USLA JUSTICE COMMITTEE LAUNCHES "NEEDIEST" CAMPAIGN FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS
The United States Committee for Justice to Latin American Political Prisoners (USLA Justice Committee) has launched a drive to raise funds for "Christmas and after" for the political prisoners in Peru and Mexico.
Under the headline "The New York Times Neediest Appeal Won't Help Them for Christmas.....Will You?" a letter is going out this week in the New York area. At the same time, supporters of the conmmittee are arranging fund-raising parties for the holiday season and collections are being taken up at various meetings.
One such collection will be made at Horace Mann Hall, Teachers College, Columbia University, on the evening of December 11, where Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society, Columbia University Young Socialist Alliance, the North American Congress on Latin Anerica (NACLA), and the USLA Justice Committee are jointly sponsoring a meeting to hear Ralph Schoenman speak.
As a member of a board of enquiry set up by the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Schoenman went to Bolivia to investigate the violations of civil liberties and human rights committed by the Barrientos regime in the case of Régis Debray. Schoenman will tell what happened and how he came to be arrested by agents of the regime and put on a plane bound for the U.S.
The letter asking for funds for the prisoners reads in part: "Somewhere in Peru two children are waiting for their father to come home....He was taken away to jail when they were very small -taken away because he tried to help people get land and enough to eat....His name is Hugo Blanco and...he is still revered....it is important for his morale, and the morale of those still struggling, that he not be forgotten...there are no CARE or Red Cross packages sent out to Hugo Blanco and his companions."
The letter continues with "Case 2," the Mexican political prisoners..."granted their 'Christmas present' by the authorities. They will be allowed to stay together in one section of the jail, separated from the rest of the prison population. This is a significant victory for Victor Rico Galan, Adolfo Gilly, Rail Ugalde, and the dozens of young students, workers, and professionals pulled into prison in the wave of hysteria that has swept Mexico for over two years. But it does not affect their material condition in the prison or improve the lot of many of their families. For this aid, for the holidays and after, they can turn only to the people...who are opposed to witch-hunts everywhere...."
The choice of the Mexican and Peruvian prisoners for this particular appeal was made because conditions are favorable for assuring that the money will reach then.
News of the Christmas appeal has already gotten out, and contributions are coming in. A young woman worker in Boston has pledged $25 a month for Hugo Blanco, and with her first payment she sent a note saying "...in order to support his family, Hugo Blanco must paint postcards. It is a shame that this man's knowledge of the guerrilla movement cannot be utilized -- that is, written down and published....You can expect my check on the 16th or 17th of every month."
Officers of the USLA Justice Conmmittee are Dave Dellinger and Paul Sweezy, cochairmen; and John Gerassi, vicechairman. Donations for the prisoners should be sent to the USLA Justice Committee, P.O.Box 2303, New York, N Y. 10001.