Lori : My Daughter, Wrongfully Imprisoned in Peru

Five years ago, 26-year-old Lori Berenson, an anthropology major, was in Peru researching articles on poverty and women's rights. She was arrested and spuriously charged with acting as a leader in a Peruvian terrorist group, the MRTA (Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru). Tried without evidence by military officials, she was convicted and sent to a Draconian mountaintop prison with no heat, electricity, or running water. Lori's health has deteriorated as her parents work tirelessly to free her. This is their harrowing story, one that continues, day to day, as the Berensons, working with American officials, attempt to persuade the Peruvian government to reconsider her fate.

I read Lori: My Daughter Unlawfully Imprisoned in Peru only after following the case for several years. It is an odd book to be published by an academic press - a polemic and not an academic or impartial study of the case. Though one could hardly expect anything else from a distraught mother. You should read the book along with the [...] website. See Lori's comments on her website: boiler plate leftist slogans and jargon. Read the book and the website but read between the lines, read in context, and it seems clear that Lori Berenson is guilty. The book and the website dance around the issues - articulate for sure but clearly biased, if not outright dishonest. But guilty of what?

She has been very careful in her choice of words - stating that she is not guilty of the charges against her and stating that she is not a "terrorist." She has, however, openly defended MRTA (a Peruvian rebel group) and its right to "revolutionary" action. If you are killed by a "terrorist" or "revolutionary," does really it make a difference? Lori Berenson argues that terrorist violence is wrong but not revolutionary violence. (Her father, a retired professor, has argued that same academic point in her defense.) It is understandable that Peruvians fail to appreciate this finely drawn distinction. Further, if you read the book and her website, you are struck with the condescending attitude toward the people of Peru - the poor, benighted people of color to be saved by an idealistic internationalist.

She may not have actively participated in any violent actions, but it seems very clear that she supported them and defended them, and may have been in on the plan to attack the Peruvian assembly.

Perhaps this is what Berenson is really saying: "I am not 'guilty' because it is not a 'crime' to support MRTA. Therefore, I am innocent." Her strong leftist ideology tells her that since the Peruvian system is corrupt it is not a "crime" to conspire or collaborate with revolutionaries against it or to try to destroy what is in their view an unjust system. In truth, Berenson is a political pilgrim - a revolutionary groupie. Certainly not a "journalist" (no publications or education in the field).

Were her trials fair? Perhaps not (at least not by US standards), but if it is true that she did not have a fair hearing it does not mean that she is innocent. An impartial international court in Latin America, in fact, has upheld the judgment. One can certainly feel sympathy for her parents but only a mother totally and uncritically devoted her child could have written this book. It is a brief for her daughter and not in any way an objective or complete telling of the story.

One is tempted to call Berenson a spoiled brat, but she is about forty years old now and no child. Here is a way out: denounce MRTA (didn't they fool you into associating with them as you claim?)and apologize for intervening in the affairs of the Peruvian people.

Berenson was playing at revolution (a revolutionary dilettante) and now is paying a heavy price. A rebel princess come to grief.

I came to post a review expecting to be the only one who had come to the obvious conclusion that Lori was guilty. Is the Peruvian justice system bad? Of course it it. The same is true with respect to the majority of countries in the world. Has she been mistreated? It seems likely. But after following this case since the beginning and reading everything I saw about it, including all of the information on Lori's website (most included in the book), there is NO doubt in my mind of her guilt. If an upper-class, liberal activist wants to be a martyr that's fine. But to insult our intelligence with this plee for help is unacceptable.

If you look at Lori's past, and the evidence, it is clear that the Peruvian government did its job and that she was guilty. Peruvian politics are not for dabbling, and for all her mother's wailing, she might at least look at reality a bit more clearly.

I love Peru, even with all its troubles, but this book is just an example of what can happen when an arrogant American goes to fight injustice in a faraway land and not at home. I think Camille Paglia's theories about protected middle class girls shocked when life gets rough outside of their environment apply here. Maybe someone can mail Lori some Camille Paglia.

This is a very strange memoir of a mother obsessed with her daughter's imprisonment in a faraway land for alleged terrorist activities. I don't know whether she committed these acts but the photograph of Lori on the cover of the book makes me wonder: Who is Lori? In any event, she looks like a sadist, not a human rights activist. Rhoda spends the entire book complaining about injustices, with a capital I--and her plane trips to Peru.

Rhoda Berenson's relentless defense of a daughter with revolutionary aspirations seems to confirm all of the unfavorable stereotypes about upper-middle income liberal New Yorkers. From my reading of this book, the Berensons are stuck---flying to Peru; lobbying for Lori's parole; and defending her odd approach to human rights---an approach that landed her in prison.