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March 28, 2008<br><br>
To Friends and Supporters of Lori Berenson<br><br>
DEMOCRATIC FREEDOMS QUASHED IN PERU: A CALL TO ACTION<br><br>
Today, in the mainstream Peruvian newspaper El Comercio the great
Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa demonstrates that even a novelist of
his stature can easily confound fact and fiction. Incredibly, at a
moment when democratic freedoms in Peru are being trampled and Peru’s
behavior towards those who protest seem to be modeled after China, Vargas
Llosa absurdly heaps praise on Peruvian President Alan Garcia’s first
twenty months in office. Perhaps because he is in Argentina Vargas
Llosa is not in tune with the sad realities that have occurred in his
country. <br><br>
Last weekend Mark visited Lori in Huacariz Prison located in the poor,
rural city of Cajamarca, Peru. Not since the first year of this
millennium, when the Fujimori dictatorship fell from power, have
democratic principles been so disregarded. Only a handful of
journalists and political analysts have even mentioned this.
Inexplicably, the Peruvian human rights and religious communities have
also been silent. Only one international human rights organization,
Rights Action (March 23) has alerted the public about the ongoing
problems. <br><br>
In a letter to you below that Lori wrote on March 21 based on Peruvian
news reports, she asks for your help in notifying international human
rights organizations to pressure the Peruvian human rights community to
not remain silent any longer and to stand up for the preservation of
democratic freedoms.<br><br>
All the information Lori has provided in her letter is taken from the
Peruvian press, the Peruvian radio and other sources that can easily be
referenced. However, when you contact any international human
rights organization it would be better to acknowledge Rights Action as
the source since the Peruvian human rights community might question
Lori’s legitimacy and use this as an excuse to remain silent.
<br><br>
A list of addresses and phone numbers for various human rights
organizations appears after Lori’s letter, along with a suggested list of
“talking points.”<br><br>
A LETTER FROM LORI<br><br>
March 21, 2008<br><br>
Dear Friends,<br><br>
Greetings from northern Peru, hoping all is well with you and your loved
ones and thanking you for your continued interest in my
situation.<br><br>
Since his inauguration in July 2006, I have felt incredible frustration
observing Peruvian President Alan Garcia’s management of the
country. It is very hard to realize what is happening unless you
“see through” the day-to-day insidious manipulation of public opinion
that is unleashed in a rather “special” way since the Garcia
administration is largely backed by all of the major media entities
(i.e., newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations).
<br><br>
However, negative events have indeed been happening, from increasingly
serious inflation to new witch hunts that the population is not supposed
to realize are actually occurring because of government smoke
screens. Rather, in this period of increasing social unrest,
for diverse reasons the Garcia administration is trying to remind people
of the “bullets and bombs” in the days of intense political violence that
occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s in order to justify that there
must be unity in the country and that nobody has the right to think
differently from the official government positions. Dissent and
political opposition are viewed not as normal expressions of the
democratic process but rather as treasonous and terrorist tactics
intended to destabilize the country. <br><br>
Some examples detailing what has been happening follow:<br><br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>Several months
ago, new legislation by executive decree was passed that increases the
lengths of sentences given for supposed crimes committed by those who
dare to protest. In addition, Peru’s armed forces and police were given
impunity for any deaths they may cause during their actions while on
duty, including while quelling protests. <br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>A few weeks
ago, four agrarian protesters were shot dead. Last week, seven
protesters in Junin were wounded and the commanding general of that
region blamed the incident on terrorist group infiltration, a statement
vigorously denied by the protest organizers. <br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>In late
February several people were detained and warrants for the detention of
others were issued because they are alleged to belong to a leftist
political organization (Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana) that exists
throughout Latin America and that does not carry out illicit activities
in Peru or anywhere else, whatever ideological affiliation it may
have.<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>Perhaps not
unrelated, yet a third congressional commission has now been formed to
investigate the Casas del Alba, an NGO with a link to Venezuela that
exists throughout Peru. This NGO is an organization that offers social
programs such as medical assistance to Peru’s poor. But ever since
the presidential campaign in 2006 in which Hugo Chavez supported
opposition leader Ollanta Humala, the Venezuelan president has been
painted by the Garcia administration as the most evil force in the
Western Hemisphere. This NGO is also accused of promoting “ideological
interventions of Peru’s sovereignty,” among other peculiar
depictions. <br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>On and off,
there have been media campaigns demanding the publication of a list of
all ex-detainees and all ex-prisoners who had been jailed for
terrorism. This latter list would violate a constitutional
principle that incarceration is a form of rehabilitation.
