(2 of 2)
In an interview with TIME inside Canto Grande two weeks ago, McNamara was careful to refer all questions about Senderista politics to the smartly dressed, unfailingly polite "delegate" inmates who run the cellblock. Delegate Dalila claimed that all the pavilion's inmates belong to the "authentic" Peruvian Communist Party, which is how Senderistas see themselves. These true believers disdain both the Soviet Union, which they consider to be as imperialist as the U.S., and today's China. Their goal is to establish a workers' state along the lines of Mao Zedong's China. "We believe in armed struggle to take power," said Dalila. "We will fight generations to take it, and we are ready to die if we have to." They are also ready to kill. The Senderistas are said to have murdered thousands. While many of their targets are government officials and police and military personnel, they have also carried out "summary trials" of villagers and have bombed a train carrying tourists to Machu Picchu.
Constantly demanding their rights, the inmates have gained free passage within the cellblocks and have pressured authorities to let visitors bring food and other goods. But the rebels believe the only reason the government allows them to operate this way is to provide a pretext to kill them all, in a repeat of the massacres that occurred when authorities put down Sendero uprisings in three penitentiaries in 1986. More than 250 rebels died in the incidents. Those fears were fanned last Easter, when, according to prisoners, paramilitary troops attacked the men's pavilion at Canto Grande with fire bombs and heavy weapons, wounding eight.
In the midst of McNamara's interview with TIME, orders for her freedom suddenly arrived. The lower-court judge investigating her case decided to drop it because of insufficient evidence. That decision must be ratified by a superior court, however, before the matter is closed. Minutes after receiving the good news, the prisoners gathered downstairs to bid the American farewell. "Goodbye to Canto Grande," they sang in Quechua, exchanging the traditional Andean lyrics for revolutionary rhetoric. "I am going to fight for justice . . . for the peasants and the poor, armed with a gun and a flag . . . I will fight the fascists."
So far, the government has refused to comment on McNamara's case or explain why she was arrested. Free once again, McNamara will stay in Peru until her name is cleared. "It is outrageous that one can be a completely innocent tourist and be thrown into a dangerous situation like this," she said. "But I have many wonderful memories of Peru. Nothing can change that."