CLEMENCY FOR HUGO BLANCO
Amnesty International, the big organization that has consultative status withthe United Nations and the Council of Europe, and whose American section is headed by such respectable figures as Francis Biddle, Victor Reuther and Roger Baldwin, has decided to intervene in behalf of Hugo Blanco.
The action is extraordinary inasmuch as the organization follows a policy of- not intervening in any cases where "violence" is involved.
In a letter to its national sections summarizing the facts in the case, including the conflicting versions as to what happened at the time three policemen were killed, the London office stated: "It was felt that there was too great an element of doubt about the violence or non-violence to make this a good case for adoption by a Group but that the savagery of the sentence and Blanco's known idealism justified an appeal for clemency. It is entirely a matter for National Sections whether they also © wish to take action."
The London office, however, took the initiative to intervene in its own right. "We have sent on behalf of HUGO BLANCO an appeal for clemency to President Belaunde Terry of Peru," the office told the National Sections. "A similar letter has been sent to General de Brigada Nestor Mendoza Rodriguez (President of the Supreme Military Tribunal ) at his two addresses:
"Ministerio de Guerra, _ "(Private Address)
"Departmento Legal, "602, 2 de Mayo
"291 Ave. de Arequipa "Lima, Peru."
"Lima, Peru.
Anyone wishing to know the stand of Amnesty International in more detail can write their London office at 12 Crane Court, Fleet Street, London ECR, England.
The American section of Amnesty International has not yet taken a stand, but is holding a conference January 21 at which the subject may come up. Their address is 7203 Forty-fifth Street, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20015, USA.