"Hugo Blanco sought to improve the social and economic conditions of the workers and peasants of Peru. To carry out this task he organized unions and led them in peacefully claiming the land which was rightfully theirs but which had
been stolen from them by profit-—hungry
landowners. Their struggle was just and
their methods were legal -- according to
‘squatters rights' laws still in force in
Peru. They peacefully and legally occupied
their land. For this they were met with
bloody and murderous repression by your
nilitary.
"Hugo Blanco was their leader. Be-
cause of his heroic work to build hospi-
tals, schools and to lead their struggle,
he was relentlessly sought and captured."
The committee called attention to
the thousands of Canadian workers who
petitioned for the immediate release of
Hugo Blanco.
WHAT THREE PARADES SHOW ON RATING OF VIETNAM WAR
The giant antiwar demonstrations in New York and San Francisco, which brought out at least a half million participants in the largest such mobilization in the history of the United States, is still troubling the Johnson administration.
There is nothing Johnson wants more right now than something to offset it.
Two tries have been made. On April 29, a "Loyalty Day" parade was converted into a counterdemonstration. Its organizers confidently predicted that their parade would bring out many more people than the April 15 Spring Mobilization effort. They forecast 150,000 people, setting their sights on the grossly slashed down "estimate" of 125,000 given by the New York police department for the April 15 march and rally which was actually well above 400,000.
The press, the radio, television and other media did their best to whip up spirit for the parade. The Johnson administration even brought in General Westmoreland from Saigon for a speech in New York on the eve of the demonstration to further inspire patriotic sentiments.
The top count for the "Loyalty Day" parade was 3,717 in Manhattan and 4,473 in Brooklyn. [Apparently supporters in New York's three other boroughs helped swelt the ranks in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The fiasco appears to have been intolerable to the great man in the White House. A new and better organized effort was required.
Another parade was decided on for
New York. The date set was May 13.
Credit for initiating it was given
to an obscure employee of the New York
fire department, who "just thought up”
the idea of staging a march to "support
our boys in Vietnam."
His idea caught on with singular
effectiveness. It was backed by any number
of government employees, particularly the
New York police department, thousands of
whom helped make up a "spontaneous" re-
sponse.
All the most reactionary organiza-—
tions like the