Lori Berenson Paroled Again

On Friday, Peruvian courts once again granted Lori Berenson parole after having completed fifteen years of a twenty year sentence (Reuters and AP). 

President Alan Garcia has previously stated that he would consider commuting the remaining years of her sentence so that she can can return to the US.  However, he wouldn't do so until the legal process in Peru had been exhausted.  Given that prosecutors are expected to appeal the court's ruling, a decision by Garcia will have to wait.

I know this will sound insensitive, but I have this picture in my head of the Peruvian and US governments negotiating an exchange of Berenson for Inca relics. On the same day that Berenson was paroled, Garcia led thousands of protestors demanding that Yale return thousands of artifacts that Hiram Bingham took from the country nearly a century ago and never returned.  

For earlier Berenson coverage, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.