PERU: LIMA: AMERICAN WOMAN ACCUSED OF GUERILLA ACTIVITIES

Описание: (8 Jan 1996) Spanish/Nat

An American woman jailed in Peru in connection with a guerrilla attack has been paraded before the media in Lima.

Lori Berenson was detained on December 1st last year following a shoot out between police and members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or M-R-T-A.

Berenson did not appear in an earlier parade of 23 alleged members of the movement due to pressure from the U-S Embassy in Lima.

Weeks after her arrest, the American woman accused of providing logistical support to the pro-Castro Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement , M-R-T-A , was finally put on show in front of the media in Lima.

Lori Berenson has been in jail since December 1st, when she was arrested together with ten alleged M-R-T-A guerillas.

The suspected guerillas were apprehended after a confrontation with security forces in an exclusive residential district of Lima.

In a forceful show of defiance, Berenson accused the Peruvian state of widespread injustices.

SOUNDBITE:( Spanish)
I have been accused of caring about the hunger and misery that exists in this country. Nobody can deny that in Peru there are widespread injustices. There is institutionalized violence, which has taken the lives of Peru's best citizens and condemns children to starve to death. Yes, it is a crime to worry about the subhuman conditions the majority of Peruvians live under in this country, then I will accept my verdict.
SUPER CAPTION: Lori Berenson, Terrorist suspect

Last December police intelligence spotted several alleged members of the M-R-T-A close to a gas station they were allegedly trying to destroy.

Having been spotted, the group fled to a nearby house taking a family hostage.

A bloody shoot-out between the guerilla and army troops ensued, leaving four dead and eleven injured.

Berenson was arrested the night before the bloody shoot out.

The movements supreme leader, Vistor POlay Campos was arrested in 1992.

During Monday's media parade, Berenson she denied she was a criminal or a terrorist.

SOUNDBITE:(Spanish)
I do not love violence. I am not a criminal or a terrorist. In M-R-T-A there are no criminals or terrorists. It is a revolutionary movement.
SUPER CAPTION: Lori Berenson, Terrorist suspect

Other alleged members of the M-R-T-A were paraded before the media last week.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
Down with this shitty dictatorship. Down with this dictatorship that has sold out our country. We are not fighters, we are not terrorists. The state is the terrorist.
SUPER CAPTION: Emilio Villalobos, member of military council of the M-R-T-A

Berenson protested her innocence.

SOUNDBITE:(Spanish)
I love the Peruvian people, and although this love will cost me years in prison, I will never stop loving them. I will never lose my hope and my confidence that there will be a justice in the future for Peru.
SUPER CAPTION: Lori Berenson, U-S terrorist suspect.

According to anti- terrorist police in Peru, Berenson is also known as " Camarada Lucia", and is said to have reported directly to Miguel Rincon, second-in-command and M-R-T-A supreme leader Nestor Cerpa Cartolini.

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