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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the July 4, 1996
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Group Fights Deportation Of Peruvian

By Greg Butterfield in New York

FBI agents seized Julian Salazar-Calero during a routine political asylum hearing May 30. Calero, a citizen of Peru working legally in the United States, faces execution or life imprisonment if deported to his homeland.

Calero's detention is a new escalation in the government's war against immigrants. In particular, it targets those who are political opponents of U.S.-sponsored regimes.

Calero's arrest ratchets up the pressure put on immigrant activists by the Omnibus Anti-Terrorism Act, recently signed into law by President Clinton.

Imprisoned without bail, Calero has just 60 days to mount a defense before the deportation can be legally carried out. Calero is being kept in isolation, denied visitors and food, according to his family.

During his May visit to the United States, Peru's President Alberto Fujimori asked the Clinton administration to deport Calero.

After a 1992 military coup consolidated his power, Fujimori--with U.S. backing--unleashed death-squad terror against those suspected of sympathizing with the Communist Party of Peru or the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Both groups have organized armed struggle in Peru.

At least 7,500 political prisoners are held in Peruvian jails. Most were tried by so-called "faceless judges," military officials wearing hoods to conceal their identities. Among them is Communist Party leader Abimael Guzman, held now for almost four years.

Earlier this year a North American activist, Lori Berenson, was sentenced to life in prison by the military courts.

Julian Calero says he fled Peru in 1989 after death threats from corrupt police in his home village, Curi. In 1991 Peruvian officials charged that Calero had led a guerrilla ambush against government military forces.

"Although he was no longer in Peru, he was falsely accused by the military of participating in this incident," says a statement from Justice for Julian, a defense committee of family members and supporters. "His family went into hiding. In September 1993, Julian's brother-in-law was detained, and was taken to the police station for interrogation. He died while being tortured.

"In June 1994, the police found Julian's wife, Fresia Calderon Gargate, her elderly father and Julian's three children living in a Lima shantytown. She spent over six months in prison." Calderon fled to Europe upon her release.

"We demand that Julian Calero receive ample time to present his case," says the defense committee's statement. "Extradition to a country known for gross violations of the most basic rights, including the right to due process, should never be allowed. The only just course of action is to grant Calero's asylum!"

Justice for Julian plans a demonstration to demand freedom for Julian Calero. The protest will be held June 28 from 4 to 7 p.m. outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center at 150 Park Row in lower Manhattan.

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