New Yorker who aided Peruvian rebels returns home

With 6-year-old son Salvador in her arms, the 46-year-old single mother sped through Lima's airport terminal ringed by police.

Before her departure, Berenson had harsh words for Peru's economic and political elite.

Berenson says that while she regrets any harm she may have done — Tupac Amaru robbed, kidnapped and killed but did not commit massacres like the fanatical and much larger Shining Path — she also objects to Peru's economic inequality and racism.

While on parole, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dropout did translations at home for clients she would not name, including a human rights group.

Initially convicted of treason by hooded military judges, Berenson was re-tried in 2001 by a civilian court after U.S. pressure.

Peruvians tend to lump Tupac Amaru, which a truth commission blamed for 1.5 percent of the deaths in the 1980-2000 internal conflict, together with the Shining Path, which it held responsible for 54 percent.

The truth commission found that security forces committed more than 40 percent of the slayings, and rights activists complain that a disproportionately small number of state actors have been brought to justice for war crimes.

Paraded after her arrest before TV cameras, Berenson shouted angrily that Tupac Amaru was a revolutionary movement, not a terrorist group.

Berenson's name was No. 3 on the list of people whose release rebel leader Cerpa demanded in the 126-day ordeal, which ended when commandos killed him and other hostage-takers.

"There is no way anyone can look at her story and conclude anything other than she knowingly, willingly and enthusiastically worked for a terrorist organization," said Dennis Jett, then the U.S. ambassador.