JOINS FOUR COMRADES IN HUNGER STRIKE.
Hugo, Blanco, the leader of peasants in the Cuzco region of Peru, and Benito Hualpa Quispe, president of the Federacién de Campesinos de Cuzco, held in prison at Arequipa,. Joined Antonio Cartolin and Maéximo Molina,. president and vice-president of the Federacidén de Campesinos [peasants] de Ayacucho, and Santiago Arroyo, another prisoner, in an "indefinite" hunger strik,..
The three latter prisoners are being held in connection with land seizures by peasants at Ongoy which were repressed by government troops last October with considerable bloodshed,
Julio Cabrera, a representative of the Federacién Campesina de Ayacucho, said that Cartolfn and Molina demanded “immediate release since none of them were present when the events at Ongoy occurred. nt.
He said that the detention of Arroyo was "iikewise an abuse, since he is not a Leader.’ "
The three men from Ayacucho began the. “hunger strike when their demand -met with no response and Hugo Blanco and Benito Hualpa Quispe, when they learned about it, joined them out of solidarity.
Luis Huaco Zavalaga, lawyer for the prisoners from Ayacucho confirmed the report about the hunger strike upon returning to Lima after visiting Arequipa,
Antonio Cartolin and M&ximo Molina were arrested in Lima when they went. there in an effort to obtain an interview with President Belatinde to lay before him the true story of what happened at Ongoy.
[We are unable, unfortunately, . to give the date when the 5 hunger strike began, Our correspondent in Lima sent us only a newspaper clipping without indicating the name of the paper or the date, The story itself, which is undated, said that Hugo Blanco "today" joined the “indefinite hunger strike initiated Monday by the peasant leaders of Ayacucho." ] ; | issn FROM HUGO BLANCO TO THE PERUVIAN PEOPLE
The November 11 issue of Revolucién Peruana, organ of the Frente de _Izquierda Revolucionario [Revolutionary Left Front]*, of which Hugo