HUGO BLANCO'tS SISTER ARRESTED
Hugo Blanco's sister, Luchi, has been arrested by Peruvian police and sent with 17 others to the Sepa prison in the Department of Loreto, an Amazon jungle area. Her orimet was to participate in the recent movement of 8,000.peasants of Sicuani who sought to regain their ancestral lands. - [See World Outlook February 14,.]
Luchits famous brother, an avowed Trotskyist, has been held at Arequipa, awaiting trial for leading the peasant movement in the Cuzco area, -
The news about the arrest of Luchi Blanco was contained in a February 11 Prensa Latina dispatch from Lima, The following is a
ere
translation of the full texts.
The discipline and organization of the peasant masses of the Sicuani region are described in Correo by Carlos Martelli, a journalist who was in the area some days before the tragic events in which 17 peasants lost their lives and more than 50 were wounded,
Martelli reports that the "comuneros" [communalists] who raised .the slogans of "land or death" and "we will win," were backed by the peasant masses,
The special correspondent sent by Correo to Siocuani says. that "in the flats at onoccora I was filled with admiration at the perfect military drills, "Encircling marches, formations in circles, semi-~ circles, eeotangles, were executed rapidly, efficiently by. both men and women," .
He then says that “when the assault guards moved their forces up, the peasants remained unafraid, almost indifferent, and stayed at their posts, They did not bécome intimidated as have some peas-= ants in other places in face of the threat of gunfire,"
Martelli observes that they "remained for whole nights under a torrential rain, sustained by their decision to keep their land,"
In another part of his account, the reporter stresses that in response to signals given by whistles and horns, "the women and the men marched apart, guided by their respective leaders, "
Martelli says that he saw no arms among the peasants dislodged from their land but he did see arms among the landlords organized in the Asociacién de Defensa Agropecuaria headed by the landlord Meza who recently launched-a violent campaign against the authorities and comuneros of Sicuani when they backed the right of the peasants to stay on the haciendas inherited from their forefathers,
In addition to this, the’ ‘daily Expreso tells how the landlords opened fire on the 8, 000° peasants o pLouani,
Expreso declares that "some of ‘the 17 dead suffered wounds from eLe caliber dumdum bullets, which are not utilized by the police," and he noted that among the victims was a one-year-old infant, Rafael Apuma Colquehaanca,
After the slaughter, the authorities suspended constitutional guarantees for 50 days in order to arrest peasant, trade=union and student leaders in the zone,
Among those arrested was Luchi Blanco, sister of the guerrilla leader Hugo Blanco, who was captured some months ago by the Peruvian army »
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Meanwhile, headquarters. of the Federation of Peasants and Workers of Cuzoo as well as the headquarters of other organizations of the people remain occupied by the police.
Among the hundreds arrested, 18 were sent to the grim Sepa prison in the Loreto Department in the Amazon jungle, Among thom, besides Luchi Blanco, were Florentino Lazarele, secretary general of the federation of Cuzco; Alejandro Vila, chairman of the University Federation of the department; Hugo Miranda, secretary of the Farmers Union; the lawyer Lazarte; Victor Angles; Marcos Arriola, Agustin Mamani Quispe; Herbert Vidal Castillo; Vladimiro Valer; Fausto Cortijo and Urbano Lépez.
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