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Hugo Blanco Beaten by Guards
hospital and it is not known how grave his condition may be.
The beating coincides with a UPI dispatch dated April 7, according to which the prison authorities claimed that the famous peasant leader had been taken to the hospital "gravely ill" from a "lung ailment."
The true story is as follows. Blanco, called by the director of the prison, went to see him, crossing a bit of ground which had been declared "Military Territory."
A guard brought him to attention. He was on forbidden ground. Blanco said he did not know this since the area was not posted. As they talked, a captain of the guards appeared. He ordered the guard to beat up Blanco. This was done with such brutality that the victim fell to the ground where the guard continued to work him over. A fellow political prisoner, Eduardo Juan Creus Gon-
[Turn to page 476.]
Bertrand Russell