Castañeda calls on Lima mayor candidates to make realistic promises

Lima Mayor Luis Castañeda has called on candidates campaigning to replace him to refrain from making unrealistic promises, particularly with regards to crime, state news agency Andina reported.

Elections for the mayor of Lima are to be held in October. Candidates for the position have focused their campaigns largely on problems related to crime and transportation in the Peruvian capital.

Castañeda, who is a front runner for Peru’s presidential elections in 2011, said that many of the solutions proposed simply won’t work.

“What I fundamentally want is for them to not make promises that don’t respond to reality,” he said. “What they should do, and I’m free to say so because I’m not a candidate, is to talk about what they are going to do in the city that is concrete.” Read more…

Peru authorities launch investigation into journalist, Russian spy

Peruvian authorities have accused Vicky Pelaez, the Peruvian journalist who was spying for Russia in the United States, of forging documentation, Radioprogramas reported anti-corruption prosecutor Jorge Luis Caldas as saying.

Caldas said that Pelaez has two birth certificates with different names and a marriage license containing false information. In addition, he said Pelaez entered Peru numerous times but did not legally register arrivals or departures. Read more…

Coca farmer protests costing Ucayali some $5.37 million

Protests by coca leaf farmers in Peru’s Ucayali department have cost approximately 15 million soles ($5.37 million) since the farmers began demonstrations on Aug. 14, according to Dotti Flores, the general manager of the Ucayali Chamber of Commerce.

The farmers have blocked the Federico Basadre highway, which has prevented the flow of goods affecting the department’s economy. Construction companies, for example, are lacking cement and iron to advance works, state news agency Andina reported Flores as saying. Read more…

Peru seeks recovery of $323 million from corruption cases – including Fujimori and Montesinos

The Peruvian state is looking to recover more than 904 million soles ($323 million) for civil reparation in corruption cases, prosecutor Julio Roca said.

“It is important to start and take actions to get the fastest results possible,” state news agency Andina reported Roca saying.

The reparations come from 84 cases involving 100 people, including jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori and his former spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos. Read more…

Flores declares “war on crime” during first debate for Lima’s mayor

The leader of Peru’s PPC party, Lourdes Flores, said she will declare a war on crime in Lima if she is elected the mayor of the Peruvian capital, state news agency Andina reported.

Flores said she would install 3,000 cameras on Lima’s streets and 10,000 more police officers to improve security.

“I declare a war on crime and we are going to win,” Flores said during a debate. Read more…

Shining Path newlyweds may qualify for conjugal visits

Abimael Guzman, the imprisoned leader of the bloody Shining Path insurgency, and his new wife, Elena Iparraguirre, may be able to have conjugal visits, daily El Comercio reported the president of Peru’s judicial branch, Javier Villa, as saying.

Visits between Guzman and Iparraguirre “will depend on various factors,” Villa said, adding: “the wedding responds to a humanitarian right.” Read more…

Lori Berenson interview with Peruvian Times

Lori Berenson met Monday, Aug. 16, 2010, with Peruvian Times Managing Editor Rick Vecchio and veteran freelance journalist Lucien Chauvin.

The meeting came two hours after Berenson had spoken before a judicial tribunal deciding whether to rescind her parole, threatening to send her back to prison to serve out the remaining five years of a 20-year sentence for  collaboration with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.

For more than an hour Berenson answered questions in English and Spanish, on the condition that her statements would remain Off The Record until and if she was ordered  to return to prison. That order came two days later.

Here is the seven-part interview in English.

American activist Lori Berenson ordered back to Peruvian prison

Parole for American activist Lori Berenson was rescinded Wednesday and an order issued for her immediate capture to be returned to prison, Vice Justice Minister Luis Marill del Águila announced.

An appeals court ruled in favor of Peruvian prosecutors that penitentiary officials miscalculated the time served on her 20-year sentence for collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). Her parole paperwork also failed to correctly list the address of the upscale Miraflores apartment where she planned to reside.

U.S. Embassy spokesman James Fennell released a statement that Berenson was at the U.S. Consul for a pre-arranged meeting when she received word that her parole had been rescinded.

