DESERTION ON THE RISE.IN SOUTH VIETNAMESE FORCES
“Statistics released August '29 in Saigon show a sharp rise in the number of desertions from the South Vietnamese armed forces. ‘in. the first half ‘of 1966; some 67,000 ‘deserted. If this rate keeps up 134,000 will have: deserted by ‘the end of 1966. This compares. with’ 113, “000 in'1965. At present:the: armed forces number 750,000 men. Thus about one in seven can be expected to desert.
‘Why this increase ‘in désertions if things are going as well as- Johnson makes out? : First of all, the unpopularity of Saigon's . |. cause continues. to mount with the immense destruction and slaughter.. Secondly, there is a growing feeling that the Americans have taken . over -~ so let them do the: fighting, too. re
JUDGES "INCLINE" TO DEATH FOR HUGO BLANCO
>: iPhe Belainde government appears to have definitely decided: to: finally bring Hugo Blanco and some thirty other defendants’ to trial. | The world-famous Peruvian Trotskyist peasant leader has been held in prison ‘at Arequipa for more than three years, having been: captured on May 30, 1963. Reports in the Lima newspapers indicate that the =<: isolated town of Tacna, where even adequate press coverage will=be:-:. difficult, has been selected for. the hearing. The date, however, has: not: yet been announced. — ~
According ‘to the August 17 La Tribuna of Lima, the authorities © have not yet decided on the sentence. The "Fiscal of the Police Zone will demand 25 years’ in prison for