Ladies and gentlemen of the Bronx and beyond, welcome to Thursday’s edition of the roundup. Enjoy.
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Story of the Day: Ex-Chilean Guerrilla Turned Bronx Social Activist Fights Deportation
Victor Toro, a South Bronx immigrant rights activist and social worker, continues to fight an uphill battle against deportation back his native Chile, where Toro says he was tortured during the 1970s by the military regime of Augusto Pinochet. He fears prosecution a Chile now run by another ruler with a military background. Toro, who co-founded the leftist guerrilla group MIR in late 1960s, was expelled from Chile after spending a year in concentration camps. A doctor at Montefiore Medical Center testified that Toro still suffers from post-traumatic stress as a result of the torture he experienced during that time. He ended up bouncing between countries for several years before arriving in the Bronx in 1984. Since then, he helped found the La Pena community center and been a staunch and vocal advocate for immigrant rights. Arrested by immigration officials in 2007, Toro’s court appeal is close to coming to a conclusion.