Who Goes and Who Stays? Two Asylum Cases Grounded in the 1980s

There are two interesting "companion" articles in the NYTimes today (April 18). One reports that the US has finally agreed to deport General Eugenio Vides Casanova, El Salvador's top military officer during the bloody 1980s, who oversaw numerous human rights violations, including the rape and murder of four North American nuns serving the poor in his country. Read the article.

The second article tells the story of Victor Toro, an outspoken critic of the Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet, who was imprisoned and tortured during the 1980s and is presently fighting deportation and hoping for asylum to continue his work as an advocate for the poor and marginalized in New York. Read the article.