From Publishers Weekly
The grueling experiences described by Berenson constitute a crash course in the arbitrary horrors of human rights abuses. Since December 1995, 30-year-old Lori Berenson, an American citizen from New York, has been imprisonedDin appalling conditionsDin Peru. She was found guilty of treason for allegedly conspiring to attack the Peruvian Congress as a member of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and sentenced to life imprisonment by a hooded military tribunal who refused to allow her attorney to present evidence or question witnesses. This dramatic and engrossing account by Lori's mother details the long struggle she and her husband, Mark, have endured in trying to get their daughter's sentence overturned. Both of them have given up their academic careers to dedicate their full-time efforts to a campaign to free Lori. Berenson forcefully argues that Lori was not a terrorist but a journalist, with valid press credentials, who had written about social and economic injustice in Peru. Just last month, Lori's conviction was in fact overturned, and she was granted a civilian trial. Because political conditions are now so unstable in Peru (President Fujimori is stepping down because of a scandal), her fate is uncertain, but her parents are hoping that she will be released. (Nov. 1)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Berenson recalls the nearly five-year-old and continuing nightmare that began with a phone call announcing the arrest of her daughter, Lori, in December 1995, in Peru on charges of treason and terrorism. Lori was in Peru as a human-rights activist and journalist. The Berensons, both university professors, launched an ongoing campaign that has engaged major news organizations, human-rights advocacy groups, and prominent politicians to secure the release of their daughter, who has never been tried. But the "Kafka-like military tribunals" of Peru, the high-profile political investment of President Fujimori in the imprisonment of the "gringa terrorist," and a decided lack of interest by the U.S. State Department have stretched the agonizing period even beyond the turmoil of the recent presidential election. Berenson's book is a harrowing account of the repressive politics of a nation that remains in the headlines today and is a story of hope, determination, and endurance in the face of global politics. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
