(Clearwisdom.net) My name is Su Ying. I had been settled in Peru since February 1996, following a visit to my relatives there. In 1997, I began to practice Falun Gong after I obtained the book Zhuan Falun from Mainland China.
After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, I practiced in public places and handed out flyers in Peru's capital, Lima. I also wrote about Falun Gong in the local Chinese newspaper. I must have hit a nerve with Jiang Zemin's followers there. My name was put on a black list. In April 2001, when Jiang Zemin visited Venezuela, he compelled the local police who didn't know the truth about Falun Gong to unlawfully have my son and me detained for 36 hours in the Caracas, Venezuela Immigration Bureau while I was visiting that country.
My passport expired on May 31, 2003. On February 21, 2003, I went to the Chinese Embassy in Lima, Peru to apply for a passport extension. A consular employee took my passport and told me to wait for further notice at home. One week passed. I didn't receive any notice, so I called the embassy to ask about my passport. The consul who answered my phone call said that they had to wait for a reply from China before they could process my passport. He hung up without giving me any further explanation. I went to the embassy in person to see the consul and was told, "He is not here. He went on a business trip." She said that they didn't know about my case. They had to wait till the consul came back. When I went to see them again later on, a clerk told me that the consul was transferred back to China.
Since I insisted on seeing the ambassador or the consul to get a good explanation for their giving me the run-around, the new consul met with me. I asked him during the meeting, "Why have you not processed my passport extension request for over a month? You issued my passport! Using the same process, previously I got it back after five working days." He said, "It is not the same this time since you are a Falun Gong practitioner. I have to follow the special policy for Falun Gong issued by Beijing."
He said that he and the ambassador Mai Guoyan had already reported my situation in Peru to Beijing and are now waiting for a response. He asked me to wait for further notice at home. Later on, I went to see the consul again. The clerk told me that he was not in the office. I called the consul. He didn't answer the phone. I still went to the embassy once a week in person. In May 2003, the consul met with me and told me that Beijing had denied my application. I told him that it was wrong for the Chinese government to suppress Falun Gong. Falun Gong went through a lawful registration in Peru and was approved by the Peruvian government. It was illegal for them to do this. He asked me curiously, "You are a Chinese. How could you get it registered ? Who handled it?"
He told me that he could help me find a job, help me to conduct business and make money as other local Chinese, that he could also issue me a new passport. As long as I gave up Falun Gong, he could make all this possible. I refused immediately and said that I would never give up Falun Gong. There was nothing wrong with practicing Falun Gong. I asked for my passport from him. He then returned my passport, stamped with a cancellation seal. This is the entire passport extension application process that I went through in the Chinese embassy in Lima.
I told people in all circles of society and the media about this incident, the process I was subjected to and the reason why my passport was cancelled. I exposed the embassy's crime, and that the officials from the embassy followed Jiang Zemin's orders and persecute Falun Gong practitioners overseas. I wrote open letters to government officials, the media, local Chinese folks and people from all manner of circles. I called for people's righteousness and conscience, and called for a joint effort to stop this persecution.
I received widespread sympathy, support and help. The press, radio station, editors from TV stations and reporters went to the Chinese Embassy to inquire about the process and reason for my passport cancellation. A Peruvian congressman wrote to the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about my case and asked them to help me. The Peruvian Human Rights Organization represented in the United Nations considered giving me asylum status for my personal safety.
This March, I decided to go to the First Central and Southern American Falun Dafa Fa-Study Experience Sharing Conference in Argentina. I applied for a passport through the Peruvian Human Rights Organization. After discussions in a meeting, the Peruvian Human Rights Organization issued me a United Nations Refugee Passport. Due to interference from the Chinese Embassy, I was detained at an airport in Argentina. They also attempted to send me back to Peru. Fellow practitioners from Argentina, Peru, Canada, the United States, France and other countries came to my aid. They told the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong at the hands of Jiang Zemin and his followers to people in the Argentine Presidential Palace, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Immigration Bureau and customs officials at the airport. The Argentine government officials gave me permission to enter the country after they learned the truth.
June 18, 2004
