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Suicides in Guantanamo Jail- A Call to Action
TEXT FOLLOWS PRESS RELEASE
Committee to Free Lori Berenson
320 E 25th St #2AA • New York NY 10010
(212) 689-3868 • www.FreeLori.org
June 30, 2006 Contact: Mark & Rhoda Berenson
212-689-3868
Lori Berenson’s Commentary on Guantanamo Suicides
Audio recording of a statement from Berenson available for broadcast in English & Spanish
Lori Berenson calls suicides in Guantanamo a “call to action”:
It doesn’t matter how the tragic decision of a prisoner to commit suicide be typified. Whether it be an act of war, or protest, or desperation, all are totally justifiable. All thinking people in this world, particularly in the United States, have to interpret the event as a call to act.
Berenson remains active on behalf of social justice despite her incarceration in Peru. She writes commentaries on current events and advocates for humane treatment for all prisoners.
In 1996, Berenson, then 26, was convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison in a secret proceeding by hooded military officers. After serving almost five years in harsh conditions, the Peruvian Supreme Military Council annulled that conviction on the grounds of insufficient evidence. At that time, President Fujimori’s spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, said that Peru would provide her a civilian trial and sentence her to 20 years in prison. In 2001, Berenson was convicted of collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), a Marxist rebel group in Peru, and sentenced to 20 years. Berenson maintains her innocence.
Berenson is one of many political prisoners, such as Nelson Mandela and Aung San Si Kyi, wrongfully incarcerated for her political beliefs and the courage to stand up for them. There are many political prisoners who will remain nameless until we hear their voices.
Berenson is currently held outside of Cajamarca, Peru, in a small prison made of concrete and metal. There is no glass in the window openings, the bed is a concrete platform, there is a hole in the floor for a toilet, cold water is available twice each day, and the cell is 5’ by 10’. Berenson keeps herself engaged in the world by reading and writing, and stays physically active by knitting, pacing the concrete yard and working in the prison bakery.
A recording of Lori’s words are available at: www.FreeLori.org
This is the fourth in a regular series of recordings.
Audio (Read by Aura Bogado)
My name is Lori Berenson. I am a US citizen and a political prisoner. I am serving my 11th year of a 20 year sentence in Perú. This essay was written from my cell in Huacariz Prison.
Suicides in Guantanamo Jail--A Call to Action
In early June of this year three prisoners in the military base jail in Guantanamo committed suicide. There had already been massive hunger strikes and many suicide attempts in this place, widely questioned for the policy of abuse and mistreatment carried out against the prisoners there.
The director of the military jail called the suicides an act of war. The White House spokesperson tried to give it a different tone, calling for an investigation and assuring respect for the bodies.
It doesn’t matter how the tragic decision of a prisoner to commit suicide be typified. Whether it be an act of war, or protest or desperation, all are totally justifiable. All thinking people in this world, particularly in the United States, have to interpret the event as a call to act.
Our silence, indifference or inaction are the things that allow this kind of barbarity suffered in the Guantanamo jail and similar places. Today’s wars, supposedly carried out to "free the world from evil," have come to such levels of cruelty because we allow our government to commit it without opposing it with a massive demand to stop it.
Enough with the so-called war on terrorism. We must demand the closing of the military base jail in Guantanamo and in other similar torture centers. Our world’s future is in the hands of those who inhabit it, not in a presumed "destiny." No one is "destined" to suffer torture, hunger, or injustice, because of the indifference of fellow humans who do nothing to stop it. In order to harvest a different world, we must plant conscience.
From Cajamarca in northern Peru, this is political prisoner Lori Berenson.
This commentary was produced by Noellle Hanrahan of Prison Radio, and read by Aura Bogado.
Suicidios en el Penal de Guantanamo –
Un Llamado a la Accion"
"A inicios de junio 2006, se supo del suicidio por ahorcamiento de tres prisioneros en el penal de la base militar estadounidense en Guantánamo.
Ya hubieron huelgas de hambre masivas, asi como numerosos intentos de suicidio en este racinto ampliamente cuestionado por la politica de abuso y maltrato llevado a cabo contra los prisoneros.
El director del penal militar calificó a los suicidios como un acto de guerra. El vocero de la casa blanca tuvo que bajar el tono planteando el respeto a los cadáveres y exigiendo la investigación del hecho.
No importa como sea tipificada la trágica decisión de un preso de suicidarse. Ya sea si fuera un acto de guerra, de protesta o de desesperación, todos son más que justificados. Todas las personas pensantes en este mundo, en particular en los Esatados Unidos, debemos tomar el suceso como un llamado a la acción.
Nuestro silencio, indeferencia o inmovilismo son las cosas que permiten el tipo de barbarie sufrido en el Penal de Guantánamo, y otros centros similares. Las guerras de rapiña que hoy se libran para supuestamente librar el mundo del "mal" han llegado a los niveles de crueldad extremos, solo en la medida que venimos permitiendo que nuestro gobierno lo haga, sin que exista una exigencia masiva de pararlo.
Ya basta con la llamada guerra contra el terrorismo. Tenemos que exigir el cierre del penal de Guantánamo y demás centros de tortura. El rumbo de este mundo está en las manos de quienes lo habitamos, y no en un destino supuesto. Nadie está "destinado" a sufrir ni torturas, ni hambre ni injusticia, si no por la indiferencia de sus semejantes que no hacen nada por paralo. Hay que sembrar conciencia para cosechar un mundo distinto.
Desde el penal en Huacariz en el norte de Perú, habla Lori Berenson.
Lori Berenson es ciudadana estadounidense y prisionera política. Este comentario fue producido por Noelle Hanrahan del Prison Radio y leído por Aura Bogado.
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