'We Demand Justice', Victims of Fujimori's Mass Sterilizations

Peruvian justice’s investigation of 1,300 forced sterilizations ordered by dictator Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) is in danger because Judge Rafael Martinez has taken over two months to decide whether to start the investigation, lawyers for the victims condemned on Wednesday.

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"Martinez's attitude shows that the judiciary power does not prioritize the case," the defense lawyer Milton Campos stated, recalling that the Attorney's General Office tried to archive the investigation in 2009, 2014, 2016, and 2018.

"Our voices are dry of telling thousands of times what the dictatorship did to us. If Martinez determines that there are not sufficient reasons to investigate the case, our attorneys will appeal his decision," forced sterilization's victim Victoria Vigo stated.

Between 1996 and 2000, Fujimori organized countless "health festivals" in remote villages, in which fireworks were thrown to attract, deceive, and sterilize women without informed consent. This strategy sought to reduce poverty rates in the country by curbing the birth rate of low-income people.

To guarantee this policy's effectiveness, Fujimori awarded three travel tickets to health workers who accumulated the highest number of sterilizations performed in a day and even threatened to fire them if they refused to carry them.

The far-right politician, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for his mediate authorship in the murders of 25 Peruvians, has not ruled on the case. Neither has done his daughter Keiko, who was the first lady during Alberto’s presidency.

President Pedro Castillo promised justice to sterilized women and recalled that his own farmer family suffered forced sterilizations. "The pain of the victims of these atrocious practices is also mine," he stressed.