If you don't know who Lori Berenson is, you really should.
Lori is a social activist of the highest order. For standing up for the weak and never backing down from her beliefs, she spent the past 15 years in Peruvian prisons on a false conviction.
On May 15, after years of suffering and abuse, Lori was granted her freedom.
I will not try to recount Lori's entire story here. I have included a link to her website (below) that can tell you all you could want to know.
But her case is instructive on various levels.
For one thing, it shows how a government -- in this case Peru -- and its legal "processes," can be internationally condemned and still go on their merry way.
On a human level, Lori's story and spirit are absolutely inspirational and a lesson to us all. No, that doesn't say enough: What she has done is humbling.
And yet, she is the first to point out that many in Central and South America have, and continue to, suffer even worse than she did. Some in prisons, some in everyday life.
What's more, Lori's parents, Mark and Rhoda, stand as an example to us all of courage and transcendent love. Wonderful, salt-of-the-earth people.
Of course there is a back story here: Why the U.S. government did not get one of its citizens freed from illegal incarceration. The U.S. legislature was responsible for numerous letters to the Peruvian and U.S. presidents and others, but the State Department and the U.S. President* (from Clinton through to Obama), were little better than pathetic. It seems that sometimes political expediency requires unlawful invasion of sovereign nations; and sometimes it apparently calls for leaving your citizens to rot unlawfully in far-off hellholes.
The Third World continues to suffer at the hands of the First World. We must remember that. We must pressure our government to do what is right. Our voices should be an irresistible cacophony. Now and always.
Lori Berenson has shown us the way, by sacrificing 15 years of her life. What about us? Would we give even 5 minutes to call the White House and let our voice be heard? Here is the number: 202-456-1111. This is the number set aside for anyone to call and make a comment. I urge you to pick an issue and make your voice heard.
If you can't bring yourself to call, you can use this link to go to an email page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Lori Berenson is one of those rarest of people: as humble and selfless as she is inspirational.
Thank you, Lori. And God bless.
Adrian Zupp
LINK TO LORI'S WEBSITE:
http://www.freelori.org/index.html
* "The President of the United States is required, by United States Code 22 Section 1732 to use such means, not amounting to acts of war and not otherwise prohibited by law, as he may think necessary and proper to obtain or effectuate the release of a U.S. citizen wrongfully incarcerated by a foreign government."
[From Lori's Web site]
LORI WAS LATER RE-IMPRISONED IN PERU! Please take a look at this later blog post to read about it and what you can do
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