Feds’ new documents threaten Chilean anti-fascist

One week before the next hearing in the case of Victor Toro, the Department of Homeland Security has submitted ominous new documents focusing on Toro’s role as a political leader in Chile in the 1970s. In turn Toro’s attorney has called on an expert historian on Chile to testify in his behalf.

Stop the deportation of Victor Toro. Photo: Next Left Notes

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of the Department of Homeland Security arrested Toro, a Chilean exile who had been living for decades in the United States, in 2007 while he was riding an Amtrak train in upstate New York. They had racially profiled him during an anti-immigrant sweep.

The Committee to Defend Toro is demanding political asylum and no deportation.

The next hearing will take place Jan. 11 at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City. Supporters are urged to attend a rally from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at Federal Plaza.

One week before this hearing, DHS filed a Supplemental Submission of Evidence that further demonstrates the dangerous political bent the government is taking in the case.

Toro is not being tried solely on his immigration status. The Justice Department decided months ago to make this case about the struggle of the Chilean movement against the U.S.-backed fascist regime headed by the murderous dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

At Toro’s last court hearing in August, the U.S. Justice Department brought up his political affiliation with the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) in Chile. The MIR is well-known and respected by revolutionaries worldwide. The MIR participated in and helped lead a mass revolutionary struggle in Chile, especially in the early 1970s during the government of President Salvador Allende.

After a coup in September 1973, the army and police massacred tens of thousands of people, including President Allende, as they overturned his pro-socialist democratically elected government. The U.S. puppet regime headed by Pinochet took over, ushering in nearly two decades of repression and state terror.

The MIR was the main organization that led the resistance to Pinochet in Chile. Toro was one of the principal MIR leaders.

The U.S. government submitted documents to the court last week that repeatedly name Toro as a principal MIR leader. The documents put the onus for the terror and bloodbath that swept Chile at that time on the victims of the fascist coup.

Tens of thousands were beaten, tortured, maimed and killed during the Pinochet regime. Toro heroically fought against that terror. But in the new documents the U.S. government defames Toro as a “dangerous extremist.”

This bodes ill for Toro now. By asserting that MIR is a terrorist organization and that Toro is still affiliated with that terrorist organization, the government takes his case out of the realm of immigration law and inserts it into the so-called war on terror, putting Toro in a more dangerous position.

To counter the government’s arguments, Peter Winn, professor of history at Tufts University specializing in Latin America and author of several books on Chile, is now scheduled to testify on Toro’s behalf. Because Professor Winn has first-hand knowledge of the MIR’s role in Chile and is considered a top expert on the subject, his testimony will be vital to Toro.

Toro’s lawyer, Carlos Moreno, argues that elements of the Pinochet regime still linger in Chile and that deportation to Chile could lead to Toro’s execution. Moreno also says it will be much more difficult for an immigration judge to counter the “terrorism” charge and grant political asylum.

Toro and his spouse Nieves Ayress, also a leader and freedom fighter brutally tortured by Pinochet’s police, made their home in the Bronx, where they have a family and deep roots in the community. Their extended family includes revolutionary artists such as Rebel Díaz, who have dedicated their efforts to demand political asylum for Toro.

Both Toro and Ayress have been organizing for decades. They head La Peña del Bronx, a multi-issue fight-back organization. They are also active leaders in the May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights.

To stay informed on the case of Victor Toro and for updates visit www.may1.info.