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Friday, July 15, 2005<br><br>
To Friends and Supporters of Lori Berenson:<br><br>
VISIT WITH LORI<br><br>
July began with a visit by Lori's uncle Ken who accompanied Mark to<br>
Cajamarca. It was Ken's first visit to Peru since Lori's trial in
April<br>
2001. Lori celebrated the occasion by baking a belated father's
day<br>
all-chocolate cake in a heart shape which she decorated with the
words<br>
"Yo amo Tio Ken y Dad."<br><br>
The visit with Lori was wonderful - she was in very good spirits and<br>
really excited to see her uncle after all these years. Mark and
Ken<br>
spent time with Lori in the bakery where she works daily and also in
the<br>
yard. Winter has arrived in Peru and, despite a very sunny day,
it<br>
became quite cold in the late afternoon. They spent many hours<br>
reminiscing.<br><br>
LORI SENDS GREETINGS FROM PERU<br><br>
Lori gave Mark and Ken the following letter to update you on what is<br>
going on in Peru and neighboring countries. She refers to
corruption in<br>
Peru that has been front-page news for several weeks. To put
her<br>
comments in context, it must be mentioned that the Peruvian Congress
had<br>
passed a law, now rescinded, enabling those awaiting trials or<br>
sentencing for other than terrorism-related charges to serve their
time<br>
under house arrest instead of spending that time under harsh prison<br>
conditions. In addition, despite Peru joining the US in the global
war<br>
on terrorism and on narco-trafficking and despite Peru recently
being<br>
authorized to receive over $100 million dollars from the US Congress
to<br>
fight drugs, President Toledo recently decided to commute the
six-year<br>
eight-month sentence of a young woman after she had served only one
year<br>
following her conviction for drug trafficking - trying to leave Peru<br>
with 10 pounds of cocaine. President Toledo then gave this young woman
a<br>
humanitarian release. She happens to be the daughter of an
ambassador<br>
from a country allied with Peru.<br>
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<br>
July 1, 2005<br><br>
Dear friends,<br><br>
Thank you so much for your continued interest in my situation here
in<br>
Peru.<br><br>
Since the years are most certainly passing by, the certain monotony
of<br>
prison life is not really that fundamental an issue, albeit
everything<br>
you can see in jails and the judicial system (abuses, injustices) is
a<br>
mere reflection of how the society is doing in general.<br><br>
These have been times of turmoil - massive protests in neighboring<br>
Latin-American countries Ecuador and Bolivia. The ruling classes
of<br>
each of these countries found a way to temporarily calm the
situations<br>
through the calling of new elections, putting in transitional<br>
governments. However, the real social demands, which had more
to do<br>
with social and economic policies, weren't touched at all; thus the<br>
time-bomb keeps ticking away. <br><br>
In Peru, although there have continued to be a lot of protests by<br>
certain sectors (including important mobilizations against
foreign-owned<br>
mining companies), there has been no national movement to oust the<br>
present government, perhaps since no one thinks its replacement would
do<br>
anything differently. However, things are not going well. The
economic<br>
and political crisis is quite serious; the percentage of Peruvians
that<br>
don't have stable, formal employment is well over 50% of the<br>
economically active population. Corruption scandals of this and
former<br>
governments continue to come to light. Polls show that people
have<br>
little or no faith in the political class. <br><br>
As I said earlier, jails mirror society. Constructed and
constricted<br>
with a limited budget, they've been converted into warehouses that
house<br>
humans. The judicial system does not treat equally.
There's a huge<br>
backlog and the courts are overwhelmed with cases. That is
reflected in<br>
jails which are filled with people who are "unsentenced."
The laws that<br>
govern the processes are established by political conveniences; thus<br>
there are those who are practically denied prison benefits while new<br>
laws are equalizing house arrest with time served in jail, which
only<br>
benefit the corrupt. There are apparently special considerations
given<br>
in the reducing of sentences through presidential
"humanitarian"<br>
decrees. However, I doubt they are truly humanitarian, they appear
to<br>
be mere and pure politics. Where was "humanity" when the
government<br>
doesn't pardon the terminally ill? Or when it refuses to look
at<br>
completely disproportionate sentences? It's not
"humanity," it's<br>
political interests. <br><br>
This is reality here and in many places. I much doubt it will
change<br>
for the better if society doesn't change in a big way, but these are
all<br>
part of social processes that move on their own time lines.<br><br>
I am again grateful for your continued interest in this situation
over<br>
the years. It's a big help for me and my family.<br><br>
Sincerely,<br><br>
Lori Berenson<br>
Huacariz Prison<br>
Cajamarca, Peru<br>
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