Peruvian novelist and former presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa recently criticized Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, archbishop of Lima, for allegedly not opposing Peruvian ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s involuntary sterilization campaign.
What Mr. Vargas does not know is that Cardinal Cipriani played a key role in the effort to stop Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori’s forced family-planning campaign. It is perplexing why the novelist Vargas would deny the obvious. He should know that when documenting or commenting on human rights abuses, he should focus on the facts, instead of fiction.
In late 1997, after receiving reports of human rights abuses in the campaign, Cardinal Cipriani, acting through the Peruvian Bishop’s Conference, invited Population Research Institute to investigate human rights abuses in Fujimori’s campaign.
With the cooperation of the Peruvian Bishop’s Conference, a team of PRI investigators was able to visit Peru in early 1998 and interview women in many parts of Peru. They gathered first-hand evidence of serious violations of human rights. With this information:
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PRI produced a 30-minute documentary which aired on Peruvian television and helped to warn women about the sterilization campaign and its tactics.
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PRI invited victims and witnesses to Washington, D.C., to participate in a press conference which drew international media, and the bright glare of public scrutiny, towards the Fujimori campaign.
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These victims and witnesses were invited to testify before the U.S. Congress, which led Fujimori’s Ministry of Health to announce that steps would be taken to end the abuses.
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The U.S. Congress passed a new law, the Tiahrt Amendment, which protects the rights of women and families in family planning programs.
None of this would have happened without the initiative and support of Cardinal Cipriani and the Peruvian Bishop’s Conference. This is why Cardinal Cipriani came under such fierce attack by the Fujimori government in early 1998. As a major player in the effort to stop Fujimori’s sterilization campaign, Cardinal Cipriani is a hero. He should be thanked, not criticized, for his efforts to protect the dignity of the human person.
