Walter Giron, living in exile

Walter Giron lives for the pursuit of science, for unraveling the mysteries of life -- not for tearing them down. Which is why the 36-year-old was forced to flee Colombia. "I am an enemy of the guerrillas," he says, his face pinched with pain, "because I respect all life."

In late 1997, while working as a chemist in the cartel-dominated city of Cali, Giron was visited by the FARC guerrillas. Members made him an offer: he would manage the lab at their cocaine- and heroin-producing plant; they would give him $5000, a car, and a personal bodyguard. "I stalled and said, `Let me think,' " Giron recalls. "I thought maybe they forget."

They didn't.

Weeks later, when Giron was in Austin, Texas, studying English, he received a call from one of the guerrillas, who informed him that the FARC had American contacts eager to speak with him. Giron hung up. He called his mother in Cali, who told him the guerrillas were throwing money at neighbors for information on his whereabouts.

Giron decided he couldn't go home. He spent one more week in Austin completing his class and then moved as far from the Lone Star State as possible. He arrived in Boston in January 1998, and applied for political asylum. Last year, his application was denied.

"I feel defeated," Giron says. "The guerrillas do not take no for an answer. If I go back to my country, I live maybe 36 hours." Here, he adds, "I have no papers, nothing." Out of desperation, Giron joined Voices In Action. He now works with the group to spread the word about what he calls his "ticket to freedom" -- congressional bill HR 2741. "Amnesty, for me, is like I'm free from persecution and paranoia," he says.

-- Kristen Lombardi

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Kristen Lombardi can be reached at klombardi[a]phx.com.