Huracán SIDA / ACT UP in Puerto Rico
Author: Unknown
Date: August 1990
Demonstration: Huracán SIDA
People: Moisés Agosto, Luis “Popo” Santiago, Andy Vélez, Joey Pons, Luis Salazar, Yoryie Irizarry, Carlos Cordero, Christina Hayworth, Brunilda Vega, Caty Chang.
Description: By the early 90s, Puerto Rico had one of the highest rates of HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths in the Western Hemisphere. Puerto Rican neighborhoods in New York City, like El Barrio and the South Bronx were grappling with intravenous drug use and the crack epidemic, which left people vulnerable to HIV infection. The close ties and frequent two-way migration with Puerto Rico, as well as the island’s colonial status, created circumstances that led to an acute AIDS epidemic. Puerto Ricans had little control over their healthcare system and were at the mercy of inept Commonwealth government leaders who ignored the AIDS crisis and a colonial system that limited their ability to take action by institutional means. In the summer of 1990, a small contingent of Latina/o Caucus members including Moisés Agosto and Joey Pons set the stage in Puerto Rico for a far-reaching mobilization that resulted in a series of actions in August of 1990. An AIDS conference had been announced to take place in San Juan with Louis Sullivan, U.S. Secretary of Health, and the National Commission on AIDS in attendance. Approximately 40 ACT UP members traveled to San Juan and took to the streets in several neighborhoods demanding immediate action, including availability of treatments for PWAs and increased Medicaid coverage, condoms, safer sex guidelines and clean needles for intravenous drug users to be distributed island-wide. In addition to creating an ACT UP Puerto Rico chapter, the activists were successful in generating widespread media attention and creating a public dialogue for the first time about HIV/AIDS. The organizing efforts and coalition-building also paved the way for the San Juan LGBTQ parade.
Collection: Gonzalo Aburto