Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 23:53:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ron Buckmire <ron@abacus.oxy.edu>
Subject: PERU: Government sterilized homosexuals


Nando Times, July 5, 1998
http://www.nandotimes.com
Gays unwillingly sterilized by Peruvian government, report says
     LIMA, Peru -- A number of homosexual men charged they were tricked into
being sterilized as part of this country's controversial family planning
program, a report said Sunday.
     The operations took place last year in towns in the northeastern Peruvian
province of San Martin, according to Frecuencia Latina television. 
     Some gay men said they went for treatment of other conditions, or were
offered alcohol or other inducements to have the operation, the news program
said.
     "They told me, 'This will make you more feminine and sexy,'" said Colmer
Rengijo.
     The government's sterilization program has been harshly criticized by
human rights groups, who say it has targeted the rural poor.
     There are no figures for the numbers of homosexuals sterilized in San
Martin, but according to government figures, 285 vasectomies and 4,679 tubal
ligations were carried out in the province.
     Peru's health ministry says it performed 110,000 sterilizations on mostly
poor women in 1997.
     Wilfredo Utia Pullo told Frecuencia Latina he underwent a hernia
operation one year ago. The government doctors took advantage of that to
perform a vasectomy without his consent, he said.
     All the men interviewed told Frecuencia Latina that they were unaware of
the nature of the vasectomy operation.
     Melesio Sangama said officials gave him no details about what the
operation would do to him. "They just gave me two beers so they could operate
on me," he said.
     Some Peruvian doctors have said they are given sterilization quotas to
fill by Peru's health ministry. The government denies the charges, which have
been supported by international groups.
     On February 25, a number of Peruvian women testified before the U.S.
House International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee about their own
sterilizations.
     After those hearings Peru promised to halt its sterilization program.