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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Rhoda, Mark Berenson

Aired March 23, 2002 - 12:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is due to arrive in Peru later today. The president will offer Peru help in fighting terrorism and in boosting trade. And the fate of an imprisoned American is also up for discussion.

CNN's Gary Tuchman previews the president's visit in this report from Lima.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time ever, a sitting U.S. president will be visiting the Andean nation of Peru. George W. Bush will arrive in Lima Saturday afternoon, and will meet with Peru's leader, Alejandro Toledo, at Lima's presidential palace.

Toledo, elected with great fanfare following the scandal-plagued administration of Alberto Fujimori, is now finding his approval ratings plummeting to under 30 percent. A sputtering economy and the revival of terrorism have made many Peruvians disenchanted with him. Security had been planned to be very tight, but now is especially secure, with thousands of police on the streets, because of Wednesday night's car bombing near the U.S. embassy that left nine dead.

During the presidential visit, trade between the U.S. and Peru will be one of the topics under discussion. Also on the table, the status of U.S. citizen Lori Berenson, the woman convicted of aiding Marxist rebels and serving a 20-year term in a Peruvian prison. A U.S. government official says her status will be talked about, saying, "we are always interested in the well-being of U.S. citizens in foreign countries."

The status of U.S. drug surveillance flights in Peru might also be discussed. Those flights were curtailed after they contributed to the deaths of two American missionaries, shot down by the Peruvian military. President Bush will leave Peru Sunday morning for an even shorter visit to El Salvador before returning to the White House.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Lima, Peru.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Lori Berenson has been imprisoned in Peru for six years. Her parents are hoping that President Bush's visit will help get the case against her resolved. Rhoda and Mark Berenson join us now live from New York. Thank you so much for being with us today.

RHODA BERENSON, LORI BERENSON'S MOTHER: Thank you.

MARK BERENSON, LORI BERENSON'S FATHER: Thanks for inviting us.

SNOW: Let me start with the president. Do you expect President Bush to take up your case in Peru?

R. BERENSON: I definitely expect it from all reports. We always believed he would. He met with President Toledo last June, and at the time he said that once Lori's court case is all finished, he would hope that President Toledo would find a humanitarian resolution.

Well, the court case is now finished, and we believe that President Bush will once again say, well it's time for a humanitarian resolution. I believe that both presidents believe in justice and both are compassionate. And we hope for the best.

SNOW: Just to be clear, have you been in touch with the White House about this at all?

M. BERENSON: Not since yesterday's news that this would be on the agenda. Although as Ro said, we did expect that President Bush would bring it up, and that President Toledo would bring it up.

SNOW: You know, President Bush is leading, as we all know, a worldwide crackdown on terrorism. Peru considers your daughter a terrorist. What makes you think, then, that you're going to have Peru on your side on this one?

R. BERENSON: Well, I think that there's a record of Peruvians, some officials saying that Lori is a terrorist. Yet a court case which presented no evidence that Lori was a terrorist. I think American officials understand that. I think many Peruvians also understand that.

Lori is not a terrorist. She's innocent. She has repeatedly said she's innocent. And I think that a fight against terrorism still has room for justice, for those who are not terrorists to be released.

(CROSSTALK)

SNOW: Mr. Berenson -- go ahead.

M. BERENSON: I think that President Bush and President Toledo need to discuss the case publicly, because in our global war against terrorism, too much has been misconstrued as what constitutes terrorism. Lori is clearly the antithesis of terrorism and violence. And the world has to know that.

Now, we know President Bush knows that. And we know that President Toledo, who we met last June, knows that. But as you say, the Peruvian public has been misled by the now discredited prior government of Fujimori, who painted her as a monster for his own political gains.

SNOW: She was...

M. BERENSON: So we need to change.

SNOW: Right. She was found guilty twice of collaborating with a rebel group down in Peru. And some have compared her case even with John Walker Lindh. I imagine, as parents, that's troublesome to you.

M. BERENSON: Well, it's very unfortunate. Lori Berenson has never even used a water gun in her life, let alone taken up an arm -- not against a citizen of Peru, but certainly not against a citizen of the United States. And Lori is against violence and terrorism in all their forms. And she could never do that.

Now, you hear her screaming in the background for what happened six years ago. Her anger and indignation was after being with a woman who was tortured by the Peruvians, with whom she shared a cold, filthy cell, with rats running around for 10 days. And sleep deprived, Lori got on a stage without a microphone, coerced by the Peruvians to do this, to paint her as a monster.

But what she said was that Peruvian government was neglecting its people. And now the world knows that the discredited government did neglect its people. Peru, fortunately today, is a democracy. And we wish President Toledo well.

SNOW: Did you talk to her this week? I know you were trying to talk to her this week.

M. BERENSON: I certainly did. And she was very, very upset about hearing of the senseless violence that occurred Wednesday night, and the senseless loss of life. And she prays that people can discuss these things, and to prevent this from ever happening again. And no more innocent people will be injured or lose their lives.

SNOW: You're referring to the bombing outside the embassy in Lima.

M. BERENSON: Yes, yes.

SNOW: Have you talked to her about this hunger strike? I know that she was on a hunger strike for a period of time, very recently. Why did she do that?

R. BERENSON: Because the prison conditions there are horrendous. And the only power that prisoners seem to have over anything is the ability not to eat. And prison conditions, she's suffered for over six years, six years four months, in really terrible prison conditions. And her hunger strike, along with other prisoners, was to say please, we're human beings. We should be treated like human beings.

SNOW: She has exhausted all of her appeals in the Peruvian courts, as I understand. I know you're appealing her conviction with some international bodies. Do you think that's your best hope? Or is your best hope for President Bush to do something today? R. BERENSON: Well, today would be faster, so that would be the best hope. But we're really also convinced that the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, and then if need be, the Inter-American court, will rule that Lori Berenson has not had justice, that the Peruvian laws, the old Mr. Fujimori laws under which she was tried, did not allow for justice.

SNOW: Rhoda and Mark Berenson, thanks so much for joining us to talk a little bit about the case this afternoon. We'll watch to see what the presidents talk about at their meeting. Thank you.

M. BERENSON: Thank you.

R. BERENSON: Thank you.

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