The case of journalist Lori Berenson, who was accused of being a member of our organization, is another example of the lack of human rights in Peru, the lack of an independent judiciary, and the absolute lack of due legal process and the right to a defense in trial. Lori Berenson was sentenced to life in prison, simply because she refused to accept the government's dirty offer to sign a document which characterized the MRTA as a terrorist organization. Journalist Danilo Quijano was given the same demand on the day he was to be released from prison. The dictator's officials brought him a paper which said the MRTA was a terrorist organization. When he refused to sign it, he was put back in prison and was only set free months later following national and international pressure.
Human values have a price.
Some people don't regard these highly, but other people do, and these people face repression, exile, and the loss of their freedom or their lives. But they never lose their honor. The main aim of the psycho-politics is, on the one hand, to paralyze our people through fear, and, on the other hand, to make them give up all hope. To do this, the regime utilizes the mistakes and horror of the Shining Path to confuse armed struggle with terrorism, and to thereby make the people forget that they have a right to resist. The Fujimori regime's own Constitution states that the people have the right to rebel against an oppressive and exploitative government.