She was regularly paraded on live TV in Peru.
Now the Little Mermaid is the subject of a beautifully made documentary
Nancy Banks-Smith
The Guardian
When I was very young, I paid 3d to see The Human Mermaid in a booth on
Blackburn market. She wore a large
phosphorescent fish's tail. Her little flippers were all her own. She eyed us
ironically as we shuffled past eating
cod and chips.
In BodyShock: Curse of the Mermaid (Channel 4), a baby girl was born to poor
Peruvian parents with her legs fused
together. Her little feet finned out like a fish's tail. To add to the illusion,
her genitals were hidden inside
her body. She was an exceptionally pretty child, with eyes like chocolate drops.
I never saw that child cry.
After the birth, her mother opened her eyes to see no baby, no doctor, no nurse.
No one but the hospital porter who
asked avidly if she had been touched by a mermaid. She closed her eyes.
Dr Luis Rubio heard about this freak of nature. He was well known in Peru for
his frequent TV appearances and his
trademark white suit and tie. Oh, you felt, one of those. Yes, one of those.
He whisked the baby away ("by force if necessary") to Lima. From that instant
she was never off live TV. She was
baptised in the cathedral by the Bishop of Lima, who referred to her as The
Little Mermaid. The Mayor of Lima, who
had political ambitions, was her godfather. They called her Milagros, which
means miracles, or Millie for short.
More than two million watched. And, of course, the operation to divide her legs
was televised live too. Cameras
clattered like crickets. "Say adios!" said Dr Rubio. It seemed all too probable.
The operation was a six-hour spectacular. "History, here we come," said Dr
Pinto, and started to cut. Rubio, whose
part in the operation was confined to a little swabbing, gave interviews,
complained about the quality of the TV
picture ("Put a filter on the camera or we won't get a good picture") and linked
up on time with Peru's premier
current affairs programme The Hilderbrandt Show. Millie's legs were separated
enough to prise apart for the end of
The Hilderbrandt Show.
Millie lived. She will still need extensive physical therapy and reconstructive
surgery. Dr Rubio is said to be in
line for health minister. "He wants to get to the top," said Dr Pinto. "The
presidency."
It was sometimes agonising to watch. I was ashamed of television, which redeemed
itself to some degree with this
beautifully made documentary.
