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May 17, 2002
Alexander Cockburn
Israel and "Anti-Semitism"
May 16, 2002
Marylin Robinson
A Garden
in Tent City, But Where Do You Bathe?
Paul de Rooij
Worse than CNN?
The BBC and Israel
David Krieger
The Bush/Putin
Agreement:
Nuclear Dangers Remain
Steve Perry
Unsafe at Any Speed:
Youth, Sex and the Heresies
of Judith Levine
May 15, 2002
Ahmad Faruqui
Revisiting
Camp David
Rick Giombetti
Spiderman v. Pentagon:
Working Class Hero Battles Corrupt Defense Contractors
Stanton / Madsen
When the
War Hits Home:
Planning for Martial Law, Telegovernance and Suspension of Elections
May 14, 2002
Jacob Levich
Leaving the Truth Out?
Alternative Online Publication
Tells the Big Lie about Palestine
Michael Colby
Bush's
Cuba Blunder
Dave Marsh
Scapegoats: the Music Industry's War
on Cassettes
Jensen / Mahajan
US Power
Mideast Power Plays
May 13, 2002
Robert Fisk
Why Does John Malkovich
Want to Kill Me?
Mokhiber / Weissman
IMF
and World Bank:
Out of Control
Dean Baker
Will Darth Vader do Time?
The Enron Saga Continues
Nelson Valdés
American
Democracy:
A Lesson for Cubans
May 12, 2002
Bernard Weiner
Why Is America Acting Like This? A
Letter to European Friends
John Patrick Leary
Aiding Colombia
Kathleen Christison
Israel
and Ethics
May 11, 2002
Joady Guthrie
The Holy Lands:
A Peace Vision
Patrick Cockburn
Bombing
Iraq:
the Pentagon Prepares a Prolonged Campaign
George Sunderland
CounterPunch Special
Our
Vichy Congress: Israel's Stranglehold on Capitol Hill
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Whiteout:
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by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism
By Rahul Mahajan
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
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by James Ridgeway
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May
17, 2002
In
Defense of the Rights
of Political Prisoners
by Lori Berenson
I am saddened to say that in Peru the government's
propaganda against those who stand up for their rights and seek
social change continues. New laws have been passed which put
greater restriction on social mobilization. And following the
March car bombing in Lima, the responsibility for which still
has not yet been determined, the government has proposed new
anti-terrorist laws which perpetuate the internationally condemned
laws pushed through by Alberto Fujimori a decade ago that are
in violation of fundamental human rights. On the other hand,
recently passed labor legislation to respect the eight-hour workday
and overtime pay is not being enforced. It sometimes seems that
the only law enforcement that exists in Peru is that which represses.
Once again political prisoners are being
abused. In late April, political prisoners were transferred to
Challapalca, a jail located high in the mountains in a military
base close to the Andean border with Bolivia and Chile at an
altitude exceeding 16,000 feet. Several human rights organizations
including the International Red Cross and Amnesty International
stated strong objections to the opening of the Challapalca jail
in 1996. It was originally used for holding common prisoners
but seven months ago, early in the Toledo administration, the
first group of political prisoners was moved to Challapalca.
The health of all prisoners is seriously threatened in that jail,
as is their general well being. The Challapalca jail is so remote
and so isolated that any abuse can occur there with total impunity
-- proof of which is that about a year or so ago two common prisoners
were beaten to death by prison guards and this incident wasn't
even known until much later. Owing to the cost and the difficulty
of traveling there, as well as the difficulty of adjusting to
the altitude, visits to prisoners at this jail are minimal.
In addition to continuing threats to
move more political prisoners to Challapalca, now that Puno's
high-plane Yanamayo jail was recently repaired, political prisoners
also are being threatened with transfer there.
We political prisoners are living in
a generalized atmosphere of provocation -- problems with the
food, harassment of visitors, suspension of privileges, etc.
Over the last months, and especially in the last weeks, prisoners'
families and friends and even prisoners' lawyers as well as human
rights workers who visit jails have been threatened and treated
with hostility.
When prison authorities remark disdainfully
about the presence of international human rights organizations
it is because of the pressure that such groups put on limiting
the authorities' impunity. The Justice Ministry claims that the
denouncements of abuse by political prisoners are false, maintaining
that prisoners' human rights are respected. This is simply not
true. But in a country in which there is little concern if the
majority of the population suffers daily violation of their fundamental
human rights as stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, who will care if our rights are not respected, more so
because political prisoners aren't even considered to be human
beings?
These latest actions by the Peruvian
government are a renewed reprisal against political prisoners
who struggle for their rights. I fear for the well being of those
prisoners who have been moved to Challapalca, as I do for all
political prisoners in Peru who may be abused in any jail at
any time. One cannot remain quiet when the government hypes false
images of the supposed "danger of terrorism" as represented
by political prisoners, and diverts attention from resolving
the problems of poverty and the root causes of social unrest.
Coming so soon after the decade of Fujimori-Montesinos
repression, I am concerned that the worsening of this current
situation and the continued serious infringement of basic rights
in a country that calls itself a democracy will cause irreconcilable
conflict that will take years to eradicate.
It is necessary these things be known
and, as I am able to, I will keep you informed of how this situation
progresses. Meanwhile, you can help by writing to Justice Minister
Olivera, President Toledo, and the national human rights organizations
to demand that the Peruvian government stop the repression against
political prisoners and demonstrate respect for human rights
by closing the Challapalca jail and moving all the prisoners
to other jails.
Thank you.
Requested Action
Please write to the following persons:
Dr. Alejandro Toledo Manrique President
of the Republic of Peru Embassy of Peru 1700 Massachusetts Avenue
NW Washington, DC 20036 Email: peru@peruemb.org
Sr. Fernando Olivera Vega
Ministro de Justicia
Ministro de Justiciadel Peru Scipion Llona
350 Miraflores, Lima 18, Peru
Email: webmaster@minjus.gob.pe
Dr. Francisco Soberon Garrido
Coordinadora de Derechos Humanos
APRODEH Jr. Pachacutec
980 Jesus Maria, Lima 11, Peru
Lori Berenson
is a human rights activist and freelance journalist who has been
imprisoned in Huacariz Prison, Cajamarca, Peru for six years
and six months. Please visit the web site of The
Committee to Free Lori Berenson.
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