ganizations have added their voice. Thousands of signatures have been obtained and demonstrations have been staged in many cities in front of Peruvian consulates.
The campaign has proved so embarrassing to the Peruvian government that it now appears reluctant to have the Supreme Council of Military Justice accede to the demand of the prosecution that Hugo Blanco be placed before a firing squad. A decision was scheduled to be handed down in April. It was evidently postponed.
The Peruvian embassy even told Jean-Paul Sartre that Hugo Blanco's life would be spared. The eminent French philosopher reported this to a mass meeting in Paris on April 10.
How little dependence can be placed in the assurances of the Peruvian ambassador to France can be judged from the fact that the dispatch from Lima reporting that Hugo Blanco had been taken to the hospital was dated April 7.
The beating inflicted on Blanco, coupled with the official lie that he was
taken to the hospital because of a "grave
lung ailment" led to the conclusion that
the political representatives of the
Peruvian oligarchy have decided to use
surreptitious means to liquidate Blanco.
Demands should be sent to Presi-
dent Fernando Belatinde Terry to grant an
immediate amnesty to Hugo Blanco. Bela-
ande's address is Lima, Peru.
Similar demands should be sent to
the Supreme Council of Military Justice.
These can be addressed to the president
of this body as follows:
Gen. Néstor Mendoza Rodriguez
Ministerio de Guerra
Departmento Legal
291 Ave. de Arequipa
Lima, Peru.
Copies of the appeals should be
sent to Hugo Blanco's attorney. His ad-
dress is as follows:
Dr. Alfredo Batillano Maggiolo
_ Oficina 215
Avenida Nicola de Pierola 966
Lima, Peru
MINNEAPOLIS SOCIALISTS CABLE BELAUNDE
Minneapolis
The Friday Night Socialist Forum sent the following cable May 14 to President Fernando Belatnde Terry:
"We protest unjust incarceration
and brutal treatment of Hugo Blanco and
his fellow peasant organizers. Elementary
justice demands their immediate and un-
conditional release from prison."