MEMBERS
One hundred and twelve participants in the May 20-21 Washington, D.C., conférence of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam -the coalition of forces that organized the mammoth April 15 antiwar marches -signed a petition addressed to Peruvian President Belatinde Terry protesting the J. Lyons, executive director of Amnesty International of the USA declared: "Annesty International strongly opposes abuses of political prisoners. We are highly disturbed over reports of beatings of Hugo Blanco by military guards.’
Paul Sweezy, co-editor of Monthly Review, sent a message which read in part:
"It would be advisable for you to release Hugo Blanco, not simply as a matter of elementary justice but for the sake of the reputation of yourself and the government you head. If you fail to heed this advice, coming from so many men and women of good will and principle all over the world, history will surely judge you with utmost harshness."
John Gerassi, author of The Great Fear in Latin America, wrote to Peru on May 26:
"As a long-time friend of your great country and one who has enjoyed its hospitality as an editor for Time and Newsweek magazines and as a correspondent for the New York Times, nothing has made me sadder than the news of the arrest, confinement, and mistreatment of the great peasant leader Hugo Blanco....May I respectfully point out that, to all the poor peoples of the world and to all the democratic forces here in America, Hugo Blanco is a genuine hero, who will go down in the history of your country as one of its greatest figures...."
Other messages were received from Dr. James Petras, research associate, Institute of International Studies, University of California at Berkeley; Dr. Connor Cruise O'Brien, former high official of the United Nations in the Congo now teaching at New York University; Michael Myerson of the Tri-Continental Information Service; and Professor Louis Menashe of the Columbia University Social Science Department.
Other speakers included Theodore Torre-Bueno, a Peruvian-American; and Richard Garza of the Socialist Workers party.
The audience voted to send a message to Belatinde Terry demanding amnesty for Hugo Blanco.
SEND PROTEST TO BELAUNDE
torture of Hugo