BIGGEST STUDENT ORGANIZATION IN U.S. BACKS HUGO BLANCO CAMPAIGN
At a meeting April 5-6 at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, the National Council of the Students for a Democratic Society passed a resolution by an overwhelming majority in solidarity with the campaign to win freedom for Hugo Blanco. The SDS is the largest student organization in the United States, with some 4,000 activists and an estimated total membership running as high as 30,000.
The National Council sent a letter to President Belatinde of Peru, the text of which was as follows:
"Hugo Blanco, Peruvian peasant leader, and his colleagues have been condemned to 25 years in prison and face the threat of death. They have been convicted as common criminals when their only crime was organizing a just struggle for land reform. We vigorously protest this action and urge that they be immediately freed."