken who accompanied Mark to
Cajamarca.  It was Ken's first visit to Peru since Lori's trial in April
2001.  Lori celebrated the occasion by baking a belated father's day
all-chocolate cake in a heart shape which she decorated with the words
"Yo amo Tio Ken y Dad."

The visit with Lori was wonderful - she was in very good spirits and
really excited to see her uncle after all these years.  Mark and Ken
spent time with Lori in the bakery where she works daily and also in the
yard.  Winter has arrived in Peru and, despite a very sunny day, it
became quite cold in the late afternoon.  They spent many hours
reminiscing.

LORI SENDS GREETINGS FROM PERU

Lori gave Mark and Ken the following letter to update you on what is
going on in Peru and neighboring countries.  She refers to corruption in
Peru that has been front-page news for several weeks.  To put her
comments in context, it must be mentioned that the Peruvian Congress had
passed a law, now rescinded, enabling those awaiting trials or
sentencing for other than terrorism-related charges to serve their time
under house arrest instead of spending that time under harsh prison
conditions. In addition, despite Peru joining the US in the global war
on terrorism and on narco-trafficking and despite Peru recently being
authorized to receive over $100 million dollars from the US Congress to
fight drugs, President Toledo recently decided to commute the six-year
eight-month sentence of a young woman after she had served only one year
following her conviction for drug trafficking - trying to leave Peru
with 10 pounds of cocaine. President Toledo then gave this young woman a
humanitarian release.  She happens to be the daughter of an ambassador
from a country allied with Peru.
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July 1, 2005

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for your continued interest in my situation here in
Peru.

Since the years are most certainly passing by, the certain monotony of
prison life is not really that fundamental an issue, albeit everything
you can see in jails and the judicial system (abuses, injustices) is a
mere reflection of how the society is doing in general.

These have been times of turmoil - massive protests in neighboring
Latin-American countries Ecuador and Bolivia.  The ruling classes of
each of these countries found a way to temporarily calm the situations
through the calling of new elections, putting in transitional
governments.   However, the real social demands, which had more to do
with social and economic policies, weren't touched at all; thus the
time-bomb keeps ticking away.

In Peru, although there have continued to be a lot of protests by
certain sectors (including important mobilizations against foreign-owned
mining companies), there has been no national movement to oust the
present government, perhaps since no one thinks its replacement would do
anything differently.  However, things are not going well. The economic
and political crisis is quite serious; the percentage of Peruvians that
don't have stable, formal employment is well over 50% of the
economically active population.  Corruption scandals of this and former
governments continue to come to light.  Polls show that people have
little or no faith in the political class.

As I said earlier, jails mirror society.  Constructed and constricted
with a limited budget, they've been converted into warehouses that house
humans.  The judicial system does not treat equally.   There's a huge
backlog and the courts are overwhelmed with cases.  That is reflected in
jails which are filled with people who are "unsentenced."  The laws that
govern the processes are established by political conveniences; thus
there are those who are practically denied prison benefits while new
laws are equalizing house arrest with time served in jail, which only
benefit the corrupt.  There are apparently special considerations given
in the reducing of sentences through presidential "humanitarian"
decrees.  However, I doubt they are truly humanitarian, they appear to
be mere and pure politics.  Where was "humanity" when the government
doesn't pardon the terminally ill?  Or when it refuses to look at
completely disproportionate sentences?  It's not "humanity," it's
political interests.

This is reality here and in many places.  I much doubt it will change
for the better if society doesn't change in a big way, but these are all
part of social processes that move on their own time lines.

I am again grateful for your continued interest in this situation over
the years.  It's a big help for me and my family.

Sincerely,

Lori Berenson
Huacariz Prison
Cajamarca, Peru

The Freedom Archives
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San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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