“It was the decision of Lori Berenson to comply with the judicial order and turn herself in immediately,” Fennell said. “With Ms. Berenson’s consent, she was retrieved by the Peruvian police.”

Berenson was conditionally released in May after serving nearly 15 years. Peru’s state attorney for counter-terrorism, Julio Galindo, told cable news station Canal N  on Wednesday that Berenson’s parole had not been revoked, but rather nullified. Once she has completed 15 years in prison in November she can apply for parole again, he said.

Berenson appeared in court Monday and apologized for her past crimes and asked the judges to let her remain free on parole, saying she poses no threat Peruvian society and that her overriding focus now is to raise her 15-month-old baby boy, Salvador, who was born behind bars.

“I was sentenced for the crime of collaboration with terrorism, and I did collaborate with the MRTA.  I have never been a leader, nor a militant. I have never participated in acts of violence nor of bloodshed, nor have I killed anyone,” she said.

“I am now a 40-year-old woman. I left home when I was young,” she continued. “But I have a family who have sacrificed everything for me, and I would like to pay them back somehow. And more than that, I have a child, a 15-month-old son and he is a child I would like to be close to, like any mother. I would like to bring up my son to be a good man.  That is now my objective.”

Berenson was arrested on a public bus in downtown Lima on November 30, 1995, along with the wife of a top MRTA leader. She was charged with helping plan a thwarted takeover of Peru’s Congress and sentenced to life by a secret military court for “treason against the fatherland.” But that conviction was vacated in 2000 and she was retried and convicted the following year by a civilian court.

Justice Ministry to post human rights court case info on its Web site

While Peru contemplates partially rejecting the authority of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Ministry of Justice has decided to shine a little transparency on the issue by publishing on its website information about human rights cases filed against the country. Read more…

American woman apologizes for collaborating with Peruvian Marxist rebel group

American activist Lori Berenson apologized Monday for collaborating with Marxist rebels and asked an appeals court to let her remain free on parole to rejoin society, make amends to her family and raise her baby.

The native New Yorker, now 40 years old with a 15-month-old boy, insisted that depictions of her as a violent terrorist are untrue, saying repeatedly, “I do not represent a danger to anyone.”

“I have come today because I know that my liberty is at stake,” Berenson told the court. “I was in prison for almost 15 years. I have reflected a great deal over it, and I understand that society was harmed by violence. I understand it and I regret that I participated in it.”

Berenson was conditionally released in May after serving nearly 15 years of a 20-year sentence for collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). But prosecutors and Peru’s state attorney for counter-terrorism, Julio Galindo, appealed her parole.

Galindo depicted Berenson Monday as a calculating, unrepentant political extremist who continues to pose a threat to the Peruvian public.

“What is concrete and what is real is that Señora Berenson was not a sympathizer of the MRTA. She is an active participant,” Galindo said.

Berenson, who was specifically acquitted in her 2001 civilian retrial of being an active militant in the MRTA, responded directly to Galindo’s allegation.

“I was sentenced for the crime of collaboration with terrorism, and I did collaborate with the MRTA,” Berenson said. “I have never been a leader, nor a militant. I have never participated in acts of violence nor of bloodshed, nor have I killed anyone.”

She said her perspective had changed during her years in prison and that her overriding concern now is to get on with a productive life in society and to raise her son, Salvador, who was born behind bars.

“I have a family who have sacrificed everything for me, and I would like to pay them back somehow,” she said. “And more than that, I have a child, a 15-month-old son and he is a child I would like to be close to, like any mother. I would like to bring up my son to be a good man.  That is now my objective.”

Berenson’s release was based on a legislative decree passed in 2003 during the administration of former President Alejandro Toledo. The decree allowed inmates who were charged with terrorism to gain conditional parole after completing three-quarters of their sentence. The law was rescinded last year, but not before Berenson had put in her application for early release.

Galindo argued Monday that Berenson was a few months short of completing the three-quarters of her sentence, which made her parole premature and illegal.

When asked by the court tribunal whether counter terrorism police had been keeping tabs on Berenson’s whereabouts since her release, Galindo apologized to the judges, saying he could not because it was a matter of police “intelligence” and that he was not entirely privy to the details.

