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U.S. NEWS Saturday 24 auguSt 2019

Lawyer calls ex-Peruvian president’s U.S. detention ‘inhumane’

By DAISY NGUYEN met two American Peace
Associated Press Corps volunteers. With their
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — help, he applied for and
Former Peruvian President won a scholarship to the
Alejandro Toledo has been University of San Francisco.
kept in solitary confinement He went on to earn gradu-
and only allowed to go out- ate degrees at Stanford
doors once in the month University. His jovial nature,
he has been in U.S. custody ease with the masses and
while fighting extradition to opposition to strongman
his native country, his de- Alberto Fujimori helped
fense attorney said. him clinch the presidency
Federal Public Defender in 2001. He proudly called
Graham Archer argued himself “El Cholo” — a term
in court papers filed this referring to his indigenous
month that Toledo should ancestry.
be released on bail be- After his presidency ended,
cause of “inhumane” Toledo returned to Stanford
conditions at a Northern as a visiting scholar and
California federal deten- research fellow and was
tion facility. Toledo is iso- working on a book.
lated from other inmates Since his arrest, several
because of his high-profile friends including four Stan-
case and has only been al- In this May 24, 2017 file photo, Peru’s former President Alejandro Toledo makes an address at the ford professors and the
lowed to go to an exercise United Nations in New York. former Peace Corps volun-
yard once, for 45 minutes, Associated Press teers offered money and
at Santa Rita Jail, accord- In court papers filed Friday, rose out of poverty to be- in northern Peru, one of 16 property to secure his re-
ing to Archer. they said Toledo provided come Peru’s first president children, at least seven of lease from custody.
“The prospect of keeping no evidence to support with indigenous roots. whom did not survive to A bond hearing will be held
Dr. Toledo, who has never that he was suffering from He grew up shining shoes adulthood. His life took an in Toledo’s case on Aug.
been accused, much less solitary confinement. They and selling lottery tickets unexpected turn when he 29.q
convicted, of any act of also asserted that he has
violence and, indeed, has the financial means and
not been convicted of any motivation to flee, reveal-
crime at all, in such punitive ing that Toledo and his
conditions for what will like- wife paid more than $6,000
ly be years of litigation is a per month to rent a house
special circumstance that in Menlo Park and that he
verges on the unconscio- tried to renew his Peruvian
nable,” Archer wrote. passport when it was due
Toledo was arrested July to expire in June. The de-
16 at his San Francisco Bay fense countered that Tole-
Area home after the Peru- do has been aware of the
vian government request- attempt to extradite him
ed his extradition to stand since February 2017 and
trial on charges of influ- has not tried to flee from
ence peddling and money California, where he re-
laundering. The charges sides as a permanent legal
stem from allegations that resident. His attorneys said
he took $20 million in bribes Toledo and his wife have in
from Odebrecht, a Brazil- fact run out of money.
ian company at the center “The Toledos were strug-
of Latin America’s biggest gling and (his) mother-in-
corruption scandal. law gave them money to
Toledo, who has denied help cover their everyday
wrongdoing, was Peru’s living expenses,” court pa-
president from 2001 to pers said in reference to
2006. Prosecutors want him the suitcase with cash.
held without bond during Having seen their assets
extradition proceedings, seized in Peru, the defense
arguing he is a significant stated, “it is understand-
flight risk and that there able that his wife felt the
are no special circum- need to have cash avail-
stances to justify his release able to pay their bills.”
on bail. They said Toledo’s The defense also argued
supposed wealth, includ- that he isn’t a flight risk be-
ing a suitcase stuffed with cause he has deep ties to
$40,000 in cash found dur- the Bay Area.
ing his arrest, and his in- The revelations marked the
ternational connections, latest chapter in what has
could lead him to slip out been a stunning fall from
of the country. grace for the man who