RELEASE FOR PERUVIAN COMRADES VICTIMS OF PRO-IMPERIALIST REPRESSION The June 1958 issue of Perú Popular, organ of the Lima District Committee of the Peruvian Communist Party, published a letter from all the prisoners in the central prison of that capital arrested as a result of the anti-Nixon demonstrations. This letter, dated May 26th 1958, revealed the deplorable conditions under which the prisoners were living, the secret preparation of their trial, and their unshakable determination to fight in a united front for the economic and social progress of Peru, as well as for their own definitive release. The letter was signed jointly by the members of the Peruvian CP and by Comrades Ismael Frías Torrico and * Juan Palacios, leaders of the Peruvian section of the Fourth International. In the same paper there was published a separate letter signed by Comrades Frías and Palacios, which, among other things, protested against the inhuman conditions of their imprisonment. The letter related that the comrades were shut up in a room 12 by 18 feet with 30 other persons, without ventilation and with only artificial light.
In Latin America protests multiplied against the repression that struck down the Peruvian comrades. In Argentina,
La group of parliamentary deputies, writing to Dr Manuel Prado, President of Peru, asked that all the politicial prisoners be freed. Writers and artists in Mexico made a similar demand. The Unified Workers' Federation of Chile also demanded the freeing of the prisoners arrested as a result of the antiNixon demonstrations. The Fourth International joined in these protests, calling on workers' organizations to demand that the Peruvian authorities free the prisoners and stop the repression against thé anti-imperialist fighters. Finally Comrades Palacios and Frías engaged in a hunger strike to protest against the arbitrary nature of their detention. The government finally gave way : first Comrade Frías, then, six days later, Comrade Palacios, were released on bail. The was hailed with enthusiasm by the revolutionary workers' movement in Peru and elswhere.
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