Róger Calero | |
|---|---|
| Socialist Workers Party candidate for President of the United States | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1969 (age 56–57) |
| Party | Socialist Workers Party |
Róger Calero (born 1969) is aNicaraguan journalist living in the United States and one of the leaders of theSocialist Workers Party. He was SWP candidate forPresident of the United States in2004 and2008, and for theUnited States Senate in New York in 2006.[1]
Calero was born inNicaragua in 1969. He and his family fled viaLos Angeles,California, in 1985. Calero has been alawful permanent resident of the United States (holding agreen card) since 1990. While in Los Angeles, Calero joined a socialist movement and helped mobilize support againstProposition 187 in the early 90s.[2]
Calero, a former meat packer, has beenassociate editor ofPerspectiva Mundial (officialSpanish languagenewspaper of the SWP) and a staff writer forThe Militant (officialEnglish language newspaper of the SWP).[2]
He now lives inNewark,New Jersey.
Calero was convicted offelony sale ofmarijuana in 1988. In December 2002, immigration police arrested Calero upon his return to the United States at theGeorge Bush Intercontinental Airport from reporting assignments at a conference held inHavana,Cuba, protesting the Free Trade Area of the Americas. He was threatened with deportation in 2002 as a result of his previous conviction in 1988.[3]
The SWP considered the conviction to have been a political attack and launched a huge campaign in defense of Calero, mobilizing the party's members and supporters in the U.S. and all over the world. The U.S. government released Calero in 2003 and cancelled the deportation.[4] The same year, Calero went on an international tour, visiting not only the major cities in the US, but alsoCanada,Australia, theUnited Kingdom,Sweden andIceland to greet his supporters.
In2004, Róger Calero was the SWP candidate forPresident of the United States and received 3,689 votes,[5] withArrin Hawkins running for vice president. Because he is not a natural born citizen of the United States, Calero is ineligible to become U.S. president under theUnited States Constitution, meaning that even had he won the election, he would not have been permitted to serve, and soJames Harris, the Socialist Workers' Party presidential candidate from 2000, stood in on the ticket in nine states where Calero could not be listed, receiving 7,102 additional votes.[6]
In2006, Róger Calero appeared on the ballot in New York as the Socialist Workers Party candidate for US Senate. He received 6,967 votes.[7]
Róger Calero again ran for President of the United States representing the SWP in the2008 presidential election, together withAlyson Kennedy for vice-president.[1] Again, James Harris stood in for Calero in several states.[8] In the2008 presidential election, Calero was on the ballot in five states, where he received 7,209 votes. Coupled with the 2,424 votes received in the five states where Harris was on the ballot.[9]
James Harris is the SWP surrogate nominee for President in any states that will not accept Calero as a qualified candidate because he is a not constitutionally eligible.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Socialist Workers Party nominee for President of the United States1 2004,2008 | Succeeded by |
| Notes and references | ||
| 1. James Harris, the SWP's 2000 Presidential nominee, was used as a stand-in candidate in states where Calero, who does not meet the requirements to be President, could not be listed on the ballot. | ||