How do I correctly clean up a Python object?

class Package:
    def __init__(self):
        self.files = []

    # ...

    def __del__(self):
        for file in self.files:
            os.unlink(file)

__del__(self) above fails with an AttributeError exception. I understand Python doesn't guarantee the existence of "global variables" (member data in this context?) when __del__() is invoked. If that is the case and this is the reason for the exception, how do I make sure the object destructs properly?