Letters
Disarmament in Haiti The Taking Note editorial entitied "The 'Violence' of Aristide" [Jan/Feb, 1996] condemns the U.S. government for its "refusal to disarm the right-wing extremists [in...
...The organization is FEINE, not EFIE...
...Rhoda and Mark Berenson assert that the only information known about the allegations made against Lori was "leaked" by the Peruvian military...
...They continue to circulate in Haiti-and even run for public office-with complete impunity...
...If these statements are true, then the editor ought to admit that she was misled...
...Your editorial reeked of contempt for Lori...
...progressives in Latin America in the early 1980s still appropriate in 1996...
...military has worked diligently to ensure that its paramilitary allies in Haiti remain wellarmed and well-hidden until they are again needed, probably in the not-too-distant future...
...Lee Heller San Francisco, CA Deidre McFadyen responds: T he letter writers take issue with my presumption of Lori Berenson's "guilt...
...What really drove me to write, however, was NACLA's decision not to reply to the letter by Lori Berenson's parents published in the subsequent issue...
...The problem is not that the U.S...
...Lori Berenson decided to pursue social change in Peru by allying herself with a guerrilla organization with little popular support in an era where violent forms of struggle have been widely rejected...
...A Village Voice article that detailed her high-level involvement with the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) lent further credence to the idea that she was an active participant in Latin American political movements, not simply an "investigative journalist...
...Do you support the rich rather than the poor...
...Its conclusion was particularly arrogant: "Her odyssey, although misguided, rested on her passion for social justice...
...The quest for social justice is certainly as urgent a goal as before...
...Her odyssey," the column concludes, "although misguided, rested on her passion for social justice...
...They say that Lori has repeatedly declared that she is innocent of the charges of treason and terrorism...
...Recent press reports, particularly in the Nation and the Village Voice, confirm that the U.S...
...Lori Berenson is not an isolated, atypical case...
...In a second-and somewhat contradictory-front of attack, the letter I INJITY IN LATIN AMERICA 44NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS writers admonish me for characterizing Berenson's odyssey as "misguided...
...Yet, are the methods used by U.S...
...Since Haiti's second occupation began on September 19, 1994, the U.S...
...You should have read the numerous articles on the Internet and the cover story in New York magazine, and listened to coverage on Pacifica radio...
...I suspect that the letter writers' unhappiness is rooted in the fact that I dared to be in any way critical of Berenson...
...Given those bad choices, the editorial seems to suggest, what more could she expect...
...It struck me as unfairly placing responsibility for her plight on Lori herself...
...I felt, however, that it was a fair starting point to assume that Berenson was involved in some way with the MRTA given her unequivocal statement in support of the group during her one appearance before the media-a point also made by the New York magazine article...
...Unlike the editor's former collegedropout friends, Lori had two strikes against her: she went to Latin America in the wrong era, and erred in "the movement she chose to ally herself with...
...Does that mean that she deserves to be rotting away in a freezing cold prison in the altiplano...
...In my opinion, those choices were not wise...
...occupation forces have failed to disarm the paramilitary gangs, but rather that they have been carefully preserving and bolstering them...
...Then, you should have followed that up with interviews with people like Rhoda and Mark Berenson who have further information...
...If you had done that, you would have gotten your facts straight...
...government for its "refusal to disarm the right-wing extremists [in Haiti] when it had the chance"-that is, during the on-going military occupation of the country...
...George Salzman charges that my editorial was "calculated" and devoid of "passion for justice...
...The parents of Lori Berenson were too polite in condemning your appalling lack of research on the case of their daughter...
...My intent in the editorial was not to parse out the exact nature of her relationship with the MRTA...
...Are you opposed to serious investigative journalism, which Lori not only supported but practiced...
...I detected no "passion for justice" in that calculated editorial...
...Of course not...
...In particular, they point out that Lori has denied involvement with the Tipac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA...
...Lori is painted as wellmeaning, idealistic, but foolish...
...Nothing can justify the Peruvian government's shameful disregard for basic civil rights...
...The reproach seems a bit inappropriate, perhaps even naive...
...What was so misguided about her odyssey...
...occupation's so-called "restoration of democracy," barely any coup criminals have been brought to trial or even arrested...
...government has only used its power to protect its traditional allies: putschists of all stripes from both the financial and political establishments, as well as the paramilitary gangs who were the principal shock troops of the three-year coup regime...
...After 20 months of the U.S...
...Where is your call for a campaign to free Lori Berenson...
...George Salzman Cambridge, MA (Continued on page 44) Erratum In Nina Pacari's article, "Ecuador: Taking on the Neoliberal Agenda," in the March/April 1996 issue, the wrong acronym was given for the Evangelical Federation of Indigenous Ecuadorians...
...If the statements are false, she ought to provide substantive evidence that Lori's parents are in error...
...Kim Ives New York, NY Lori Berenson Twas troubled by Deidre McFadyen's Taking Note editorial "Lori Berenson in Context" [March/April, 1996...
...Her actions can best be understood in the context of the long history of Latin American peace and solidarity activists...
...The issue is not one of disarmament, but of armament...
...The world has changed tremendously over the past 20 years...
...The revolving-door arrests, disappearances from custody, and disappearance of evidence all pointed in this direction...
...In fact, I set out precisely to counteract the disdain that has marked most media coverage of Lori Berenson and the indifference with which she has been greeted in many progressive circles...
...Although I respect her motives, I felt it was also important to scrutinize her strategy...
...Lee Heller asks "Do you support the rich rather than the poor...
Vol. 30 • July 1996 • No. 1
