Vol. 73/No. 14      April 13, 2009

Toro was a leader of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left in Chile at the time of the 1973 U.S.-backed coup there. He was jailed in 1974 for his opposition to the military junta that took over, led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The junta imprisoned him for a year at the Chilean Air Force’s War Academy and then sent him to several other torture centers and prison camps. In 1976 his jailers put him on a plane without a passport, but with a paper that simply said, “valid to leave the country.” Then the government labeled him “disappeared.”

Toro ended up in Sweden and, after several years of moving from country to country, he entered the United States from Mexico in 1984. Immigration cops picked him up in 2007 and the government began deportation proceedings.

Moisés Mory, a Peruvian immigrant fighting deportation, joined the protest here in a show of solidarity with Toro. Mory was released on parole from Hudson County Jail in New Jersey January 2, after four and a half years of detention. The U.S. attempt to deport Toro is “illegal under international law,” Mory said, pointing out that Toro was declared “dead” by the Chilean government, so he “is basically a person without a country. The U.S. government should give him legal status in this country.”

Community organizations Vamos a la Peña del Bronx and the Rebel Díaz Arts Collective called the protest and were joined by activists from the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Socialist Workers Party, Universal Zulu Nation, Workers World Party, Peoples Video Network, Jane Guskin of Politics of Immigration, and activists from City College and Fordham University.

Toro, his daughter Rosa, and his wife Nieves Ayress, along with attorney Carlos Moreno were greeted by applause and cheers as they emerged from the Federal Building to join the protesters.

Moreno explained to the crowd that the judge set a “final hearing” for August 26. The judge had not yet reviewed documents filed in the case more than a year ago. Moreno said in August the court will “take testimony from all our witnesses,” including experts on the character of the Pinochet regime.

Moreno told reporters that Toro could possibly face deportation because of the rule that asylum seekers must apply within a year of entering the United States. He explained that Toro filed for asylum 22 years after he entered the country because he “had been the victim of torture in Chile under a regime that had been financed and supported by the U.S. government… . You couldn’t expect him to go the U.S. authorities to make an application for asylum.”

“Our struggle is for all the undocumented,” Toro said in thanking those present for their support. He pointed to the impact of the economic crisis on all immigrant and native-born workers. “We have to be prepared for the war being waged against us, the workers, and join with all who are affected by the crisis and are struggling.”

He called on his supporters to join in the May Day action in New York for legalization of all immigrants, the April 3 protest against bank bailouts, and the April 4 march against the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  
 
 
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