“For obvious reasons, since that is a job of intelligence, I could not at this time say how this job has been carried out,” Galindo said. “That they have done so, yes, the intelligence tasks have been carried out.”

Berenson’s attorney, Anibal Apari, who is also the father of her son, interjected that the police, together with the Attorney General Office, have “carried out three visits to the domicile” where Berenson has been living with her parents and baby. He also countered Galindo’s main argument, saying the way Berenson’s time served was calculated had been entirely legal and within the bounds of established jurisprudence.

A former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, Berenson was arrested on a public bus in downtown Lima on November 30, 1995, along with the wife of a top MRTA leader. She was charged with helping plan a thwarted takeover of Peru’s Congress and sentenced to life by a secret military court for “treason against the fatherland.” But that conviction was vacated in 2000 and she was retried and convicted the following year by a civilian court.

Berenson and Panamanian painter Pacífico Castrellón — a key prosecution witness against her — rented the four- story house that the MRTA rebels used as their secret base to store a huge arsenal of weapons and house 20 guerrillas.

Justice Minister Victor Garcia Toma previously said he did not view Berenson as a threat to society. He recommended that the remaining five years of her sentence be commuted, which would allow her to return the United States with her baby.

But President Alan Garcia’s administration chose to wait through the appeals process.

But García decided Berenson’s case is “not a priority.” He told reporters on Monday that his government had been wise not to rush into commuting Berenson’s sentence until the appeals court determines whether her parole had been carried out correctly or that she must return to prison.

The court is expected to issue its ruling within 15 days.

Lori Berenson’s Full Statement to Court:

Thank you.  Mr. President, Madame Magistrates, Mr. Prosecutor. I have come today because I know that my liberty is at stake.

I have heard in the press, particularly from the state attorney, the issue that I am a danger to society. And although oratory is not exactly my strongpoint, I am going to try to explain why I believe that I am not (a danger).

In the first place, just to clarify an incident that the prosecutor has just mentioned.  I was sentenced for the crime of collaboration with terrorism, and I did collaborate with the MRTA.  I have never been a leader, nor a militant. I have never participated in acts of violence nor of bloodshed, nor have I killed anyone.

And what I would like to clarify here is that I know that my mere participation, even though it was secondary in one incident, if it contributed to the violence in society, I am deeply sorry and I regret it. If my coming to Peru has meant harm to the country, I am sorry and I regret it. If there are people who feel affected by my words or by my acts, I ask their forgiveness.  It is the only thing that I can say.

I was in prison for almost 15 years. I have reflected a great deal over it, and I understand that violence did harm to society; I understand it and I regret that I participated in it.

I believe that things, a better society, are achieved by building and not by destroying.  It is built by living together peacefully and that is what I have been doing. My behavior in prison has been very good; I can say there were no problems. In fact, in jail one learns better about coexisting than here outside.  But it is in jail, where the space is so very small, that you necessarily have to coexist with different ideas, with different everything.

As a result, one learns to reach a consensus and, in fact, it is something that serves very well to live in society.

Also, I have a different vision of life.  It has been almost 15 years. I am now a 40-year-old woman. I left home when I was young. But I have a family who have sacrificed everything for me, and I would like to pay them back somehow. And more than that, I have a child, a 15-month-old son and he is a child I would like to be close to, like any mother. I would like to bring up my son to be a good man.  That is now my objective.

And during the time I have been out of prison, I have shown that that is how I spend my time. I am working for that, I have a child I must bring up.

I need to live and that is what I am doing. I work. I am studying. I am trying to live like a normal person with my family, my parents, with my son, with the godmother of my child. That is what I am doing.

Therefore, I would like to suggest that, at least from my own point of view, I do not pose a danger to anyone.

I lament the repercussion that my release has had in society, although this has always been a very sensational case, from the time I was first detained. But the reality is that, although it hurts me, I do accept it. I take responsibility that there is a sense of rejection towards me. I understand. But according to the law, according to my behavior, I do not pose a threat to anyone.

I hope that the court will make its decision according to the law, and I trust it will be so.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

Next Page »