WIDENING CAMPAIGN FOR HUGO BLANCO
In Lima the press, radio and television have sought to remain completely silent about Hugo Blanco. In order to break through this conspiracy, a crowd of women blocked traffic directly in front of the Channel 5 television station on Arequipa Avenue.
The demonstration was a big success, the narrow street being so completely choked with automobiles that nothing could get through for some time.
The demonstration won a report on Channel 5, but the newspapers remained silent.
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A group of women succeeded in visiting Hugo Blanco in El Frontén on the occasion of his birthday. They brought food and presents for him. They also brought guitars and serenaded him. The inmates in the prison were reported to have been deeply moved by the demonstration.
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At the huge meeting held in Paris November 28 against the war in Vietnam, where Jean-Paul Sartre called for solidarity with Hugo Blanco, a stand was set up to publicize the case. Some 8,000 leaflets were distributed to the crowd by French and Latin-American militants. A huge banner read: "HUGO BLANCO NE DOIT PAS MOURIR!" [Hugo Blanco Must Not Die!]. Folders on the case were issued at the stand and signatures were collected on petitions asking President Belatinde to issue an amnesty for Hugo Blanco.
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In Paris, the architect Niemeyer sent a telegram together with 30 other architects asking amnesty for Hugo Blanco.
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Ten Latin-Americans working at UNESCO sent a telegram to President Belatnde appealing to him to act in behalf of Hugo Blanco.
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In Greece, representatives of the United Union tendency, the newspaper QO Logos Mas [Our Word], Marxistiko Deltio [Marxist Bulletin], the magazine The Intellectual, the Committee for Peace and the Committee for Aid to the People of Vietnam sent a letter November 10 to Belatinde Terry, the president of Peru, demanding an amnesty for Hugo Blanco and his comrades. The letter was signed by a number of professors, intellectuals, students, union members and workers.
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On November 28, seventy Peruvian citizens living in Paris cabled President Belaainde to grant Hugo Blanco an amnesty. A similar telegram was sent the following day by thirty-two Latin-American artists, writers and poets living in Paris. Telegrams were likewise sent by the French Committee for Solidarity with the Peoples of Latin America, the French Committee for Solidarity with the Victims of Repression in Peru, and the International league for the Rights of Man.
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Among the political prisoners staging a hunger strike in Peru in behalf of Hugo Blanco are five guerrilla leaders: Alfonso Arata, Arturo Aranda, Héctor Béjar, Ricardo Gadea (Che Guevara's former brother-in-law), and Dante de la Cruz.
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In Sweden, the government scheduled a ceremony at the university town of Upsala where a royal princess was to officiate in granting $75,000 to build a school in Peru. But because of the widespread agitation in behalf of Hugo Blanco, the Peruvian ambassador was afraid to show up for the check. He sent an underling. This unfortunate person was met by a huge street demonstration carrying banners that read "Freedom for Hugo