Blanco G.
*x* * *
P.S. The Peruvian people view with great
interest and sympathy the investigation
of Johnson's crimes in Vietnan.
Hugo Blanco G.
A LETTER TO CANADIAN SUPPORTERS
{The Canadian Committee to Free Hugo Blanco received the following letter from the famous Peruvian peasant leader now held in the notorious El Frontén prison for the "crime" of leading a revolutionary struggle for land in the Cuzco region. [Blanco has been threatened with the death penalty because he dared to appeal the savage 25-year sentence handed down against him by an illegal military tribunal.]
"El Fronté6n" March 10, 1967
To the Committee to Free Hugo Blanco -- Canada:
Brothers, it has been some time since I was informed of the existence of your committee and I should have answered sooner; it was my duty. But it is not easy to write to a committee that bears one's name.
A revolutionary is an optimist by nature; nevertheless the magnitude of the
international solidarity with our strug-
gle has astounded me. How near is our
triumph!
I understand the significance of
your solidarity. You feel the hunger of
my people; you suffer with us in our
chains; you strive to help us break then.
You know and we know that with the
death penalty or without it, with jail-
ings or without them, the day of victory
approaches with giant strides. And that
is not the work of individuals but of all
the people.
In the final. analysis it is of
little importance whether they kill me or
not, whether I remain imprisoned or not.
What is important is that you have raised
your arm to stop the bullets, to tear
away the bars. That is what has meaning,
comrades, meaning as a symbol, as proof
that human solidarity reaches throughout
the world and will smother the enemies of
Man.
A poet of my country, overwhelmed
when the full impact of solidarity came
to him, tried to explain its power like
this:
Altogether
At the end of the battle, and slain the combatant, a man came to him and said, "Don't die; I love you so!"
But the body, oh! continued dying.
Two came and they repeated: "Don't leave us! Courage! Return to life!" But the body, oh! continued dying.
Twenty, a hundred, a thousand, five hundred thousand came, clamoring: But the body,
Millions surrounded hin, with a common plea:
"So much love, and nothing can be done against death!"
oh! continued dying.
"Stay, brother!" But the body, oh! continued dying.
Then all the men of the earth surrounded him; they looked at the body, said, filled with emotion; slowly it rose, embraced the first man; started to walk..."
César Vallejo
That is how we understand your solidarity, brothers.
With a warm embrace,
Hugo Blanco G.
CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE IN MOSCOW AND PEKING
Bandiera_ Rossa, the official organ of the Gruppi Comunisti Rivoluzionari (Italian section of the Fourth International), calls attention in its May 15 issue to the silence of both the