Committee steps up defense of Victor Toro

The threat to deport Victor Toro, a Chilean national and co-founder of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) in that country, back to Chile from the United States, has grown more intense. Since Toro is a known revolutionary leader, there is serious concern that he will be in danger in Chile even if the current government doesn’t target him. Toro’s friends and allies have stepped up efforts to organize vigils and a social event to stop deportation.

Berta Joubert-Ceci and Victor Toro at Sept. 29 anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. WW photo: Dustin Langley

Adding to the danger, in 1978, the illegitimate undemocratic government of Augusto Pinochet declared Toro dead and published this declaration in the Chilean press. This falsehood, which can deprive Toro of normal protections, has not been corrected even though the Toro family has made many attempts to do so.

Toro was arrested and tortured by the fascist Pinochet-led junta that with full U.S. backing had just overthrown the Salvador Allende government in September 1973. After being released from a concentration camp prison in 1976, Toro was given an exit-only passport and forced to leave his homeland.

Toro arrived in the U.S. in 1984 and settled in the South Bronx, N.Y. In 1987 he co-founded La Peña del Bronx, a community grassroots organization serving the poor and the needs of the community, with his life partner and partner in struggle for social justice, Nieves Ayress.

On July 6, 2007, while on an Amtrak passenger train, Victor Toro was arrested and detained by the Border Patrol (ICE) in Rochester, N.Y. His supporters mobilized and quickly collected $5,000 to bond him out.

Legal Counsel Carlos Moreno was able to get the venue changed from Rochester to New York City. Toro’s defenders hold informational pickets in front of 26 Federal Plaza every Friday between noon and 1 p.m. The Victor Toro Defense Committee is demanding from the Department of Homeland Security that Victor be granted political asylum.

Toro’s next court appearance is on Jan. 18, 2008, and his defense committee asks everyone to come out and show your support.

Toro, Ayress and their family are targeted again by U.S. government policies aimed at the sovereign countries of Latin America and especially the poor. First, the U.S.-sponsored overthrow of Allende, and now the persecution of all immigrant workers, the more recent of whom have been forced off of their lands by free trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA to migrate north to survive.

To mobilize support and raise funds, the Victor Toro Defense Committee will be hosting a party on Saturday, Dec. 8, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center (310 W. 43rd St., New York City) with live music from REBELDIAZ and Los Chamanes and dancing to the tunes of D.J. Laylo International. For more information call 718-292-6137.