Lori Berenson Freed (Again), Still Stuck in Peru

Lori Berenson with her 16-month-old son, Salvador. (AP)

After winning parole in May, American citizen and New York native Lori Berenson was sent back to prison on a technicality in August. She's spent the last 15 years in prison for her participation in a foiled terrorist plot to take the Peruvian Congress hostage in the mid-'90s, and prosecutors claim she still has links to the Tupac Amaru rebel group that planned the attack. Yesterday her parole was restored, and the AP reports she "slipped out a prison's side door and back to freedom." Well, sort of.

Berenson is still prevented from returning home to the U.S., and many Peruvians want her to complete her 20-year term. In May, she apologized in an open letter to Peruvians for any hurt she may have caused, but prosecutors are still pushing for Berenson to return to prison, and argue that she has not fully qualified for parole. Whether she gets sent back to jail or not, she must remain in Peru until her full sentence is served, unless President Alan Garcia decides to commute it. In an interview in September, Garcia seemed inclined to do so, telling CNN, "Berenson is not a threat to Peru. That's over. It's part of the past. How much can Peru really fear a woman who spent 15 years in prison? She has a little boy, and that moves me a lot."

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By John Del Signore in News on November 9, 2010 11:23 AM

Comments [rss]

jpeditor

"How much can Peru really fear a woman who spent 15 years in prison? " - Garcia

"What Indians?" - Custer

KFW

How much can Peru really fear a woman who spent 15 years in prison?

You are right GLOBAL WOMBAT. Although Alan Garcia is a deply flawed man, he is not particularly sexist. His cabinet has at least as many women, proportionately, as Bush's or Obama's. As to the general "machismo" of Latin American males, (and females too) while it is true it's there, it is not as simple as saying everything a Latin Ameican says in public can be correctly attribuited to sexism. Sometimes a woman is just a woman as Sigmund Freud would say.

A woman in Spanish is "una mujer". We do not use the gender neutral a lot in Spanish. It is either " a woman" or, "a man". Had Lori been Laurel instead, he (Garcia) would have said "a man". AS IN "How much can Peru really fear a man who spent 15 years in prison?".

If anything, Garcia is there bucking public sentiment. He is actually LEADING public opinion, instead of just sticking his wet finger up in the air and checking in which direction the wind is blowing. And once again, I say this as someone who knows him well (he is a male, thus the male pronoun) and is generally critical of him and his public persona.

Global Wombat

While there is certainly a level of machismo latent in Latin American culture, I think you're just knee jerking.

Lighten up, pussycat!

patsw

Did anyone else detect some sexism in Garcia's statement?How much can Peru really fear a woman who spent 15 years in prison?

Mordicai

This is fully up to their justice system. Frankly, I don't feel that inclined to have a whole lot of sympathy for a terrorist.

jjazznola

I totally agree. I have no sympathy for this woman. Don't do the crime if you're not willing to do the time! And don't spawn while behind bars.