Lori Berenson's Remarks at her "Presentation"
8 January, 1996
The following is the full text of what former Attorney General Ramsey Clark described as "Lori Berenson's courageous and compassionate remarks to the media while in chains and after 39 days of isolation and relentless interrogation in Lima, Perú."
The Peruvian military police told her that she would not be "publicly presented." However, they did present her on nationwide television. The following remarks were given extemporaneously and unexpectedly.
I am to be condemned for my concern about the conditions of hunger and misery which exists in this country. Here nobody can deny that in Perú there is much injustice. There is an institutionalized violence that has killed the people's finest sons and has condemned children to die of hunger. If it is a crime to worry about the subhuman conditions in which the majority of this population lives, then I will accept my punishment. But this is not a love of violence. This is not to be a criminal terrorist because in the MRTA there are no criminal terrorists. It is a revolutionary movement.
I love this nation. I love this nation and although this love is going to make -- cost -- me years in prison, I will never stop loving, and never will lose the hope and confidence that there will be a new day of justice in Perú."