The debate they ignited strikes one of Mexico’s deepest nerves: the country’s much-criticized handling of its indigenous population. On one side are health authorities who say that fewer children means less poverty. On the other are indigenous groups who say that such sterilizations are part of an “ethnocide” against Indians. “It’s a policy of extermination,” says Benito Narcisco Morales, an indigenous leader. But the men may have been victims of family planners who sidestepped ethics in an effort to bring Indian villages into the modern world.
Much of Mexico is already there–at least in terms of family size. In 1974, the government launched an aggressive family-planning program with the slogan “Smaller families live better.” The average woman in Mexico now gives birth to 2.4 children, down from 7.3 in 1965. But the family-planning revolution has largely bypassed Mexico’s 10 million Indians. The average indigenous woman gives birth four times. Says one Indian woman in Guerrero: “As long as my husband is alive, I will have more [children].”
Such was the challenge for the state health workers, who first visited in 1997. All 17 men tell essentially the same story. Targeting men with large families, the workers promised monthly cash payments, between $50 and $150, clothes and shoes for those who agreed to vasectomies. “They told us the operation wouldn’t hurt,” says 43-year-old Miguel Angel Lauro, one of the men who agreed. Each man signed a consent form, most with a thumbprint. The forms never mentioned payments. Eventually the men complained about never being paid. Says Lauro: “We were waiting to see if they fulfilled their promises.”
The nurse, Mayra Ramos Benito, 24, denies that such promises were ever made. She suggests that the problem was poor translation; the team used local interpreters, since most of the men speak only Mixteco, their indigenous language. But late last year the human-rights commission concluded that the men were duped. Earlier this month, though, Carlos de la Pena Pintos, head of the state health department, said there is no proof that the sterilizations were forced and there will be no disciplinary action against the health workers. The case could end up in the courts. “If the government gives us what was promised, good,” says Lorenzo Acevedo, a father of six who was sterilized. “If not, repair the damage.”
