Tuesday, April 29, 1997

• British Elections

  
  

  British voters head to the polls this Thursday to elect a new
  parliament and new prime minister. The ballot pits the ruling
  Conservative Party —- known as the Tory party or simply the Tories
  -— against a re-vamped Labor Party.

  Led by the Clinton-esque Tony Blair, the leadership of the Labor
  Party has spent the last decade expelling left-wing activists and
  eliminating many of the party’s socialist principles, such as the
  party’s famous Clause IV which called for the nationalization of
  industry.

  Now, the Labor Party is way ahead in the polls and looks set to
  sweep the Conservatives from 18-years of power.

  GUEST: TONY BENN, a Labor Member of Parliament representing
  Chesterfield.

• Peruvian Hostage Crisis and Lori Berenson

  
  

  Peru’s hostage crisis, which came to a bloody end last week with
  the storming of the Japanese embassy residence, the freeing of 71
  hostages and the killing of all 14 Tupac Amaru rebels, focused
  world attention on — at least for a brief moment — on Peru’s
  judicial apparatus and the condition of its prisons.

  This week, a group of Congressional representatives will be holding
  hearings on the human rights record of the Peruvian government and
  the condition under which defendants and tried, sentenced and
  jailed.

  One case that Congress members will be looking at is that of Lori
  Berenson, a 27-year-old American who was sentenced to life
  imprisonment by hooded judges in a secret Peruvian military
  tribunal back in January 1996.

  Here to talk about Lori Berenson’s case for the first time since
  Peru’s hostage crisis began four months ago are Lori Berenson’s
  parents — Rhoda and David Berenson.

  GUEST: RHODA BERENSON, a physics professor at Nassau Community
  College in Long Island, New York.

  GUEST: MARK BERENSON, a statistician at Baruch College of the City
  University of New York.