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December 25, 2007<br><br>
To All Friends and Supporters of Lori Berenson<br><br>
Lori Berenson Update and End-of-Year Statement<br><br>
UPDATE ON LORI<br><br>
Mark returned yesterday from his holiday visit with Lori and Rhoda
visited<br>
Lori over the Thanksgiving weekend. Yesterday Lori was
completing her<br>
final batch of panetones (traditional holiday fruitcakes) after spending
a<br>
grueling six straight weeks of 15-20 hour-days working in the prison
bakery<br>
she co-manages. She and her coworkers produced thousands of these
cakes,<br>
along with baking daily supplies of rolls, breads and other
pastries. <br><br>
Lori has now completed 12 years and 1 month of her 20-year
sentence. She is<br>
eligible for parole (conditional liberty) after 15 years. She
remains a<br>
model prisoner. She has continued to champion prisoner rights and
with the<br>
prison director has developed proposals to bring education, health
and<br>
re-socialization programs into the prison so that inmates will be
better<br>
prepared to contribute to society upon their release.<br><br>
Lori was also very pleased to learn that many of you had contributed
to<br>
Caritas del Peru, the aid agency of Peru’s Catholic Church, as well as
other<br>
relief services following our last Lori Update on August 22nd about
the<br>
horrific earthquake in the city of Ica and coastal town of Pisco
that<br>
brought much devastation and cost over 500 lives. She was truly
saddened to<br>
hear that to date the Peruvian government has apparently acted even
less<br>
efficiently and effectively in its assistance to the earthquake victims
than<br>
the Bush administration has done in its assistance to victims of
Hurricane<br>
Katrina. <br><br>
RECENT PHOTOS OF LORI IN NEWSPAPERS & RECENT TELEVISON INTERVIEWS
<br><br>
On two recent occasions the Peruvian government permitted local media
to<br>
interview Lori and others about work programs, including the
bakery. In an<br>
October 22nd interview Lori expressed that she and others who are
able to<br>
work in the Cajamarca prison are fortunate because elsewhere the
Peruvian<br>
government has not provided the prison system (INPE) with sufficient
funds<br>
to offer education and re-socialization programs. Lori expressed her
concern<br>
that many Peruvian prisons are very overcrowded and they simply function
as<br>
“human warehouses,” storing prisoners as inventory. Much
of the interview,<br>
titled “Breaking the Silence in Cajamarca,” was played on Peruvian TV
and<br>
can be viewed by clicking on <br>
<a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3997g_rompe-su-silencio-cajamarca_news" eudora="autourl">
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3997g_rompe-su-silencio-cajamarca_news<br>
</a> <br><br>
On the second occasion, the Peruvian government wanted to show how Lori
and<br>
others in the bakery she co-manages have been spending their time
preparing<br>
panetones to be sold to the Cajamarca community for the Christmas
holiday.<br>
Newspaper articles with color photos of Lori in the bakery can be seen
by<br>
clicking on <br><br>
<a href="http://www.cajamarcaopina.com/home/content/view/2673/2/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.cajamarcaopina.com/home/content/view/2673/2/</a> <br>
(“Lori Promotes Panetones She Makes in from Huacariz Prison in
Cajamarca” <br>
December 7th) and on <br><br>
<a href="http://www.trome.com/tonline/Html/2007-12-09/ontrperu0823535.html%A0" eudora="autourl">
http://www.trome.com/tonline/Html/2007-12-09/ontrperu0823535.html </a>
<br>
(“Lori Sells Panetones from Prison” December 10thh).<br><br>
The media coverage of Lori baking and being interviewed, titled “From
Terror to Paneton in<br>
Cajamarca,” was shown on Peruvian TV and can be viewed by clicking on
<br>
<a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3m9u5_del-terror-al-paneton-cajamarca_news" eudora="autourl">
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3m9u5_del-terror-al-paneton-cajamarca_news<br>
<br>
</a>LORI’S HEALTH<br><br>
Lori’s health remains stable. She wears a back-brace for an early
detected<br>
osteoarthritis of the spine and she continues to suffer from
circulatory<br>
problems that keep her hands swollen, her feet sometimes numb, and her
face<br>
red. These effects are very obvious from both the recent color
photos of<br>
Lori and the TV interviews. Lori is not sunburned and does not wear
makeup.<br>
Her rosy cheeks and face as well as her hands are the result of the<br>
circulatory problems. <br><br>
SUPPORT FOR LORI IN PERU<br><br>
During the year, three prominent Peruvians published articles
championing<br>
Lori. Congressman Javier Valle Riestra (a former Prime Minister of
Peru),<br>
wrote newspaper articles arguing that Lori should be pardoned because
she<br>
was a political pawn abused by ex-President Fujimori, now on trial for
