TRIED IN PERU
LIMA, March 24 -- After being held in prison at Arequipa for almost a year and a half, two leaders of the Peruvian peasantry, Antonio Cartolfn Guillén, 25, and M&ximo Molina, 35, have finally been told they are to face a military court. They are accused of being the intellectual authors of an "attack by armed force" at Ongoy, October 24, 1963.
The truth is that the assault at Ongoy was organized by armed bands under police protection. Thirty men, women and children were killed. The peasants had taken over ancestral lands and the — landlords decided to drive them off at gun point.
Cartolin and Molina were arrested in Lima-as they left the Palacio of the National Congress where they had sought to appear before parliament to denounce the massacre,
Cartolin is president of the Federacién de Campesinos of the Department of Ayacucho, the organizer and leader of many land "take overs" or: "recuperations" of the land by the peasants. He has the reputation of being a powerful orator in Quechua, the language of. the Incas still spoken among the Peruvian peasants. He is a member of the Partido Revolucionario Obrero y Campesino which adheres to the Fourth International.
Molina, likewise a member of the PROC, is vice-president of the same peasant organization. He was elected by the Comunidad of Ongoy where the massacre occurred.
Both men have been held in the same prison in Arequipa as Hugo Blanco, Peru's outstanding revolutionary figure, whose leadership they acknowledge and whose example in organizing the peasantry they were following when seized by the government.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for the last part of April or the first part of May. According to their legal counsel, Dr. Alfredo Battilana, this may last only a few days, since it is occurring in a military court.
Under the military code, the two, if found guilty, can be given up to twenty years. It is not yet known what sentence the prosecution is demanding.
Defense counsel are demanding that the charges be dismissed as lacking any substance.
Funds are urgently needed for the defense and the two defen- , dants have appealed for financial help. Contributions can be sent to the following address: Ismael Frias, Avenida Manco Capac 239, La Victoria, Lima, Pert. - ,
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