A U.S. ‘terrorist’ finds no mercy in Peru

Too bad it was only a technicality, said María Teresa García in Peru’s Expreso. “The highly dangerous terrorist Lori Berenson” was returned to prison this week with her infant son after a court temporarily revoked her parole, saying she had failed to properly notify police of a change in address. Most Peruvians are thrilled to see this American woman back behind bars. Berenson, 40, was a member of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA, the communist terrorist group responsible for dozens of killings in Peru in the 1980s and ’90s. She was arrested in 1995 along with the wife of a top leader of the MRTA while both were posing as journalists to gain entry to the Peruvian Congress. A military court convicted her of terrorism, although the verdict was downgraded to abetting terrorism after she was retried in civilian court. After serving just 15 years of her 20-year sentence, Berenson was released on parole in May, along with her 15-month-old son by “another MRTA terrorist,” whom she met and married while in jail. Her husband was released before her and is now acting as her lawyer. With his help, she could be out again in months.

The media circus surrounding the Berenson case is no credit to Peru, said Efraín Rúa in La Primera. Domestic, as well as foreign, reporters “swarmed” Berenson as she returned to prison, “harassing” her and “making the child in her arms cry.” Some members of Peru’s Congress say the government has treated her no better. They note that when she was arrested she was in possession of neither weapons nor false documents, and only her fraternization with known terrorists condemned her. “I am an enemy of terrorism,” said Congressman Javier Valle Riestra this week, “but I am also a supporter of human rights,” and the treatment of Berenson “is a disgrace.” Riestra says Berenson was a naïve young idealist who idolized Che Guevara but never actually committed violence. To say that now, as a 40-year-old wife and mother, she is a danger to society is simply ridiculous.

Don’t be duped by this drama queen, said Fritz Du Bois in Peru21. Berenson made a “dramatic show of returning to prison clutching her child, as if she were some movie star.” Let’s not forget “who are the terrorists and who are the victims,” and which deserve our sympathy. Of course, a convict has the right to go free after serving a full sentence, but “it is clear that the previous government was wrong” to allow terrorists like Berenson to qualify for early parole. “The wounds of the terror era have not yet healed,” and allowing militants to mingle among us “is offensive to many Peruvians.”

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That’s why the prosecutor should try to get Berenson’s parole revoked altogether, said Expreso in an editorial, so she serves out the final five years of her sentence. Studies show that rehabilitation is rarely possible for terrorists. They “were, are, and will be terrorists—only more seasoned and more radical after a prison stay.” Why expect “the terrorist Lori Berenson” to be any different? The government should heed its citizens’ “raging demands” for “the revocation of her absurd freedom.”