More on Fujimori. (Letters to the Editor).

In "Pulling the Plug on Fujimori" (THE NEW AMERICAN, December 30, 2002), William F. Jasper laments the downfall of the Peruvian presidency of Alberto Fujimori and describes those who facilitated his downfall. For example, he states: "The Fujimori-Toledo battle illustrates the brutal methods that the global elitists will employ and the incredible lengths to which they will go to establish their new world order."

Alberto Fujimori may have done some good things for Peru, most notably diminishing the influence of the God-less Communists in that country, and Mr. Jasper documents this well. No wonder the New World Order conspiracy was out to get him. As powerful as the conspiracy is, however, it was neither Mr. Fujimori's only enemy nor his biggest one. Consider this information, which is available from the Population Research Institute (PRI) website:

In "an exceptional case of national legislation," the government of Peru in the early 1990s--under former dictator Alberto Fujimori--established the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) as the "Technical Secretary" of Fujimori's infamous forced sterilization campaigns, states a report issued by a special commission of the Peruvian Congress.

Fujimori's National Population Program consisted of the systematic and forced sterilization of over 100,000 women, during so-called "ligation festivals," particularly aimed at rural women and minorities.

There aren't enough good deeds that Fujimori could have done to make up for such a crime as this.

RAY JENSEN

Sent via email

William F. Jasper responds: Thank you for bringing up an important point, one that I had included in the first draft of my article but had removed for several reasons: 1) It was not central to the thesis and purpose of the story; 2) The article was not a blanket endorsement of President Fujimori himself or all of his policies and programs; 3) Many facts about Peru's population program are/were in question, particularly who was most responsible for the most egregious practices; 4) According to usually reliable Peruvian and Latin American sources, the population program in question was begun by Fujimori's Marxist predecessor, has been continued by his Marxist successor; and was forced on him by the IMF World Bank, and UNFPA; 5) Within the scope of this article, I had neither the time to resolve the many disputed facts concerning the population issue, nor the space fairly and accurately to treat the matter

The central thesis for "Pulling the Plug on Fujimori," as stated in the article, was to illustrate "the brutal methods that the global elitists will employ and the incredible lengths to which they will go to establish their new world order. Those elitists viewed Fujimori as an obstacle in their path and drove him from power in favor of new "leadership" they control. With Fujimori out of the way, their insidious population control plans--not just for Peru but the world--will not go away since, after all, they are the architects of those plans.

Perhaps President Fujimori was fully aware of the nature of the UNFPA program and, if so, he should have opposed it as heroically as he did the attacks of the Shining Path terrorists. However, some of his defenders claim that the UNFPA program was foisted on him by U.S., UN, IMF and World Bank officials at a time when Peru was in the midst of one of the worst economic crises of its history and fighting one of the world's most ferocious terrorist wars. These defenders argue that Mr Fujimon should thus be given at least the same benefit of the doubt that US. pro-life leaders regularly extend to professedly pro-life Republican presidents (Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and George W Bush) who not only have failed to stop abortion in the U.S., but have made pro-abortion appointments and funded abortion and population control programs worldwide through USAID, the IMF, the World Bank, and various UN agencies.

I am familiar with the PRI citation you mention. It is not the accuracy of the statement but the application of the facts in the case that I think merit closer scrutiny Regular readers of this magazine know that THE NEW AMERICAN is solidly pro-life, and it has regularly exposed and opposed UNFPA. I fully agree that no good deed provides license to commit afoul deed.

Send your letters to: THE NEW AMERICAN, P.O. Box 8040, Appleton, WI 54912. Or e-mail: [e-mail]. Due to volume received, not all letters can be answered. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.