Las secuelas de las esterilizaciones forzadas en el gobierno de Fujimori: La lucha por el reconocimiento 2011-2016

This thesis focuses the long- term consequences of the so-called "Campaigns of Voluntary Surgical Contraception". In 1995 the government of Alberto Fujimori in Peru adopted, "Voluntary Surgical Contraception" (VSC) as part of his campaign to control the country's population growth. The Peruvian Government took the drastic decision to reduce the rate of natural population growth to a level no greater than 2% per annum. The campaigns for VSC took place within a deeply rooted racist discourse from the state and urban society that claims indigenous women have no control over their fertility. The inclusion of these sterilization methods in family planning campaigns led to thousands of complaints. The research concentrates on its selectiveness, which sets racism in sharp focus, since sterilization was only used with a specific sector of the Peruvian population. The study follows the different experiences in rural and urban areas to look at how memory of these events has been constructed through the years, both by its victims as well as by those who were not directly involved. Moreover, how subsequent family planning policies have been impacted by the complex legacy of the VSC campaigns in rural Peru.

This research, carried out from the Cultural Studies with a multidisciplinary perspective, has as its main contribution to clarify the consequences of the campaigns in the affected population. It develops an in-depth case study using interviews, participant observation, and archival sources in one of the most affected communities, Huancabamba located in the North region of Piura. This community has not been studied as most of the attention so far, has focused in the south near Cuzco. One of my research tools was the production of a documentary Una voz estéril (2012), focusing on Esperanza Huayama, one of the most emblematic cases of forced sterilization in the province of Huancabamba. The documentary which I shared with the community before it was broadcast allowed those affected to develop a new understanding of the process.

This thesis also studies the reactions of the citizens of Lima to the AQV campaigns. I seek to identify the elements that generated acceptance or rejection of the campaigns in the indigenous communities of Huancabamba and the urban society of Lima. In this way, I intend to contribute to the comprehension of the consequences of the AQV campaigns in a population as unequal as the one which makes up Peruvian society. What is the relationship between identity and poverty in sterilized women? and, finally, how have they achieved empowerment through their struggle for justice and recognition?

During these six years of research, I have witnessed how the women have become aware of the case, as a witness and accomplice of how a story is being woven from within, from the voice of the victims themselves.