MILITANT CALIFORNIA FARM WORKERS LEADER APPEALS FOR BLANCO
By Vilma Sanchez
Delano, California
‘Cesar Chavez, leader of the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee AFL-CIO, rang out the year of the Huelga [strike] with an act of. international working-class solidarity. On December 31 he sent letters in Spanish to Peru's President Belatinde Terry and the Supreme Council calling for amnesty for Hugo Blanco.
In this Grapes of Wrath valley, the Filipino and Mexican-American farm workers
have conducted strikes against the big grape growers almost continually for more than a year. They won contracts with Schenley Industries and DeGeorgio and are now conducting a boycott of Perelli-Menetti Products. Farm workers from eleven states have requested them to send organizers to build unions and negotiate contracts.
In addition to sending the letters in support of Blanco, Chavez has arranged for a speaker to tell the union members about Blanco's case and the conditions of the farm workers of Peru.
Chavez has been invited to visit Peru and will be leaving soon. He had not heard of Blanco before and knew nothing of the campesino movement of Peru. Chavez wanted to receive more information and be kept informed. on the case.
WAR CRIMES