InterPress News Service (IPS); Friday, 29 August 1997
Diego Cevallos

Government officials, health experts, and international and non- governmental organizations (NGOs) all have been involved in arguments both for, and against, the archbishop.

"Rivera is wrong and he is confusing the population. We are not calling for a confrontation with the Church, but rather for better information", says Eusebio Rubio, spokesperson for the Mexican Federation for Sexual Education and Sexology.

Repeating the arguments of the conservative organization PROVIDA - which has sued the Ministry of Health for promoting the use of condoms - Rivera accused the authorities of fomenting a "culture of death." According to the archbishop, campaigns for condom use distort the value of sexuality and expose the population to risks, claiming condoms do not prevent the transmission of disease.

"We want to believe that Rivera's position is due to a lack of reliable information," Rubio said. "So we are offering the professional experience of the Federation in order to explain to him how condoms can be an effective method for preventing unwanted pregnancies and diseases such as AIDS.

"Instead of helping, the positions of PROVIDA and Rivera are creating more confusion among young people and exposing them to risks."

Health experts estimate 200,000 abortions a year are performed in Mexico where there are 36,500 registered cases of AIDS. The United States and Brazil are the only countries where that number is greater. The government promotes the use of condoms through media ads aimed especially towards youth and parents.

Rivera's proposal to warn that condoms could be hazardous to health will not be accepted by the authorities, simply because it is not true, but "exactly the opposite", said Francisco Higuera, director of the office of Income Control for Health.

The request to include the warning on condom wrappers is "ludicrous" he added.

PROVIDA, a non-governmental organization made up of conservative Catholics, argues that the Ministry of Health is committing a crime, as promoting condom use leads young people into "prostitution and death." According to the Papal Nuncio, Justo Muller, there are "enormous interests behind" the official campaigns against AIDS, which promote "sexual anarchy."

Rivera, PROVIDA and Muller concur that marital fidelity and sexual abstinence are the "only" ways of avoiding transmission of the AIDS virus.

Jose Luis Zeballos, representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Mexico, said that the anti-condom positions are not in touch with reality.

"It is true that we need to promote moral values, stimulate faithful relationships among couples and avoid sexual promiscuity, but it is also necessary to acknowledge the heterogeneity of a society in its sexual practices and its exposure to risk", said Zeballos.

Every year, between 3,000 and 4,000 people contract AIDS in Mexico. In 87 percent of the cases, it is due to sexual transmission, according to official data.

Although the virus more frequently affects men between the ages of 25 and 34, the latest studies indicate that cases of AIDS among adolescents and Mexican youth under 22 are on the rise.

Close to 20,000 people have died of AIDS in Mexico in the last 14 years.

"The Church is wrong on the issue of condoms, and it would be better that it refrain from saying anything next time, as it undermines the little progress that we are making in terms of prevention", said a representative of the non-governmental organization Friends Against AIDS. (END/IPS/dc/ea/mk/97)

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