FOR Lori Berenson the hostage crisis in the Japanese diplomatic compound in Lima could be a deciding factor in her appeal against a life sentence handed down a year ago by a Peruvian military court.
Ms Berenson (27) from New York was convicted of treason by the military authorities for allegedly helping to plan an aborted attack on the Lima Congress with the left wing Tupac Amaru group.
She and a Panamanian man rented a house in a smart Lima suburb which was used by rebels as a safe house for training and storing arms. In a siege there just after her arrest, the Tupac Amaru No 2, Miguel Rincon, and other rebels were captured.
About 20, mostly young, armed rebels of that same group are now holding 74 hostages in the Japanese ambassador's residence in an audacious bid to force the release of more than 400 comrades in Peruvian prisons.
Ms Berenson probably knows little or nothing about events in Lima. She is held with hundreds of other prisoners linked to Tupac Amaru and the larger, more infamous, Shining Path rebel group in the remote prison of Yanamayo, near the southern city of Puno.
Prisoners convicted of treason are allowed no newspapers, nor can they listen to the radio, during the 23 1/2 hours a day they are confined in tiny cells.
For the first year, Ms Berenson and others considered high ranking terrorists can receive no outside visitors. Her parents have visited her only once since she was captured in November 1995, and the regime allows them to see her for only half an hour each month.
Since the uniformed and well armed Tupac Amaru commandos burst into the gala party in Lima on December 17th, the much criticised prison conditions have moved centre stage. Yet Ms Berenson's lawyer, Mr Grimaldo Achahui, says the siege may have ruined her chances of winning concessions.
He said: "The crisis is not only harming Berenson, but all those Tupac Amaru rebels we're seeking to help."
He said the rebels, led by former trade union leader Mr Nestor Cerpa, "have shown they're still using violence and they are black mailing the government, seeking, the release of prisoners that is something it cannot accept."
Mr Achahui has appealed for a revision of Ms Berenson's life sentence - a term usually reserved for top leaders - to the Supreme Military Council. The council could either reduce her sentence, scale down charges to allow the case to be retried in a civil court, or overturn the verdict.
But Mr Achahui said that the tension generated by the hostage crisis means he is unwilling to press for a prompt decision on the appeal.
"This not the right time to make any requests," he said. It is highly unlikely that Ms Berenson would be freed outright.
When she was presented to the Peruvian press, the long haired, well dressed former student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shouted her support for Tupac Amaru. However, she said that although she was striving fight against poverty she never supported using violence.
Peruvian military prosecutors alleged that Ms Berenson came to Peru after a meeting in Ecuador with Mr Cerpa, the Tupac Amaru leader who is now commanding the Lima siege. Mr Cerpa's is generally considered a last ditch attempt to revive a 12 year old movement that has long lived in the shadow of the Shining Path and has dwindled to its last 100 or so armed members.
Rumours that Mr Cerpa is seeking millions of dollars in ransoms for Japanese executives among the hostages ring true for an organisation that has for years relied on attacks on banks, extortion from business owners and drug traffickers, and kidnappings for its funds.
A Bolivian newspaper owner, Mr Samuel Doria, was freed by the Tupac Amaru group after his family reportedly paid more than $1 million in ransom.
While there is public sympathy, for Tupac Amaru's protests about hunger and joblessness in Peru, where nearly half the population lives below the poverty line, there appears to be little chance that this crisis could be a catalyst for a Guatemalan style peace accord.