human<br>
rights violations. State Prosecutor Diego Ferrar (who visits Lori
regularly<br>
in prison) wrote an op-ed article for a local newspaper describing the
“real<br>
Lori” the media never reports. Winston Orrillo (a university
professor) has<br>
written articles and sponsored a letter calling for Lori’s release that
was<br>
signed by Peruvian and international educators, writers, artists and<br>
activists. We are extremely grateful to them for providing the
Peruvian<br>
public with a different view of Lori. <br><br>
In closing we want to express how grateful we are for all your concern
and<br>
support for Lori and for us over these many years. Let us hope that
2008<br>
will be the year that brings peace to this earth, joy to all of our
lives,<br>
and freedom for Lori.<br><br>
Rhoda and Mark Berenson<br>
English Website:
<a href="http://www.freelori.org/" eudora="autourl">www.freelori.org
</a> and Spanish Website:
<a href="http://www.lorilibre.org/" eudora="autourl">www.lorilibre.org</a>
<br><br>
<br>
LORI’S END-OF-YEAR STATEMENT <br><br>
Penal de Huacariz Cajamarca, Peru<br>
December 2007<br><br>
Dear friends,<br><br>
Thank you for your interest and support over the years. I have been
working<br>
many hours in the prison bakery so that time passes more quickly as I
wait<br>
out the remaining years of my sentence. There are still many people
like<br>
myself, guilty or not of the crimes they are accused of, who are waiting
out<br>
the next years, some with very lengthy sentences and parole
prohibitions,<br>
who have not stopped dreaming of a more just world.<br><br>
With the holiday season and the coming of the New Year I try to remember
the<br>
most important events of this past year and the things that most
surprised<br>
me.<br><br>
The economic situation for most Peruvians has worsened. Inflation
is high<br>
-- basic food staples such as flour products, oil, rice and milk have
risen<br>
50 to 70 percent over last year. Amidst this economic crisis,
Peruvian<br>
President Alan Garcia’s government has taken repressive measures
against<br>
teachers, unions, regional opposition leaders, etc. Thus it is refreshing
to<br>
still find Peruvian people who have not been maimed by it all, who have
not<br>
been overwhelmed by hopelessness.<br><br>
President Garcia´s administration has remained afloat through the crisis
by<br>
using smoke screens like ¨terrorism¨ scares and by
“over-publicizing”<br>
government concerns for aiding earthquake victims yet not carryinng out
the<br>
necessary measures to make that effective. <br><br>
Earlier in the year, President Garcia asked for special powers to
legislate<br>
on different criminal acts and wound up putting in a few extras that
only<br>
demonstrate his fear of any opposition. Not only have the new laws
affected<br>
the parole possibilities of those of us sentenced for
terrorism-related<br>
acts, but there is a new law that states that any member of the military
or<br>
the Peruvian police who uses a fire arms while on duty cannot be tried
for<br>
the consequences of that action. And, as though it were ¨buy one get
one<br>
free,¨ President Garcia then added another law that had nothing to do
with<br>
the topics he went to legislate on, prohibiting locally and
regionally<br>
elected officials from participating in any social protest.
<br><br>
Then, of course, big news this year was the extradition of
ex-President<br>
Alberto Fujimori from Chile and the commencement of trials for
corruption<br>
and for crimes against humanity. Let´s see if ¨real justice¨ can
prevail in<br>
his cases. I have my doubts.<br><br>
The year has drawn to an end with the signing of the trade treaty
between<br>
the US and Peru. I wish it could be mutually beneficial but that is
not<br>
possible. I see this trade treaty as David meeting Goliath without
having a<br>
sling shot. Peru is not on an equal footing with the US due to
size,<br>
resources, economic stability, government support of agriculture,
etc. In<br>
Peru local production leads to local consumption but if, say, US
potatoes<br>
start flooding the local markets what will happen to the local
farmers?<br><br>
2008 will be a key year to evaluate the outcome of these and other
issues.<br>
In spite of the pessimism I express in this letter, I remain
optimistic<br>
about social justice prevailing over the long term.<br><br>
I wish you and your loved ones all the best in 2008.<br><br>
Lori B. <br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
---------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
English Website:
<a href="http://www.freelori.org/" eudora="autourl">www.freelori.org
</a> <br>
Spanish Website:
<a href="http://www.lorilibre.org/" eudora="autourl">www.lorilibre.org</a>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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