Maxine Waters

Mr. WATERS

Mr. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. As my colleagues know, I offered an amendment that would instruct the State Department to use all diplomatic efforts for the release of Lori Berenson. Again, I reiterate that Lori Berenson is a young woman who hails from New York. She is a journalist. She comes from a fine family. She went to Peru to work on human rights issues. She has been jailed by Fujimori. She has been placed high in the Andes in a room, in a prison where the temperature never gets above 40. Her health is failing her. She has been accused of being a terrorist, and she has been sentenced to life in prison. We have done everything in our power to try and persuade President Fujimori to give her a fair trial. The trial that she received was certainly not fair. It was a trial by a military tribunal. They were hooded. She did not have a chance to offer a defense. She did not have a chance to offer any evidence. She did not have a chance to do anything that would ensure that she could have a fair trial. And so, she has been in prison now for 3 years and 8 months. She has been in prison for 3 years and 8 months with Americans trying to go down there to visit her. The gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) has been there. We are working with her parents. Mr. Chairman, 176 Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have joined in a campaign for her release, Democrats and Republicans. We are outraged that we would allow Fujimori to do this to a young American woman. There is no reason that we should allow Fujimori, who has basically dismantled his government, who has taken over and appointed all of his judges, who really literally has shut down the media, we should not allow him to continue to imprison this young lady. She has said she is not a terrorist, she was not involved in any terrorist activities; and the human rights groups throughout this Nation have asked for a fair trial. He has refused a fair trial. Now the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) is saying that he would like to see her get a fair trial. We have some compromise language. Our language would concede to his concerns about a fair trial, even though we do not think she can get one. We would amend our language to say that she should have a fair trial according to international standards, within a year, and failing that, that she should be released. Now, everything is fair about this. Number one, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) said he wanted to see a fair trial. Despite the fact that we do not think she can get one, we are conceding to him that we will ask one more time, by way of this formal procedure that we are involved with here in the Congress on the floor of the House, to ask for a fair trial, but we want it according to international standards. We want to make sure that we are on the same track and we have the same definition for what is fair. Failing that, and only failing that, for example, if they say, no, we will not give her a fair trial, if they say, no, wait 10 more years, if they say we do not know what is meant by a fair trial, if they do not do it, if they do not actually carry out, rather, a fair trial, then we are asking for her release. Mr. Chairman, I do not know what could be any fairer than that. We do not believe, again, that she can get a fair trial; but we are going to go along, and we are going to ask for it. We do not think it should hang out there forever, with them saying 5, 10 years from now we are trying to give her a fair trial. So we have asked for a fair trial according to international standards within 1 year and, failing that, and only failing that, she should be released. I would say to the Members of this House that I think that we can at least do this for this American, for a young woman who has not been proven guilty of anything; for a young woman who may be idealistic, but she does not deserve to have her life taken away from her. Her parents are people who live up in the district of the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney). They travel throughout this country. They knock on the doors of the Members of Congress. They are begging us to please, to please, understand what is going on.

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman, 176 Members of Congress have signed and joined a campaign for the release of Lori Berenson, a young, educated, idealistic, middle-class journalist. In November of 1995, Lori was arrested as a suspected terrorist, subjected to a secret, hooded military tribunal in which she was denied every semblance of due process according to the United States State Department, every major human rights group, and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. She was convicted of treason and given a life sentence without parole. Despite President Fujimori's promise for an open democracy when he was elected in 1990, he annulled Peru's constitution, dissolved the legislature, removed judges and dismantled the courts in April of 1992, and he has established secret military trials with jurisdiction over civilians. Human rights workers and journalists in Peru have been subjected to intimidation, death threats, abductions, tortures, interrogation and imprisonment by the Peruvian government. On Thursday, July 1, 1999, the House Committee on International Relations passed by voice vote H.R. 57 which expresses concern over the interference with freedom of the press. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, first of all, let me draw the gentleman's attention to what the amendment actually says: ``The United States should use all available diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Lori Berenson.''

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern).

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella), a signatory to the May 31 letter.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I would like to make an inquiry of whether or not I get the last speaker on this amendment. I think the gentleman from New Jersey has 1 minute left.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey). (Mr. HINCHEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt). (Mr. DELAHUNT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Meek). (Mrs. MEEK of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton). (Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Ackerman). (Mr. ACKERMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. WATERS. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Chairman, I would like for the gentleman from New Jersey to restate his request.

Ms. WATERS. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, do I need unanimous consent for 1 minute in order to respond to the request that is being made by the gentleman?

Ms. WATERS. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I would like very much to be able to comply with the request that the gentleman is making, however when the gentleman asked us who are working so hard for fairness for this young lady to be put back in the hands of Fujimori who has dismantled his government, who has opted out of human rights, the International Human Rights Commission, who in no way is committed to democracy, who is threatening lives, who is intimidating, how then does my colleague expect her to get a fair trial from an unfair dictator?

Ms. WATERS. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Ms. WATERS. Reclaiming my time, we have asked Fujimori over and over and over again. He has denied us. This is an American young woman that is sitting up there in the Andes who is freezing to death, who is losing her voice, who is getting crippled from arthritis. This is an American child.

Ms. WATERS. I yield to the gentlewoman from New York.

Ms. WATERS. Following the 1 minute of the 2 minutes which were granted for the extension of the debate, I would be willing to do that. But for the 1 minute that is still left in this debate I would respectfully like to take that at this time, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, Lori Berenson has been in prison for 3\1/2\ years. She was tried by a military tribunal that was hooded. She did not receive any justice. Does not the time served count for anything? Or are we to believe that Fujimori, who has said to us by way of communication in a letter and otherwise to everybody who has attempted diplomatic relations with him that he will not release her, are we to believe that this man is capable of giving her a fair trial? Do we not care that she may die up in the Andes, a young woman who is an idealistic journalist who thinks she is working for the rights, human rights, of individuals? Does she deserve to be treated this way? My colleague has admitted that he does not know if she is innocent or not, but how can he be comfortable not being sure that she is guilty of a crime, that she continues to serve even beyond this 3\1/2\ years? She has said she is not a terrorist, she does not belong to that terrorist organization, and the international human rights committees are not demanding a fair trial of Fujimori. They are demanding her release. This statement, this amendment that I have, is an amendment that asks the State Department to use all of its diplomatic relations for the release of her. That does not dictate how that is done, but it simply says that the Congress of the United States is interested in them being about the business of showing some care and concern about an American citizen who has been imprisoned unfairly and unjustly over in Peru by a dictator.