(Theoretically, once a sentence is served the person can no longer be
seen as different from anyone else).<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>A widely
watched TV program dedicated a special report (obviously, with government
intelligence information) to denounce the fact that ex-political
prisoners were working together in legally constituted enterprises as
though that were a crime. Clearly, the intent was to convince the
Peruvian public that this is a crime. <br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>
Narco-trafficking incidents are reported regularly but are always
identified with the overly-abused word “terrorism” connecting these to
so-called terrorist groups.<br><br>
From the very first days of the Garcia administration one could sense
the possibility of political persecution of key opposition. Now the
narrowly defeated presidential candidate Ollanta Humala is about to be
put on trial and many believe this is retribution. And there are
reports indicating that Hernan Fuentes, the democratically elected
President of the Region of Puno, is seeking political asylum because the
Garcia administration is threatening his removal from office and charging
him with treason or sedition for his suggestion that his very poor and
under-supported region be granted autonomy.<br><br>
It seems that the Garcia administration fears that people may hold
different political views from those that it espouses. With all the
events reported above, any reference to Peru as a currently participatory
democracy must be viewed as highly questionable.<br><br>
It is indeed ironic that one of the only persons to call attention to
“democratic malpractice” in Peru is the conservative writer Alberto M.
Adrianzen (La Republica, March 15, 2008) who, in his article
“Disidencias: El macarthismo peruano,” argues that Peru is becoming a
“McCarthy-type state” referring to the United States in the early
1950s. <br><br>
Unaccountably, the Peruvian human rights community has remained silent on
these abuses of the democratic process. I would like to ask those
of you who associate with human rights organizations recognized on an
international level to express these concerns and ask your organizations
to urge their counterparts in Peru such as La Coordinadora Nacional de
Derechos Humanos, the Defensoria del Pueblo, and the Instituto de Defensa
Legal (IDL) to speak out. This needs to be debated on a national
level, it can’t just be the concerns expressed by someone like me who is
considered to be a “terrorist,” because these are dangerous abuses that
affect the well-being of a democratic society. <br><br>
Witch hunts are not intended to be part of a democratic process and the
right to disagree, the right to dissent, the right to have whatever
ideology, the right to assemble and the right to protest are intrinsic to
any real democracy but these rights have become largely prohibited here
in Peru. People should not continue to be detained, punished or
even killed for exercising their democratic rights. <br><br>
I thank you for your support and feel united with you in the search for a
more just world. I will greatly appreciate anything that can be
done to make Peru’s democracy real. <br><br>
With faith in a more just and humane world,<br><br>
Lori Berenson<br>
Cajamarca, Peru<br><br>
<br>
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS<br><br>
Ellen Dorsey, Chair<br>
Amnesty International USA<br>
5 Penn Plaza<br>
New York, NY 10001<br>
(Tel.: 212-807-8400 and Email: aimember@aiusa.org) <br><br>
Lloyd Axworthy, Chair<br>
Human Rights Watch: Americas<br>
350 Fifth Avenue 34th floor<br>
New York, NY 10118<br>
(Tel: 212-290-4700 and Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org) <br><br>
Joy Olson, Executive Director<br>
WOLA Washington Office on Latin America<br>
1630 Connecticut Avenue, NW<br>
Suite 200<br>
Washington, DC 20009<br>
(Tel: 202-797-2171)<br><br>
Lisa Haugaard, Executive Director<br>
LAWG Latin American Working Group<br>
124 C Street, NE<br>
Washington, DC 20002<br>
(Tel.: 202-546-7010 and Email: lisah@lawg.org) <br><br>
Larry Birns, Director<br>
COHA Council on Hemispheric Affairs <br>
1250 Connecticut Avenue, NW<br>
Suite 1C<br>
Washington, DC 20036<br>
(Tel.: 202-223-4975 and Email: larry.birns@gmail.com)
<br><br>
<br>
TALKING POINTS FOR MESSAGE <br>
TO THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMUNITY<br><br>
March 2008<br><br>
To: _____________________________<br><br>
BACKGROUND<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>Alan Garcia is
the democratically elected president of Peru. <br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>The Peruvian
media is filled with articles that indicate serious breeches of
democratic practice by the Garcia administration.<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>The Peruvian
human rights community has remained inexplicably
silent. <br>
EXAMPLES<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>People have
been shot, ands some killed, by both military and police for
protesting.<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>Military and
police have been given impunity for lethal actions while on duty.<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>People have
been arrested for their ideological beliefs without having committed any
crimes.<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>Ex-political
prisoners are being harassed.<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>The right to
protest is not being tolerated. <br>
ACTION<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>Request that
your human rights organization contact its Peruvian counterparts and urge
them to speak out against further erosion of democratic rights in that
country. <br>
EMPHASIS<br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>People should
not be persecuted for their political views. <br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>People should
not be detained, jailed or even killed because they exercise their right
to protest. <br>
•<x-tab> </x-tab>People should
enjoy the right to speak, to dissent, to have a political ideology, to
assemble and to protest in a country that practices democracy.
<br><br>
Sincerely,<br><br>
_________________________ <br>
Your Name<br>
_________________________ <br>
Your Address or Email Address <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>
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