She must be; otherwise, the terrorist would not be getting so much attention from the paper.
"Peru lets US activist take holiday trip" December 17, 2011|Associated Press
LIMA, Peru - A Peruvian court has ruled that paroled US activist Lori Berenson and her toddler son can travel to New York for the holidays, she and her father confirmed yesterday.
A three-judge appeals court Wednesday overturned a lower court judge’s ruling denying Berenson permission to travel, said Guillermo Gonzalez, spokesman for Peru’s judicial system. He said she could leave the country from yesterday to Jan. 11.
“I’m very glad that Peru is respecting its laws and human rights,’’ Berenson’s father, Mark, said by phone from New York City.
If she doesn’t return to Peru by Jan. 11, the country’s government could seek her extradition and return her to prison for violating parole, Gonzalez said.
Lori Berenson, 42, was paroled last year after serving 15 years for aiding leftist rebels, but she cannot leave Peru permanently until her sentence ends in 2015.
Her father said he is “petrified’’ a negative local reaction to the New York visit could prevent the trip, including celebrating his 70th birthday Dec. 29.
Some Peruvians consider her a terrorist, opposed her parole, and have publicly insulted her on the street.
He said his daughter was still trying to buy a ticket for herself and son Salvador, who is 2 ½.
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"Peru gives paroled activist document to travel to US" December 20, 2011|By
LIMA - Peruvian migration officials yesterday gave paroled US activist Lori Berenson a document allowing her to leave the country with her toddler son to spend the holidays with her family in New York City, her father said.
Despite a court’s approval, authorities had barred her from boarding a flight to New York on Friday night, saying she needed an additional document.
“She called and said, ‘I’ve got the permission to leave’ and the next step is for her to get on a plane and get here,’’ Mark Berenson said by phone from New York. He said he did not yet know when his daughter would be flying home for her first trip out of Peru since her 1995 arrest for aiding leftist rebels.
When she was paroled last year, Berenson, 42, had served three-quarters of a 20-year prison term on a conviction of accomplice to terrorism.
“I’m just glad that they finally resolved the thing,’’ Mark Berenson said.
He said he had gone to sleep Friday night expecting to pick up his daughter and a 2 1/2-year-old grandson, Salvador, the following morning. Instead he was woken with the disappointing news and spent the rest of the night angry and unable to sleep.
Lori Berenson, accompanied by two officials who appeared to be from the US Embassy, spent yesterday morning at Peru’s main migration office in downtown Lima and left shortly after 1 p.m. in a dark sport utility vehicle with diplomatic plates.
Sure looks like CIA.
A spokeswoman for the US Embassy, Mary Drake, said consular officials were providing assistance to Berenson “as they would to any citizen.’’
“Any further comment would violate her right to privacy,’’ she said.
And NOC cover as well as CIA policy.
A reporter attempted to obtain a comment from Peru’s immigration director, Edgar Reymundo, but his secretary said he had left the office.
The office is a dependency of the Interior Ministry, where officials have not returned phone calls seeking an explanation for why the former Massachusetts Institute Technology student was not allowed to leave on Friday.
Her lawyer, Anibal Apari, said migration officials at the airport had barred Berenson from boarding the flight because she lacked an “exit order,’’ a document he said doesn’t exist.
Apari, who is Salvador’s father and is amicably separated from Berenson, called the government move an abuse of authority.
Related: Peru's New Prison Whore
Conjugal Visit in Peruvian Prison
I doubt that was part of the mission.
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"US woman paroled in Peru is back in N.Y." December 21, 2011
NEWARK, N.J. —American Lori Berenson, who stirred international controversy when she was convicted of aiding Peruvian guerrillas, arrived in the United States yesterday morning for her first visit home since Peruvian authorities arrested her in 1995.
After going through customs at Newark Airport, the 42-year-old did not speak to reporters. She and her 2-year-old son were escorted by Port Authority police to a car, which took them to New York City.
They were joined by Berenson’s mother, Rhoda.
“We are looking forward to the first holiday at home in a long, long time and many relatives who haven’t met Salvador are excited to see him,’’ Rhoda Berenson said, speaking of her toddler grandson.
“This is not a political time; this is a time for family, friends, and holidays,’’ she said. She brought a winter coat for her grandson, who has never been in such a cold climate before.
Lori Berenson boarded a Continental Airlines flight at Lima’s main airport late Monday under intense media scrutiny. Many in Peru wonder whether she will return to the country by the court-ordered deadline of Jan. 11, but Berenson told a reporter in Lima that she intended to return.
“I just hope we don’t get caught in a snowstorm,’’ she said.
Berenson is a native of New York and attended MIT. She has admitted helping the Tupac Amaru rebel group rent a safe house where Peruvian authorities seized a cache of weapons after a shootout with the rebels. She insists she did not know guns were stored there and says she never joined the group....
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