OTTAWA COMMITTEE APPEALS IN BEHALF OF HUGO BLANCO
Upon learning of the beating inflicted on Hugo Blanco by his guards in the El Frontén fortress-prison, the Ottawa Committee to Defend Hugo Blanco at once sent a protest to President Beladnde Terry of Peru.
Among other things, the committee again called attention to the "crime" for which Hugo Blanco was given a 25-year sentence and then threatened with death when he filed an appeal:
"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. Because of his heroic work to build hospitals, 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.