LETTER FROM JACQUELINE LOBATON ON HUGO BLANCO CASE
[The international campaign. to save Hugo Blanco from a death sentence has succeeded for the moment in gaining a respite for the heroic Peruvian peasant leader. It nevertheless remains uncertain how long this respite will prove to be. It may be that a decision will be postponed until at least April. At the same time, the Peruvian guerrilla leader Héctor Béjar, who is in prison himself and who went on a hunger strike | together with other political prisoners in behalf of Hugo Blanco, has warned that the utmost vigilance must be maintained and that the tribunal may be playing a cat-and-mouse game. He advises redoubling the campaign seeking freedom for Hugo Blanco.
[Jacqueline Lobatén, who has been active in the Hugo Blanco defense work, has also urged intensification of the campaign. She has had personal experience with Peru's notorious prisons having been placed behind bars as a hostage while the government hunted down and executed her husband, who played a prominent role as a leader in the movement launched by Luis de la Puente Uceda in 1965. The following letter was sent by Jacqueline Lobatén in behalf of the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Man which has been active in Lima in defending Peru's political prisoners. It was published in the January issue of La Quatriéme Internationale. The translation is by World Outlook. ]
* * * To all those who stand for justice and fraternity, To the volunteers who are participating in our invincible struggle,
To all of you,
The messages of boundless affection, the letters determined to overcome the tyrants and oppressors, those who hold in their hands the right to deprive a human being of his life by a government decree and in accordance with the law, the fraternal telegrams that have been sent to us, have moved us deeply and all at once we have been given recompense for all our efforts.
I must first express with fervor the thanks of the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Man for the support which you have given to the struggle we are conducting in behalf of Hugo Blanco, our modest and courageous peasant leader.
I want to send you words of courage and tenderness because the revolution merits it. I am sending you warmest greetings in spite of the distance, in spite of the seas and the rivers, in spite of time, in spite of the censorship.
The formation of the committee in Paris and the actions which it is conducting have been met here with enthusiasm. Shoulder to shoulder we can triumph more easily over oppression, shoulder to shoulder we can face abuse and outrages without fear and root them out of the Peruvian land which nourishes millions of peasants, workers, students -victims of an infernal yoke.
I only want you to share today the complete triumph of the meeting which we held at the Plaza San Martin Friday, December 2. I want to tell you that the people, free of fear, resembled a soldier resolutely defending the rights that have been trampled underfoot in recent years. Unjust persecution, base crimes, illegal sentences, have sullied our country. But we are convinced -- because we are devoted to tasks which are sweet to fulfill when life is involved -- of the worth and the beauty of human beings.
Perhaps I have not expressed myself well on what is magnificent in the union of your efforts and ours, but I feel moved to the bottom of my heart.
Thanks comrades, thanks friends, thanks dear ones. The defense of Hugo is like a song. ;
I say go forward, despite the obstacles, despite the profound bitterness of the struggle.
So long.
The Committee.
Jacqueline Elnau de Lobatén
LEADERS OF "MINUTEMEN" CONVICTED
Three